One of my favourite things to do is driving. I just love jumping in the car and driving around aimlessly. It's a great stress killer and gives me something to do on a sunny day when I get bored. The only thing that spoils it are some of the other idiots on the road. Whether it's the idiot with the Beemer that doesn't realise that they are capable of doing under 100mph or the wannabe boy racers in their Ford Fiestas with plywood spoilers attempting to burn anyone who happens to look in their direction at the traffic lights, I have often dreamed of ramming their cars into a wall, other cars or simply just burning them off. Unfortunately, the local police have a slight issue with people who do that so I had to be content with my dark desires. Well until now that is.

Burnout is one of a series of games that I previously had a severe dislike for. The graphics looked a little too plastic, the physics and handling weren't the best and to be honest the games were totally infuriating. It wasn't until Buggy came home from a days shopping last year, clutching a copy of Burnout : Takedown that I actually wondered whether I may have misjudged. I need to digress a bit here, but most of the point of Takedown was to crash into the AI opponents and, well, take them down. It was kind of road rage in a box. So it was with great delight that I got Burnout Paradise.

Burnout Paradise doesn't have a story to it. You're basically one guy in a big city and apart from gaining all the licences by winning races, there is no other real aim. The lack of story though doesn't really stop it from being a great game. To be honest, actually having some sort of story would have probably detracted from the whole thing, while the open ended format works quite well.

So let's have a look at the graphics. I'll be honest, visually it is quite good. They're not the best graphics ever (take a look at Gran Turismo Prologue and you'll see what I mean), but they do really make use of HDMI. They're crisp and clear and some of the effects that are used really do look good. They've also done some work on the surroundings so you never have the road that is noticeably the same in two places and the buildings aren't just cardboard cut-outs as a lot of other games have. Yes, there are buildings and things that are duplicates, but the variation is there and it looks more like a proper city as opposed to a toytown remake. The lighting is also spot on as are things like reflection and shimmer so it looks decent. One downside is all the cars are driverless, but considering that it's family friendly I don't think having drivers getting mangled along with the cars would be too good. The best part though is when you crash.

Crashing has always been the big draw for the Burnout series. You can get some absolutely awesome crashes and you really feel the metal crumpling. Ever wanted to see what happens to a car when you go boosting into a bus? Well now you can. You'll see the car flipping and spinning while it's smashing into other cars and bits are getting ripped off as the roof is totally flattened and other drivers swerve like mad to get out of your way (often creating massive pile-ups in the process). The sheer carnage is beautiful and fun.

So lets check out the what races we can do. In BP you have 5 main types of race.

Race : You versus 1 or more cars. First across the line wins. Play fair or foul and ram your opponents for the advantage.

Stunt Run : Perform stunts and rack up the points and multipliers.

Marked Man : Get from point A to point B while being hunted down by other cars. Crash or get taken down too many times and you lose.

Burning Route : Use a certain type of car and beat the timer for a mark on your licence and an upgrade.

Road Rage : Oh the most fun by far. Takedown enough cars to win the race. Met the target? Oh well, just carry on and see how many you can take out.

As the city is all open there are no set tracks as such. If you don't mind coming last then you could drive around every street and all the nooks and crannies. This was one of my pet hates though when I first got it. There are 8 points a race will end at (the major landmarks of the city) and it's mainly up to you as to how you get there. At first it is disorientating as you really need to learn where everything is in relation to everything else. The first few times you'll get lost and botch it up until you realise that the location direction is marked on the compass at the top of the screen, and there is also a recommended turning point that flashes up as you approach it. Also, keep an eye on the distance counter as once it starts to increase then you know you're either on the wrong road or you're heading in the wrong direction. After a while though, it becomes less of an issue as you get used to the layout of the city and used to keeping an eye out for the directions flashing up.

Once a race is won then you need to find another race. Simply use the map and drive to an area where there is an intersection with traffic lights and there will be a race there. There are around 120 races in the city and these are reset when you get a new licence after completing X races. The races stay the same, but will have faster cars and higher targets. For the early part of this game, it means you can get the first few licences (there are 8 in total starting at the beginner, D to A class and then the S, SS and Elite class) simply doing races you know you can handle, but as you progress you need to start doing more races.

