We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. Burnout Paradise, originally released in 2008 for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, is one of Criterion's best games, so it only makes sense that the remastered version is even better. On top of some welcome graphics enhancements, PC players get to experience the previously console-only Big Surf Island and all its potential for stunts and havoc. Paradise City's map is as enjoyable as ever, too, whether you are just driving around or completing the many available events. Although some of the original game's pain points remain, none are severe enough to seriously detract from the title's charm. Burnout Paradise Remastered is an Editors' Choice PC game. Explore and Compete In Burnout Paradise, your main goal is to complete events and unlock new vehicles on your way to upgrading your Paradise City driver's license. For Big Surf Island, your progress is measured as a percentage of how many events you win. Each license upgrade requires you to get through a certain number of events to advance. As you progress, you unlock better cars. Other racers become progressively more aggressive and skilled in later stages, too. You must respond in kind and learn all of the fastest routes if you don't want to be left in the dust. View All 5 Photos in Gallery Events fall into five main categories: Race, Stunt Run, Marked Man, Road Rage, and Burning Routes. In Stunt Runs, you must rack up a certain number of points within the time limit, through a combination of jumps, boosts, and drifts. Marked Man and Road Rage are inverses of each other. In Marked Man races, you must race to a certain destination without being destroyed by a fleet of enemy cars all trying to wreck you. In Road Rage events, you must wreck a certain number of vehicles before the time expires. Burning Routes are checkpoint races in which you compete against an opponent using the same vehicle as yours. If you win, you get an upgraded version of that vehicle. Some event types in the Big Surf Island location also use a checkpoint system, which makes up for its much smaller map area. In the game's early stages, you can mostly stick to whatever event type you feel most comfortable with, but as you progress and are tasked with winning more and more events to reach the next level, you will need to expand your horizons. As I discuss later, you also need to tailor your vehicle choice to event types, if you want to do well. The original Burnout Paradise was unique in that it didn't block off routes with artificial markers and did not clear traffic. The same holds true for the remastered version. In any case, both aspects lead to frequent crashes, which activates the crash camera. Basically, when you crash into another car or a stationary object (such as a building or a guard rail) at high enough speeds, the game triggers a slow-motion camera pan for a few seconds to show either your or your opponents' destruction. This effect prevents you from controlling your vehicle for several seconds. That might suit the Road Rage mode well, but in every other event type, and especially when just driving around, it is downright annoying. You cannot disable this effect in the settings. I agree that some sort of damage model is needed (and Burnout's is great), but the gameplay delay is wholly unnecessary. I wish Burnout Paradise included a menu system for selecting events (though you can use the map to look for them), rather than requiring you to drive to it. Thankfully, starting an event is easy: Just spin your tires at an intersection by pressing down on the gas and brakes at the same time. If you are in an event and don't want to finish it, just stop your car for a few seconds. Paradise City and Big Surf Island No racing game is complete without an immersive and memorable locale, and Burnout Paradise's Paradise City and Big Surf Island rank with some of the best, including Need for Speed: Most Wanted's (2004) Rockport. The total map size is not as expansive as that of Ubisoft's The Crew 2, for instance, but a map's substance is much more important. Plus, Burnout's insistence that you learn the map inside-out would not work on a much larger scale. Big Surf Island makes its debut on PC with the remastered version and it does not disappoint either. The coastal-themed island is full of tropical character and is a welcome addition to Paradise City's existing road network. Burnout Paradise's map is defined by jumps, super jumps, fences, and billboards to discover and smash through; the game even keeps track of your progress toward discovering them all. Additionally, you'll find tons of other compelling locales including tunnels, bridges, train tracks, construction sites, parking garages, a racetrack, a hydroelectric plant, a quarry, and an observatory, just to name a few. The best way to find these points of interest is to spend time exploring the map for yourself. A number of Drive-Throughs are scattered across the map too, including Junkyards, Gas Stations, Paint Shops, and Body Shops. Junkyards are where you can access your vehicle collection. Gas Stations refill your boost meter (great for Stunt Runs), Paint Shops get you a fresh coat of paint, and Body Shops repair any damage your vehicle may have taken on (helpful for Marked Man Events). I would have liked the ability to jump to a Junkyard from the map, but if you exit to the main menu and reenter Paradise City, you'll spawn back at the last one you visited. Furthermore, the ability to set a waypoint for a location would make it easier to get around without constantly consulting the map. Road Rules (Time and Showtime) add even more character to Paradise City and Big Surf Island. Every road on the map has a route time to beat; race from the start of a street to the end to record your time. The Showtime Road Rules challenge you to create as much vehicular destruction as possible. If you beat both the Time and Showtime Road Rules, you own the road. A Vehicular Fleet None of the cars you can drive in Burnout: Paradise are officially licensed recreations of real-life cars, but there are notable similarities. For example, the Nakamura Ikusa GT resembles a Nissan Skyline GTR. You can find online forums that link the Burnout vehicles to their real-world counterparts, if you are interested. Car customizations are basic. You can only change the decal style of the vehicle, the paint type, and the paint color. Need for Speed (2015) offered significantly more vehicle customization options. Each car is rated in three categories (Speed, Boost, and Strength) and has a boost type (Speed, Stunt, and Aggression). You should choose a car with appropriate ratings and a relevant boost type for certain events. For example, Speed Boost cars are good for races, Stunt Boost vehicles are best for Stunt Runs, and Aggression Boost autos excel in Marked Man and Road Rage events. Boosts differ in what fills them up and how they can be used. For instance, Speed Boosts can only be used all at once and are replenished