Burnout Paradise

Your "progress" in Burnout Paradise is represented by the level of your license -- winning events, in addition to unlocking new vehicles, gets you closer to a new, higher-class license. It's a little contrived, since the only thing a new license actually accomplishes is to reset events, allowing you to ... win them again for the next license. But as you progress, faster vehicles become available, and your opponents become faster and more aggressive as well.

If it was just that simple, it would be a fine excuse to continue exploring the map and vent your road rage. But at high speeds the game becomes ludicrously difficult: turns are virtually impossible to take (sometimes, even to see) and the slightest steering error will send your compacted wreckage careening through the air. A dedicated racing gamer probably won't mind, but for me, it's practically unplayable.

With that frustrating ceiling on the license game, and the lack of friendly map indicators making it impossible to reasonably search for yet-unfound secrets, my enjoyment of Paradise has gradually petered out. But it has made me curious about Criteron's Need for Speed entries.

Better than: Excite Truck
Not as good as: Sleeping Dogs
Probably not very appropriate comparisons: so I don't play racing games, whatever.

Progress: Gave Up -- Class A license