Criterion's 2008 open city game, with Showtime crashes, driveaway damage, Mugshots and a free-roaming layout that reshaped the Burnout series.
Burnout Paradise came out in 2008 from Criterion Games. It swapped the series' fixed courses for an open city where players could race, crash and explore freely, and it became the first Burnout title released for PC. Electronic Arts published it on three platforms.
Burnout Paradise is a 2008 racing game built by Criterion Games and released by Electronic Arts. Its setting, Paradise City, is a single open map where players can wander, pick events and crash spectacularly, a sharp departure from the fixed courses of earlier entries. It was also the first Burnout title to reach Microsoft Windows.
When did Burnout Paradise come out?
Paradise launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008, and the Windows edition followed. A demo had already appeared in December 2007 on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace, letting players test the open city before release. The series' first PC release was a late but significant addition to its lineup.
Electronic Arts published the game on all three platforms. The Windows edition used existing graphics technology, with enhanced visuals and support for several monitors at once, which gave widescreen players a wider field of view.
A racer that threw out the track, gave you a city to crash in and let you wreck a car for points.
Where did the open-world idea come from?
Alex Ward, the creative director, traced the concept to his experience with open-world games such as Crackdown, Test Drive Unlimited and Mercenaries. He noticed that Mercenaries gave players more entertainment than its designers had probably planned, because they could play around with small details of the world.
His design philosophy was that two people playing for an afternoon would end up doing different things. Leaning on discovery and exploration, the team built a racing game without defined tracks, an unusual choice at the time that has since influenced several other developers. Ward also saw the game as a social platform, which shaped its multiplayer formats.
Did EA back the open-world plan?
Not easily. Ward has said Electronic Arts was not keen on the open-world idea, and the Burnout series was seen as a less lucrative property than Need for Speed. He made the game as attractive as he could before release, and it sold more than one million copies in the first three months.
Ward has described the internal argument in interviews. The early progress gave him evidence to show his superiors that the ideas were sound, and the sales figures proved the point once the game reached shelves.
How did the open world change the racing?
Races began wherever a player happened to be. Players could join an event by stopping at a traffic light and pressing accelerator and brake together, and the open city became the setting for every activity. Players could take any route to reach a destination, which removed the sense of a fixed track.
Showtime replaced the old Crash Mode. Rather than staging one crash in a busy intersection, it asked players to bounce their vehicles around for as long as possible to rack up points. It could be triggered anywhere, at any moment, and the old dedicated arena disappeared.
The Easy Drive menu replaced the usual lobby system. While driving, a player pressed right on the D-pad to open a list of friends, invited them into the session and let the host choose the event. Mugshots captured the moment a driver was taken down, and the photograph was shown to both sides. The camera feature used a webcam on PC, a PlayStation camera on PlayStation hardware and Kinect on Xbox One.
How did damage and the garage work?
Crashes split into two outcomes. A car that kept all four wheels and an intact chassis could drive away, while a car that lost a wheel, overheated or landed on its roof was wrecked until it was reset. Cars carried manufacturer and model names loosely based on real vehicles, and customisation was limited to colour.
Driving through a paint shop changed a car's colour in real time, and driving through a gas station refilled the boost meter. A repair shop fixed damage automatically, so players could keep going without leaving the open world to visit a menu.
The driver's licence tracked records for every street, including the fastest time and the biggest crash. Completing events raised the driver's rank, which unlocked new cars, and cars deformed around the objects they struck, which gave every impact visible weight.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Criterion Games |
| Publisher | Electronic Arts |
| Platforms at launch | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows |
| Release | 2008 |
| Metacritic at launch | 88 out of 100 |
| GameRankings at launch | 88% |
| Remastered | 16 March 2018, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One |
| Switch remaster | 19 June 2020 |
Which updates changed the game?
Several free patches changed the game after launch. The Bogart update fixed glitches, the Cagney update added Freeburn modes, and the Bikes Pack introduced motorbikes and a day and night cycle. A later 1.6 update softened the vehicles for beginners.
Bogart reached Xbox 360 users on 18 April and PlayStation 3 users on 24 April. The PlayStation 3 timing meant that store exclusive cars could not be obtained on that platform for a while, which frustrated some owners.
The Cagney update arrived on 10 July for PlayStation 3 and 4 August for Xbox 360. It introduced a stunt score race, a tag game called Marked Man and team-based Road Rage, along with 70 new online challenges that began once everyone gathered at a point of interest.
