As long as the genre has existed, I have always hated racing games. The only reason I wasn’t chomping at the bit to compete in the Nintendo World Championships was my contempt for Rad Racer. Looking back at those automobile-based games that I did enjoy, they were always combat-focused with tiny vehicles: Spy Hunter, RC Pro-Am, Badlands, Mario Kart 64, etc. In other words, I could only enjoy a racing game if it wasn’t really about racing and was wildly unrealistic. At least, that was until I saw Burnout Paradise in action.
Here is a racing game that seems custom-made for me. There are no formal tracks to navigate lap after lap and no tedious shopping/customization system. Instead, I have a wide-open city and the keys to a car. I am free to head anywhere I want.
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Burnout Paradise is only “realistic” in the loosest sense. The cars resemble actual brand-name automobiles, Paradise City is clearly set on the planet Earth, and if you crash head-on into a wall at 100MPH, you car is totalled. Beautifully, gloriously totalled in slow-motion so you can watch the crumple zones collapse and the wheels fly off. If you ram another car into the wall, you get the same effect with the added satisfaction of a job well done.
Burnout Paradise is Grand Theft Auto 3 minus the Theft. Indeed, there are no people anywhere to be seen in this city, either on the streets or behind the wheel (no doubt a ploy to keep the ESRB rating lower than M). This detracts a bit from the thrilling crash sequences but not from the game itself. Whatever flaws it may have, Burnout Paradise made me reverse a lifelong negative opinion of an entire class of video games. If that’s not enough to qualify for Best Xbox Racing Game, I don’t know what is.
Daniel Feit was born in New York but now lives in Japan, where he teaches English to Japanese children and writes for Wired Game|Life and Film Junk. Follow him on Twitter @feitclub or visit his website, feitclub.com.