Once I learned the map, I didn't spend much time looking at the map. Plus I got a lot better at taking quick glances.

One thing I never did get used to however was watching myself crash. It's very well done, but after the first few times, it became a waste of time. Although it was great to stretch the fingers out for a few seconds before beginning again.

Funny as hell.

I agree with some of the criticisms (the map caused me many crashes and not being able to restart is a problem) but the game is not broken. I haven't enjoyed a racing game this much in a long time. The difficulty ramps up at a very good pace and you seem to get the cars you need in time with the difficulty increases. Exploring an open world was a brilliant idea and I can't wait for the islands to be added. I thought I would stop playing after getting my A license and clearing all the jumps, billboards and gates but I haven't. I am well on my way to the Burnout license and don't think I will stop. The game is just to much fun to play.
Are parts of the game flawed? Yes.
Is the game bad? No. The sum of the parts makes up for the flaws and then some.

Also, it is critical to ween yourself from the minimap as quickly as possible. That is why driving the city over and over to learn it is important and also why you should be watching your turn signal during a race. That is a quick indicator of a turn and much more reliable than the map.

What's great is the developers fooling people into thinking there is a racing game buried in the open world exploring. Seriously, there are like six races. Race to the stadium. Race to the bay. Race to the Farm. The map becomes second nature because you're racing to the same damn place a dozen times. There's more racing variety in a Mario Kart game.

Oh well, I've said my piece and haven't popped it in since the week it came out.

I get the criticism of the game and don't fault anyone for it. What they did with the game clicked with me, but I get why it doesn't for some. I've been on the other side of the fence with games people loved that I just couldn't stand. Most games have flaws and I can definitely see how the ones in this game could put people off.

Looks like there'll be some free paintjob DLC coming soon.

http://xbox360.qj.net/Burnout-Paradi.../49/aid/115373

I wonder if they plan on pulling anything off the original "in-progress" map for use as the DLC...

I'd imagine the answer would be yes as isn't it new islands accessed by traversing bridges? Sure looks like what that is on the map you posted.

The latest DLC News is that the islands will be free!

While the DLC islands will be free, other upcoming content packs will charge a fee:

I would pay money for these two things:

- a retry option
- some sort of race barrier that keeps you from having to look at the map

those two things would improve this game exponentially. But I doubt they'd to that, as it would be like admitting defeat.

When they add a retry option, I'll likely pick this game up based on the fun you guys all claim it is

Your second point is what Burnout is and always has been about. How a bunch of nerds sitting around a table decided to do otherwise is just mind blowing. Don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a video game.

I disagree to a point. The races do have the same 8 finish lines, and yes you
can learn the ending strips fairly easily, but it's the starting locations that
completely change the routes you'll need to take to get to the areas you're
familiar with.

Which license did you unlock? I'm just wondering as earlier I commented on
cherry picking the events near the finish lines to get the initial 2 or 3 licenses
(since you only need relatively few wins to advance) and that certainly does
adhere to what you're saying as you just float the outer rim of the map, but
once you need to get all 120 wins for the elite, practically the entire map will
need to be traversed. And with that I'm finding a far greater need to pop the
select button at the start of each race to (at least attempt to) plot my
course. The ranch to the stadium is a lot easier than somewhere northwest
of the dam to the stadium even though they have the same finish line.

And while this may seem like I'm defending the game to those who haven't
played it, trust me, I'm not. The fact that the routes are varied combined
with the game's current play mechanics makes for a huge frustrating shit-fest
when it comes to actually wanting to complete all the events.

Last I checked I was either halfway or two thirds of the way to my A license. I'll go back to it, but coming off 60+ hours sunk into Revenge, Paradise pales in comparison.

I never cared for Revenge, the car checking took the challenge away for me.
I loved Takedown though and Paradise has nothing on that. Many a night turned
into dawn for me playing that one online.

I'm thinking about picking this one up. I haven't played a burnout game since the orginal one came out on the first xbox (which I loved).

I plyaed the demo of paradise and wasn't rally into it but then again, I was feeling like shit that night and didn't really care either.

Couple of questions:

- Can you stream your own music from your 360 hard drive into the game?

- I watched a video for the burnout revenge review and there was a really cool looking option called 'Nuclear' or something where you would destroy a bunch of cars in a pile up with a huge explosion - can you do this in paradise?

Thanks.

You can listen to your own music with pretty much any Xbox 360 game.

I got my Burnout License finally and have 62 cars unlocked. My interest is finally starting to dip so I look forward to the DLC. I have a 2-3 more burning routes available and will probably try for those. Some of the alternate paint jobs are worth the effort.

