Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: Burnout Paradise City

[quote name="Fussbett"]I don't have much time for Caltrops this week, but if I did, I would write a huge review of Burnout Paradise City where I'd attempt to be clever. The tone would be "disappointed" mixed with "frustrated". Right off the top, or perhaps after a small intro paragraph, I'd inline a photo of me holding my Garmin GPS while it's displaying the disclaimer/warning screen: <center><img src="http://www.elsinga.net/gps/gps5faq/warningscreen.gif"></center> ...and then I'd savagely recount all of the goddamn pain involved with this new Burnout title, talking mostly about how Burnout Paradise City is more about high-speed GPS following than about racing. There would be a little hyperbole about how bad the bad things are, but I would leaven that with actual gameplay anecdotes to illustrate my points, justifying the extreme statements. The main complaints would be how important the map is to the gameplay, and how gratingly UNFUN it is to race with one eye on the fucking minimap. Choosing a sub-optimal route costs you first place, and one wrong turn means you'll come in last place. Burnout used to be about the zen of going a million miles an hour and skimming oncoming traffic, but all my races in BPC are about finding the fucking offramp (at a million miles an hour). The second complaint is how Paradise City is also a living menu system metaphor. Driving across town for a minute to do a specific Burning Route or switch your car at the junkyard is absurd. It's the world's longest menu, or put another way, what interfaces might be like if VR actually took off.[/quote]