I’ve been busy and I haven’t much to add to the discussion but I wanted to give props to @Ralizah and @Thrillho for their wonderfully organized thoughts. Good work guys. Keep ‘em coming. These reviews are some of my favorite things to read on Push Square.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Remasters often find themselves in a tricky position. Any goodwill from the memory of their original release is usually eroded by the superiority of similar games which have hit the market in their absence, leaving them looking outdated and outdone. Burnout Paradise, however, revs back on to the scene and finds it pretty much as it left it - while the PS4 is full to the brim with great games, the arcade racer genre has been strangely neglected in recent years. Even so, can a PS3 game (and an early one at that) really be expected to compete in this day and age, sporting little more than a new paint job and a fresh set of trims?
Burnout veterans who missed this instalment first time around may or may not be aware of the big change which this entry brought to the franchise - the open world. The setting is Paradise City (hope you like Guns 'n' Roses, you'll be hearing them a lot) and this will be your playground in which to cause motorised mayhem for the next fifteen hours, or thereabouts. As you cruise around in one of three vehicle types - stunt (all-rounder), speed (fast but flimsy) or aggression (bulky but slow) - you can trigger an event by pulling up at a junction, and these can be tackled in any order, thus effectively plotting your own route through the campaign. Progress is straightforward: unlike in real life, getting points on your licence is a good thing, with one point awarded for each successfully completed event. Enough points and you move up a rank. Simple.
There's a decent variety of event types on offer to help you earn these points. To begin with, there's regular 'Race' mode, although instead of being tied to a set course you are given a start and a finish point, with the route entirely up to you. 'Road Rage' mode is classic Burnout, which means racing takes second place to smashing seven bells out of your fellow motorists as you attempt to wreck other drivers by any means possible as you commit numerous violations of the Highway Code. 'Stunt Run' is exactly what it sounds like - pick a route with lots of ramps and jumps and throw your car about for maximum points, with the multiplier rising the longer you go without crashing. 'Marked Man' sees you drive from A to B while being harried and harassed by hired goons in sinister nondescript black cars, intent on taking you down; get to the finish in one piece and the win is yours. 'Burning Route' is effectively a time trial, while the much-loved crash mode returns, going under the moniker of 'Showtime', with the ability to trigger it anywhere you like.
While the variety of events is to be applauded, the open world can occasionally make them tough to navigate. The game does a poor job of explaining things, it has to be said - for example, this reviewer only discovered the option to retry events nine hours in, tucked away in the menus (admittedly this may say more about me than about the game itself). It's not until you've learned the layout a bit and tried a few races that you get a firm grasp on things, and you can expect plenty of pausing to check the map every ten seconds while you work out the best way to win a race, after realising the junction you need has just flashed past. You are guided through your early hours with the game by DJ Atomika, the resident Paradise City disc jockey on the frankly irresponsibly-titled Crash FM, who dishes out advice between tunes with varying degrees of usefulness as you zoom around town. Despite the occasional handy tip, his 40-something-masquerading-as-one-of-the-kids schtick may see you leaving your car in one of the city's multi-storey car parks, in the vague hope that some in-game chavs decide to make off with the radio. The soundtrack mostly comprises American rock, with the odd surprise (Adam Ant, really?) and will soon get old, but hey - that's what Spotify's for, right?
What doesn't get old, however, is the art of successfully carrying out a takedown. For those entirely new to the series, this involves ramming your opponent into the nearest wall/fence/bus and watching, in glorious slow motion, as they rapidly become a heap of crumpled metal, their windscreen disintegrating along with their no-claims bonus. The feeling never gets old and is a thrill which is unmatched on the PS4, with arguably the collisions of Codemasters' Onrush being the only thing to come close. When Burnout Paradise clicks, it really clicks, and is capable of hitting the highs which Burnout 3: Takedown reached all those years ago.
A range of collectibles offer some longevity. There are billboards and fences to crash through, although the overwhelming number of these destructibles can make them difficult to keep track of. The stunt jumps are better, with Paradise City's town planners showing an alarming lack of safety awareness by leaving some seriously big ramps blocked off by nothing more than a few cones, allowing you to embrace your inner Steve McQueen. Such leaps of faith are almost as fun to get wrong as they are to successfully pull off, given the automotive carnage which ensues upon a badly-timed landing. Better still, these jumps can be worked into the aforementioned 'Stunt Runs', meaning there are some ridiculous points totals to be had for those with no regard for their own safety, and they reach new levels of ridiculous on Big Surf Island, the original game's DLC pack which is included here, adding some value.
The online portion of the game is solid, without offering much of a reason to stick around for long. Various challenges can be triggered by the lobby's host, such as driving into oncoming traffic for a certain distance or smashing some billboards, while actual full-on races and road rages can get entertainingly chaotic.
To return to that initial question, then; Criterion's open world smash-em-up can indeed compete with the best the PS4 has to offer, although whether this is down to the game itself or the relative lack of competition is a question which hangs awkwardly in the air throughout your time with it. Such concerns fail to matter when the game is at its best, and there are hours upon hours of fun to be had here, but if Burnout Paradise does indeed take the title of 'best PS4 arcade racer', then it does so by default.