If the usual opponents wasn't enough to deal with, there are also other drivers in the city. These vary from your normal cars to vans, trucks and buses. They're mainly there for the races and to add that extra difficulty, but there is also another function - the Showtime Mode. After a few races the Showtime Mode is unlocked and you can activate it at any time. Once activated the car flips and the whole point is to bounce along the road causing absolute carnage by flipping and bouncing into other cars until the 'groundbreaker' runs out. For each car you hit, your groundbreaker meter fills up a little more and for each 'landmark' you reach (i.e 10 cars, 20 cars etc) if replenishes itself. If you hit signs or buses you get a bonus or multiplier which can make a massive difference to your score at the end. You get to see the distance travelled in this mode as well as the cars and damage you can do. I think the longest I managed to do was around 3 minutes and I got a massive score thanks to buses and signs as well as the inner city congestion. There is no real purpose to this, apart from a bit of fun, but it's a great stress releaser.

Buildings and structures play a great part in BP and in addition to the obligatory ramps and other usual things, car parks have been added. Car parks are great for stunt races or just having a bit of fun as you can get some serious airtime in them. Just launch of a roof and see what happens. They also have a dual function as you have a billboard target as well as smash target and super jump target. These targets are basically things that give you bonuses if you find them all. I can't remember how many billboards there were (I think about 70 odd), but there are 400 smash targets (gates that you crash through) and around 50 super jumps (basically massive jumps). These all go on the awards section of the menu so you can see where you're at in relation to them all.

There are also little shortcuts as well which can shave massive amounts off your time. These are handy to find and usually located behind a smash gate. Once you find them, remember them as they tend to come in handy in either Burning Route or races. Off road shortcuts are also handy in Marked Man races as the hunter cars won't go along these if they can help it.

Every now and again, other cars will enter the city. These are added as you win races and are easily identified by the erratic way they drive and are your main source of car upgrades. You get alerted when they enter and then sooner or later you'll run into them. When you do you just need to chase them down and ram them off the road (or into other cars) to get the car.

When you get other cars they turn up at the junk yard. The junk yard is basically your garage and there are 5 dotted around the city which you need to find. Your starter car is pretty pants and as you progress you get the better cars. The problem is the first time you drive a car it's basically a wreck on wheels so you need to get to an auto repair shop. The auto repair shops fix the car and they're also handy if you take damage in a Marked Man or Road Rage event, as you can drive into them mid-race and have the car patched up. Also located around the city are spray painters (for the cool new look) or petrol stations (for boost refills). During races the only thing you'll be interested in are the petrol stations and auto repair, but the paint shop comes in handy for just cruising.

The handling is a weird hybrid of arcade and simulation. If you think of the Gran Turismo series you kind of get the idea. All the cars handle differently too, and have different strengths and weaknesses depending on their class (speed (for races), stunt or agression (for Road Rage and Marked Man)). One thing you will notice though is that there are no actual 'brand' cars in there. There are no Fords, Volkswagens, Ferraris or anything similar. What you have is cars that look like them, but have a different name. I'm not sure whether the producers, Criterion, didn't want to shell out for the licensing so they could use brand cars or whether the car manufacturers weren't too happy about licensing the cars to be used to smash up other cars. It doesn't really make a difference, but if you like a branded cars then forget it. There is no customisation which makes a refreshing change from the 'pimp my ride' collection of games that have been released recently. Yes, you can change the colour scheme of your car, but that's about it.

Audio wise, the game has an eclectic soundtrack. The soundtrack consists or mainly rock and industrial techno infused with some of the tunes from the previous Burnout installments. Most of the bands you will recognise such as Guns'n'Roses, Adam & The Ants, Jane's Addiction and Avril Lavigne (if you can call the tripe she produces music), as well as a few lesser known artists. Interspersed with this is the hyperactive and sarcastic DJ Atomika and the fictional Crash FM. It is nice to see that they haven't just opted for the latest chart stuff and have actually included a few classics as well.

As far as multiplayer goes, you're stuck with online only. This is where the game is let down as well. I've noticed that if a participant in the races drops out then the race gets cancelled, or if the host of a room decides to wander off and do whatever then you get thrown into offline. I can understand if the host of the room disconnects, then quitting out, but not if a player drops out. The other downside is if you've got a couple of kids with USB mics connected to their PS3s. There have been a few times that I've had little kids just chatting utter nonsense over the mic while racing. In one memorable race there was a kid who decided to do nothing but swear and curse constantly all through the race, and in another race an idiot who sang the Thomas The Tank Engine tune constantly, both in and out of races. Kids - it's not big and it's not clever so give the gob a rest and concentrate on driving. As far as actually playing online, it's not bad and the lag is kept to a minimum, but if you're downloading on the PC while playing this then you may notice a lot of problems.

So, overall, the game is great. Yes, it has some minor flaws, but from what I understand, these are going to be addressed in future patches (source : Criterion). If you like smashing and crashing your way through a city with no real story, but heaps of playability then you should get this game. If you're looking for something more 'structured' then this may not be for you.

My rating : highly recommended.