by driving dangerously. Car ratings don't correspond to any numerical value and are instead relative to another. How fast does a two-circle rating car go? Fast. How about a car with a five-circle rating? Faster. Want specifics? Too bad; you won't find a speedometer in the HUD. Although the lowest-ranked cars are no slouches, it's a good strategy to switch to a newly unlocked vehicle every so often for a performance boost. Burnout Paradise's tight, grip-centric handling is a welcome change from the brake-to-drift mechanics of many modern racing games. Cars and bikes hug the pavement tightly, encouraging you to take corners aggressively without slowing down and to speed straight through any slight curves in the road. Don't expect simulation-style handling; Burnout Paradise is unapologetically an arcade racing title. The most unrealistic aspect of Burnout Paradise's handling is its aerial physics. Vehicles soar, flip, and roll off jumps with a notable disregard for the laws of gravity. As mentioned, you unlock new vehicles by winning events, but vehicles don't magically appear in your junkyard. Instead, you'll see these vehicles gallivanting across the map while you're driving around after you unlock them. You must shut these cars down (as you would any other opponent vehicles in the Road Rage events) to get them delivered to your Junkyard. Before you can apply any new paint jobs, you must also run your new car through a Body Shop to repair it. I appreciate that all the vehicles in the game are either unlocked from the start or can be earned through gameplay. I'm pleasantly surprised that EA didn't shoehorn some additional microtransactions into the game. Burnout Paradise Remastered includes all the previous DLC vehicles, including bikes, toy cars (miniature versions of the regular cars), legendary cars, boost special vehicles, cop cars, and Big Surf Island vehicles. Upgraded Graphics Does Burnout Paradise Remastered look up to spec compared with the latest and greatest in the genre, Forza Horizon 4? Not quite. The game thankfully includes some graphics updates over the original, with new textures, lighting and shadow effects, and better clarity. The PC, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X platforms also support 4K resolution and 60 frames-per-second gameplay. However, Burnout Paradise does not include dynamic weather (though it does feature a day and night cycle) and still lacks the variety and vividness of Forza's environment. The game's visual effects do, however, help build out the world. When opponents crash, for example, an intimidating trail of smoke follows. All the discoverable items are also marked with bright (and often-flashing) indicators to help guide your discovery. Vehicles have some cool effects too. For instance, your taillights flash to indicate when you should turn during a race; the street signs at the top of your screen flash to indicate this as well. On top of that, Burnout Paradise has arguably one of the most satisfying vehicle damage models I've seen. Cars crumple during collisions and various parts splinter off in spectacular fashion. Grid: Autosport's damage system is slightly more sophisticated, as vehicle damage can affect your ability to drive and steer. Sound Design Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" greets you each and every time you launch the game, but it only ever gets a little stale. The rest of the soundtrack features artists such as Avril Lavigne, Brand New, Jane's Addiction, Jimmy Eat World, LCD Soundsystem, Saosin, Senses Fail, and Soundgarden to name a few. The soundtrack is an excellent, upbeat mix of music that complements Burnout's fun, never-too-serious tone. Songs play on the fictional Crash FM radio show, hosted by DJ Atomika, who is a frequent player companion. The DJ provides tips and banter from time to time while you drive around. You can even find the Crash FM building in downtown Paradise City. Vehicles sound great, too. Engines roar, boosts shriek, and crashes sound just as devastating as they look. There's not too much in terms of environmental noise, though, aside from the surrounding traffic honking at you. Multiplayer Madness Burnout Paradise Remastered includes both local and online multiplayer modes. To start a local, pass-the-controller style game, click on the Start a Party option in the main menu. You'll get to choose how many players are participating (up to eight), the number of rounds (up to eight) and the event type (Stunt, Skill, or Speed), as well as pass and fail conditions. Each player gets a turn every round, and the player that racks up the most wins or points wins the tournament. Freeburn Online is a similar mode, except that you compete with players over the internet. You can host your own match or join someone else's group. The group leader can set up races, as well as a variety of other game modes based on the single-player events, such as Stunt Runs, Marked Man, and Road Rage. Online groups can also include up to eight players. As the game ages, it may become more difficult to find groups to join. This mode is similar to that of another Criterion game, Need for Speed: Most Wanted's (2012) online SpeedList system. PC Requirements and Pricing Burnout Paradise Remastered is available on EA's Origin store for $19.99, though it sometimes is available at a discount. Alternatively, you can subscribe to EA's play-all-you-want game subscription service, EA Access, starting at $4.99 per month to play the game for as long as your subscription is active. Please note that Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is available on Steam for $19.99, but it lacks the 4K graphics and Big Surf Island DLC. Burnout Paradise Remastered's requirements are quite accessible. The game only recommends an Nvidia GTX 750 Ti or AMD Radeon R7 265 GPU, an Intel i5 3570K or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X CPU, 8GB RAM, and 8GB of hard disk space. My gaming PC with a Ryzen 1700X processor, Radeon 580 graphics card, and 32GB RAM had no issues running the game at high settings and 1080p. On PC, you can opt for the keyboard or a controller option. Burnout, Don't Sell Out Burnout Paradise Remastered does not hold anything back from the player; the map is wide open, new vehicles are a constant, and the premise is refreshingly simple. The event types are all engaging as is the experience of exploring Paradise City and Big Surf Island at breakneck speed. I most appreciate how this remastered version recaptures the original's hectic racing action while bringing welcome visual upgrades. For more racing game coverage, check out our roundup of the best PC racing games. You can stay up to date with all the latest games we review by joining PCMag's Steam Curator page, as well. Burnout Paradise Remastered (for PC) Bottom Line: Burnout Paradise Remastered gains previously unavailable content and graphics enhancements, while maintaining the original's chaotic and engaging racing experience.

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