Burnout Paradise

I tried Burnout Paradise some years ago, and dropped it almost immediately. I can't remember why -- maybe it was the arcade-style handling, or the lack of pedestrians to mow down, or that goddamned Guns N' Roses song. Anyway, I gave it another shot and I'm actually having a lot of fun with it (especially with the in-game radio turned off).

As an open-world driving game, Burnout Paradise has less in common with Grand Theft Auto than it does with Saints Row -- not in terms of madcap zaniness, but in terms of having a ton of little activities scattered around the map. You upgrade your license by doing races, destruction derbies, and other key driving things, but there are also hidden shortcuts to find, boarded-up secrets to uncover, and uh, billboards to jump through. For the completionist explorer, this is a treasure trove.

Unfortunately, that's about all there is to the game. There's no story, and the "campaign" is just doing events to upgrade your license. (Okay, I guess there are multiplayer features, but -- don't care.) You could do worse than just having a big bucket of little things to do, but you could do better, too.

My other complaint is that it's too difficult to search for undiscovered secrets. Paradise City is pretty big, and there's no indication on the map of where you've found a jump, or a billboard -- so to track down ones you haven't found yet, even using a guide, you'll have to methodically search through the entire map.

Anyway. You can drive real fast, ramp over a drawbridge, and run opponents into guardrails. There's some real fun to be had here.

Progress: Class A license