I guess I fall into the minority of people who love this game (and I'm still only playing the demo).

I dl the revenge demo and did not like it too much.

Not sure If I was just fortunate from getting into Paradise from the get go or not but I have no complaints about the graphics (although a true time cycle would have been very nice), I think the crashes are done very well, and I love the challenge.

After playing through the Vegas (1) demo then playing the full version of Vegas 2, I was pretty dissapointed so this one has been bumped up to the top of my list.

The crashes do look great, but you see them so often that it would be nice to turn them off.

I'm up to 72 cars now and have completed all the burning routes available until I unlock more cars. The game definitely isn't as much fun after you get the Burnout license. Traffic is just freaking everywhere and I've lost many a race simply because an AI traffic car in front will swerve or turn right when I'm trying to pass or just appear out of nowhere and clip me. They really should give the option to turn the traffic off for the pure races. I'm fine with it for the other modes, but there are so many burning routes and races you have to run perfectly to win that it is a real pisser that they toss all that crap on the road randomly.

I have 55 events left to complete and it seems an impossible task especially the stunt runs. I have been doing okay on races and my favorite car is now the V16 Revenge with its near perfect balance of speed and control. I also love the Steel Wheels Carson you get with the code for Marked Man and Road Rage. Another car with a good balance of speed and control and its tough as hell.

That DLC can't come fast enough though. I'm ready for some new places to drive.

Ok, I've been playing the hell out of this game as of late and have been loving it.

I hear a lot of complaining about having to pause the game to check the map during races....ok, that's a fair complaint but I have not had do it once yet - I just listen for the blinker, check the map quick in the lower right and make my turn. Even off the beaten path I've won a few.

I am however a little frustrated with the map during individual car challenges - gets frustrated and I have not yet wanted to take the time to find a quick route.

Marked man is cool.......and even cooler when you win.

Road Rage is great - I'm pretty good at it if I don't say so myself

Stun runs are kinda meh and just there for a quick event win......which is ok.

Showtime is cool but something more could have been added. Not sure what, but definitely something more.

The Demo really underminds this game and I would recommend people rent this first before deciding to buy.

What I would love to see in the next burnout game is the ability to have a driver in the car, stop the car, get out and walk into any building and have a nice "free roam" maybe stop and enjoy a drink - throw other people in there to give you tips on shortcuts etc... Stop at an arcade, a museum....etc - why not? EA went through the trouble of creating a massive city why not add to it?

I'm still playing it. I have 76 cars unlocked and I'm 29 events away from the Elite. I finished up all the Marked Man and almost all the Road Rages which are my favorite. The only thing I don't like are the cars they saved last. Kind of meh.

On the higher tiered license races the cars are far more aggressive and that
split second you glance at the map is almost always a guaranteed crash. You're
driving too fast to use the brakes and wham, a car in traffic spawns in front of
you, or decides it would be a great time to cross the intersection.

I'm playing on the PS3, not sure if that's how it is on the 360, but it sure is
for me. Until this last tier all you had to do was not use the boost and you'd
pretty much win (it rubberbands like a mother if you use boost), not so on
the final tier, you actually have to drive fast and not crash, especially
towards the end.

I'm about the same. The burning routes were way too easy this go-round, I
remember them on part 3 being difficult to the point where you had to boost
non-stop and run a perfect line.

I've only had problems on a couple of them. The 500 GT and Carson GT. I just couldn't get the 500 GT for the longest time. Seemed to crash right when I would have the race under control and end up 1-2 seconds short of making it. Took me a dozen tries for 500 GT and probably 6-7 for the Carson GT. Outside of those two the rest I have gotten on the first or second try.

With all the traffic I'm glad we don't have to run perfect lines and boost the whole way in this version. I really don't need the game any harder personally.

I drove the Uberschall 8 for awhile today and beat 5 more races to get me to 24 events remaining. The problem for me is stunt runs. I have avoided most of them the entire game and now I have a bunch keeping me from getting the Elite license. I should at least be able to unlock the Racing WTR and that is my goal now.

BTW, the rumored patch coming soon is supposed to add custom soundtracks to the PS3 version. Hopefully that is true because I've played this thing 40 hours so far and the in game music is very old at this point.

Is that a feature on any PS3 game so far? I'd love it to become standard on
everything. As for Burnout getting it via a patch... don't tell me you're sick of
Avril Lavigne (sp?) Is it just me, or out of the 70 tunes are there only like
10 or 20 in the actual game-playing rotation (I know the classical ones play
during pauses and such) even though everything is checked off to play on
the options screen? It seems like once an hour I get tag teamed by the before
mentioned pop regurgitation and one or two others.