Score 8/10
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Ralizah@RogerRoger@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy The premise of the game is neat enough and I like to give games a go that have something original about them. There were a few pieces written about the game, including on this site, which led me to put it on my PSN wishlist. I was waiting for a price drop but it filled the criteria to be able to blitz it in one (long!) sitting so I took a punt.
And @Rudy_Manchego I don't make a habit of 8hr sessions normally! I just find I can concentrate more on a game I know I can finish when playing for one stretch like that, rather than playing 8hrs of Yakuza and feeling like I've not achieved anything substantial.
@Th3solution thanks for your kind words and you'll be pleased to hear I've got one more review to write to get up to speed with my recent completions!
@Gremio108 Ha, I enjoyed that read. Racing game do seem like a bit of a neglected genre for this generation; I don't think I actually own a single one. I'm not a huge fan of high tech simulation racers and Need For Speed Underground remains one of my favourite racers as it was just fun, and this game sounds like it fits that criteria (also, what a shame that newer NFS games sound like total pap).
I don't enjoy racing games other than Mario Kart, really. I've tried other kart racers, but the physics and items and tracks and whatnot never really feel right to me.
Realistic racing games are, imo, the most boring type of game outside of sports or flight simulators.
With that said, I do enjoy the Driver series. But those aren't racing games.
I loved the first game and picked this up in a PSN sale a while ago and it felt like a good change of style after finishing YK2 (yes, I went rogue and did my review for Observation before this).
The game doesn't shy away from bright colours. Or chickens.
Completion: 93% trophy completion with just the trophy for replaying the game on hard (I hate those trophies). 100% for each of the DLC packs.
Roughly 10hrs to finish my first run through the game and another 6hrs to do everything to achieve the good ending and complete the DLC.
A nice looking game and Juan looks suave in his Diablo suit
Story: Right, bear with me on this one. The game is a little out there with it's story and you'll have to take my word for it when I say it all makes sense when you're playing it.
The game picks up straight from the end of the first game. Well, it actually throws you into the final boss fight from the first game and continues from there (the boss fight is made much easier and the trophy I Remember That Being Harder pings up once you finish the easy fight).
Skip forward a few years and Juan is then off to fight the good fight to prevent the "Mexiverse" from collapsing as the evil luchador Salvador looks to obtain the secret relics required to access the Sacred Guacamole and become all powerful. Alongside the main storyline, you will also discover the secrets behind the Chicken Illuminati.
Yeah, it's a little weird.
Oh yeah, you can also transform into a chicken. As you do.
Gameplay: For those who don't know the games, the Guacamelee games are Metroidvania style with a good mix of platforming challenges and combat. New moves are acquired along the way which are used in combat and to open up new areas. These moves are pretty much all the same ones you got in the first game so it's just like putting on a pair of comfy Mexican socks as it all feels so familiar.
One thing I really appreciated here is that the in game maps colour code the walls that require special moves to get through so you can easily go back to them once you acquire the required move. However, there is a paucity of fast travel points so there is still a lot of backtracking involved to get to these areas.
One of the classic moves makes an early reappearance
Some of these areas have niche little tasks with one memorable one seeing you recreate the famous car smashing bonus round from Street Fighter, much to the dismay of the cars owner. The "dankest timeline" also throws up some well known memes with their own Mexican twist.
The game balances platforming and combat about right with good puzzle areas too which require using all your abilities to navigate. These never felt unfair and weren't so obtuse that you couldn't see what you are supposed to be doing; it's just your own failings as a gamer and a human being that stop you from doing them. The mechanic to swap between the living and dead worlds also returns and is used frequently in these sorts of platforming sections.
The combat itself is quite simplistic but very satisfying as you try to rack up big combos using basic attacks and grapples. The enemy types is varied enough to keep things interesting and the boss fights are also good fun but the final fight was a little easy for my liking.
The dankest of Mexican memes
DLC: The two packs that came with the complete edition include the "Enemigos" pack which allows you to play as some of the main baddies from the game. These are essentially just skins as they all have the same base moves as Juan but with some perks/flaws, such as giving more damage in the dead world but taking more in the living world for one character.
The second pack gives you access to the Proving Grounds which is the kind of thing I love and hate in equal measure. This gives you multiple bonus levels focused around combat of varying difficulty which all have their own unique twist, such as fighting on a treadmill without allowing enemies to fall off the end. These were all good fun and a reasonable challenge without being as tough as some of the levels on Rayman Legends or the infamous Path of Pain in Hollow Knight.
Obviously I got gold in all of them (eventually).
Who doesn't enjoy a Dark Souls reference?
Overall: I had great fun revisiting the world of Guacamelee. The game never takes itself too seriously and just about refrains from going over the top with the silliness. The good mix of platforming and combat makes this the sort of game I love.
While Hollow Knight is the Metroidvania game that has set the bar for these games, Guacamelee doesn't set out to be the same game and is possibly all the more fun for it.
Bonus video of one of the platforming sections that looks so much easier than it was.
