Burnout Paradise Remastered - Review

When Burnout Paradise was Remastered for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, I said “Burnout Paradise Remastered is a fine game, it takes when was great about the original release and brings it to current platforms.” Now two years later, the Switch has a chance to experience the fun that is Burnout Paradise, but does the portable platform take you to Paradise, or is it a road that leads right to hell?

Honestly, it is paradise, the game has come to Switch, with all the bells and whistles that it got when it was first done, it is now just a portable version and considering we have not had portable Burnout since 2007’s Burnout Dominator on the PlayStation Portable, we are not counting the mobile spin off in Burnout Crash! But with Dominator, they kept the series to its, at the time, traditional roots, with Paradise releasing about 10 months later, so while the series has been portable before, it has never been like this.

For those that are not aware Burnout Paradise gives you the keys to a car, drops you in Paradise City and tells you to have fun, there is no mission structure, there are no checklists to complete, you just drive. It has for years now, been one of my favourite driving games and for that reason, the game has countless races, road rage and its opposite marked man and more, the number is pretty large. As you win each event, you earn a mark on your licence, earn enough marks and you get the next level and while the board is wiped clean after each licence renewal, it never feels like a chore. Outside of events, there are 400 gates to smash through, a hundred or so billboards to smash and 50 special jumps to locate and even with a quick glance, you will be able to see them, no matter how fast you are going. Clearing them all out does not get you anything special, but it is a nice side activity to undertake, once you need a break from the constant racing and some of the billboards are harder to reach than you might think.

If you want to test yourself, or test yourself against other racers, you can try out the Road Rules modes, which as the name might suggest, not about studying, but is in fact owning the road, or ruling it. In order to rule a road, you need to be online and then get the fastest time racing down it and enter Showtime and claim the most money in damages. Both events will test you, the speed challenges for sure, because one wreck can cost you precious seconds, which means you need to start over. Showtime events replaced the series traditional Crash modes, which are fine, you simply tap both shoulder buttons and watch the car flip out, the more cars, limos, trucks or buses you can hit, the longer you can go and the higher the damage costs increase. These two modes are easy enough to get into, as the series introduced the Easy Drive mechanic, something Criterion used in their Need for Speed games, that also followed over to Ghost Games. Taking the game online is straight forward as well, using that same Easy Drive system, you just tap right, make sure the online option is selected and tap right again, select your mode and you are good to go.

Because this release is the Remastered Edition, all the content and visual tweaks that were included a few years ago, have also made the jump. The inclusion of all the DLC is a welcome plus, as some of the extra cars are a hoot, the micro cars are fun, but it is the movie like cars that are the best, a car that looks like a certain time machine or one with a flag painted on its roof. Of course, Big Surf Island is the largest piece of extra content, adding in an entirely new island to explore, with new races, events and things to smash, there is just no limit to the content included here.

The visuals have also survived the jump, mostly, there are a few times when things can get a little pixelated and that is likely due to the smaller texture size, but the camera still doing its close up. Usually you will spot these imperfections, when you smash into a wall at 100km/h, or when the game is about to start an event and pulls a few close-up shots. Outside of these, the game looks really great, especially on the TV screen, something other games have struggled with in the past, though when you are looking upon the Switch screen, it is easier to see the flaws mentioned before. One of the elements that I picked up on in my first review of the Remastered edition, was that cars would sometimes pop in out of nowhere and that is still present here, likely due to the now locked 60fps. While they don’t tend to appear in front of you during a race, they still make a showing at odd times and a lot of the time in Showtime. Speaking off the 60fps, sometimes you have people make a claim like that, thinking it will make people pay attention, but no, here it is locked down and apart from a few minor hiccups, stays there, something that few Switch games achieve.

On the audio side, this is perhaps where things fall apart for me, as I played the original release on Xbox 360 to death, then did the same when it went Backwards Compatible, the PC release was sampled a lot and of course, the initial Remastered edition, I have heard the soundtrack a lot. Now on other platforms, I can boot up Spotify and listen to other tunes, sadly, the Switch is locked into the soundtrack that is offered and while you can turn it down, it leaves the game feeling empty. The quality of the soundtrack is amazing though, but there is honestly only so many times you can hear Paradise City by the Guns N’ Roses, or shiver... Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne. Outside of the music selection, both DJ Atomica who I enjoy having played so much SSX 3 and the sounds of the cars and the location. Even when listening direct off the Switch, the sounds are clear and loud.

Anyone who has never played Burnout Paradise before, should get it on the Switch, it is a game that deserves your attention. The Remastered edition brings all the content, making it incredible value for money, but more than that, even if you tire of racing, the driving is just so sublime, it never gets old, just make sure you have a spare battery on stand if you play portable, as it chews through the juice.

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Electronic Arts

The Pros

+Bring the complete Burnout Paradise experience to Switch and doesn’t lose anything

+Portable Paradise, there is nothing better than that

The Cons

+The same visual quirks from the initial Remastered release are still here, with some Switch specific ones

+The soundtrack is old and honestly, I can’t listen to the same songs anymore