The Bikes Pack came on 18 September, launching on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with two starter bikes, 70 bike-only challenges and Midnight Rides that appeared only at night. Trophy support followed on 25 September, and the 1.6 update on 5 February 2009 added an in-game browser and store.
What downloadable packs were released?
Paid packs added cars, areas and modes. The Burnout Party Pack came first, with hotseat challenges for players sharing a single controller. Legendary Cars, Boost Specials, Cops and Robbers and Big Surf Island followed through 2009. Each one added something specific, from film-inspired vehicles to a whole island.
Legendary Cars paid tribute to famous film and television vehicles, including a DeLorean-inspired Jansen P12 88 Special, a Ghostbusters-style Hunter Manhattan Spirit, a KITT-inspired Carson GT Nighthawk and a General Lee-inspired Hunter Cavalry Bootlegger. Boost Specials added the Carson Extreme Hotrod, billed as the quickest vehicle in Paradise, and the Montgomery Hawker Mech, which could switch between three boost types on demand.
Cops and Robbers borrowed the pursuit ideas of older Burnout games rather than using AI police. Teams returned gold bars to their own bases to score, and every Paradise car except the Carbon and premium cars received a police livery for the mode.
Big Surf Island, released on 11 June 2009, was an entire island built on a simple rule: anything you can see, you can drive. The Carson Dust Storm buggy was made for stunts, and new billboards, smash gates and mega jumps filled the island.
Did the game carry real-world advertising?
Yes. The original versions carried ads from brands such as Burger King, Nvidia and Gillette. From October 2008, billboards in the game promoted Barack Obama's US presidential campaign, which paid for the placements on the Xbox 360 version only. Brands like these gave the streets of Paradise City a recognisable real-world texture.
Electronic Arts confirmed the arrangement, and it was the first time a US presidential candidate had bought in-game advertising. The Remastered edition later replaced the real-world brands with fictional ones, so the streets look different on newer platforms.
How was the Windows version handled?
The PC edition offered enhanced visuals and the ability to play across several monitors. Players could link three 4:3 screens for a wider Polyvision view, and a free trial let them explore the full map with three cars before the thirty-minute limit ran out.
Saved data carried over into the full version, so anyone who tried the trial could keep their progress by buying the game. Criterion later disabled the optional online features of the original releases in August 2019.
What does the Remastered edition add?
Burnout Paradise Remastered arrived on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 16 March 2018, with a Windows release later that August. A Nintendo Switch version followed in June 2020, and the remaster bundled the downloadable content and supported resolutions up to 4K at 60 frames per second.
The remaster included all previously released content except the Time Savers Pack, which unlocked every vehicle without progressing through single-player. Critics rated it slightly below the original, with Metacritic scores of 82 out of 100 on PlayStation 4 and 79 on Xbox One.
How did critics respond at launch?
Reviewers were very positive. Metacritic averaged 88 out of 100 and GameRankings reported 88%, and several outlets named the game the best driving title of 2008. Writers praised the sense of speed and the openness of the map, while some criticised the lack of a restart option.
One reviewer praised the way the open world rewarded wandering, and another enjoyed the vehicle unlock system, which gave the player a new car with each licence and offered takedown challenges. Gas stations and body shops also drew praise for easing the pressure when a pursuit turned bad.
Restarting an event proved a sore point. Players had to fail the event, or stop the car and return to its starting point, before trying again. Criterion argued that a retry option would bring loading screens it disliked, but a later free update added the option anyway.
What awards did it earn?
Paradise won Best Driving Game from Spike TV, GameTrailers and GameSpot in 2008, and GameSpot also gave it Best Downloadable Content. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences named it Racing Game of the Year at its 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
The reputation grew beyond the awards circuit. Some commentators have ranked it among the finest games ever released, and academics have examined it in several papers, including studies of the reactions the game demands from players.
What is the legacy of Burnout Paradise?
Burnout Paradise is remembered as the point where the series became open-world, and as an early example of a racing game without fixed tracks. Its optional online services closed in August 2019, while the remaster kept the game available to a new audience.
The idea of racing without defined tracks influenced later developers, and the Burnout name kept its focus on speed and spectacular crashes. The game's approach to freedom, from Easy Drive to Showtime, shows how far a racer could go once the fixed track was removed.