@Thrillho I get where you are coming from. I feel a lot better about my gaming session if I feel I have achieved something in it, even if it is an arbitrary story mission or some target like finishing an objective.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
@Thrillho I really liked this game but it was also borderline in that any more frustrations and it might have pushed me over the edge. The stupid Jackson Pollock painting puzzle was ridiculous, and trying to find anything without a waypoint was torturous. Part of the issue is that nothing is explained to you in terms of puzzle solving, but you're the A.I. for the ship so you should know everything. You shouldn't be spending forty minutes randomly clicking black blobs on a computer screen wondering if this is the specific black blob you're supposed to be clicking on.
@Thrillho Yeah, racers have been a little neglected on PS4, at least the kind you're talking about. The kind where you can boot it up and just have some fun, without worrying about your tyre pressure. I love Dirt Rally but by the time I actually got the car out onto the track, I was exhausted. No pun intended.
@RogerRoger Cheers. I'm almost done with it, except I'll never really be done because it's such an easy game to dig out for a quick blast. And I've not really explored the jumps of Big Surf Island yet. I've only got one trophy left for the platinum, but it's that irritating 'meet up with seven other online players in the stadium' nonsense.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy If you've never played any other Burnout games then you'll probably enjoy it all the more. Definitely give it a go if you get chance.
@Ralizah If another Driver came out tomorrow, I think I'd buy it. It was just such a satisfying game to play.
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Thrillho@Gremio108 Great reviews, guys! Both are game genres that I don’t typically play much but the games seem to be top shelf both. The first Guacamelee just kinda frustrated me with the Metroidvania confusion and so I never finished it. My brain just wasn’t clicking with it. And I haven’t played a racing game for a while (except OnRush if that counts) but after watching “Ford v Ferrari” the other night I got a little bit of that racing game itch again.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Cheers! OnRush is the closest thing to Burnout Paradise on PS4 (although I haven't played Dangerous Driving so maybe that is). Imagine OnRush, but an urban version. OnRoad, if you will
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Rudy_Manchego Yeah, my normal gaming sessions are obviously a lot shorter and with something like Yakuza you can spend all that time running around doing stupid/menial things and not actually achieve anything.
@johncalmc I think I still enjoyed the game overall but, like you say, an AI system shouldn't really be so slow or bad at doing some of the tasks you get given in the game. I wouldn't want the game to hold my hand too much but being given clearer routes around such a small area would have been nice. The bits where you went out into space were also frustrating for the same reasons and I struggled to find the character outside for ages like you also mentioned in the review.
@Th3solution I'm a sucker for a game with good platforming, whether it's something like Rayman or Hollow Knight, and Guacamelee scratches that itch really well. The Metroidvania thing never bothered me too much and the combat in the game was just an added bonus really. Games like Super Meat Boy sound like they should be my thing but when the entire game is punishing I find it more annoying than enjoyable.
@Thrillho I just hate it when I hit a roadblock in a game and don’t know how to progress. After wandering through the same areas repeatedly looking for a door, key, or passageway to get to the next section Is maddening after a couple hours. I don’t mind the whole hubworld / shortcut style level design, but when you go back and forth not knowing where to go next, I tend to give up. I had that experience with Guacamelee and also with Muramasa Rebirth, among others with that 2D style. I think I have a mental block for some reason with these types of games. I guess I’m more of a 3D spatially oriented person.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Thrillho I can't remember what hyperbole I used in the review, but there's a bit where you have to go out of the station to find another astronaut and honestly I was on that bit for ages. It was so annoying. With a game so narrative heavy, where you really want to know what's going to happen next, stopping for forty minutes to float around looking for someone who's dressed in a white against a white backdrop is just infuriating.
The puzzles generally I thought were fine as most of the time they made sense. Swapping cameras or putting a fire out etc. But unless you're a scientist, some of them don't make sense. Most games handle messing around with hardcore scientific things by holding square or something and your character doing it automatically, or by simplifying things like circuitry into one of those puzzles where you move wires about to create a route for the electricity.
Here, some of puzzles give you a mad task to do using words you've never heard of and your only solution is to just click everything until you win. That's fine if you're like the chef or something trying to survive on a space station. But you're the A.I. You should know. And if you don't know, because you're not really an A.I., that's where the aforementioned simplification should come in.
I think I'm going to take a break from the Last Labyrinth on PSVR.
The puzzles you're presented with after the first credits scene can get pretty tough, and my brain is pretty worn at this point, lol. Due to the horrorish nature of the game, each failure really gets to you as well (not so much your own death, but the death of the little girl. It's never gory, but certain scenes of her body just going limp are quite disturbing, particularly the scenes with the guillotine & noose), which has also contributed to me wanting to put it down a little early. Still, I think I've gotten a pretty decent grasp at what's going on (story wise), so I'm pretty satisfied.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@KratosMD Glad you enjoyed Pokemon Shield. I'm (very slowly) working my way through the game. I'm not nearly as impressed with it as you are, although certain aspects are nice (I also really like the changes they made to the gyms, as well as the way wild Pokemon skitter around in the grass and interact with the player).
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