Bunrout Paradise

It's a trip down memory lane.

Remember when you could do cool Signature takedowns?
Remember when Avril Lavigne wasn't on the soundtrack?
Remember when crash mode was an interesting puzzle?
Remember when crash mode was not tacked on?
Remember when the soundtrack wasn't 50 dudes doing their best AFI impression?
Remember when you didn't need to be good w/ the Reverse button to navigate?
Remember when it took 1 second to restart a race?
Remember when SSX had Rahzel in it?

That was awesome. Back then.

Now, we've got an open world. And the only thing more annoying than running through one to get someplace is driving. Sure for most of it it's fast and fun, but then you miss a turn and have to slam on the brakes, bang into a wall, reverse and dick around to get your position correct. What fun.

Then Avril Lavigne comes on and tells you she's hot.

There's a litany of moments like this, little flicks to the nuts, all to accommodate the "open world". They even hired the dude that replaced Rahzel in SSX 3 when that game when "open world" and lost much of the life it had for me.

Yeah, the world's open. It affords a few neat opportunities. I like smashing up cars to win them, I like that I can pick up a challenge and go anywhere. But I miss the style of it all. Taking out five rivals at once (far as I can tell you can only off one guy at a time, even if it looks like you took out two or three). I miss the design of the old game, the novelty of trying to knock a car into the lake or figuring out how to cause 12 million in damages.

The cars feel great, and Burnout's still the only place for non-sim racing. But much of what made the series great has been shoveled out of the way so we can all relive our Midnight Club 2 fantasies.

2 stars.