Burning for You

While the open-world approach of Burnout Paradise has some fans of the racing series nervous, the proof, one of the game's producers says, is in the playing.
1/20/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

Cannon: As I've already said, we have Race and Road Rage, along with two great new modes. There's Marked Man, which is all about surviving from Point A to Point B while menacing black cars try to take you down. The beauty of this mode is that by knowing where the shortcuts are you can avoid your enemies, as they tend to stick to the open roads. In Stunt Run, it's all about scoring the most points through jumps, spins and barrel rolls. The great thing about both of these modes is that your knowledge of the city will give you an advantage because knowing the nearest shortcuts or the routes with the biggest jumps is pivotal to your success.

Crispy Gamer: In the footage of the game I've seen, and all the demos I've played, I've only seen sports cars. Are there other kinds of vehicles in the game?

Cannon: There's a great variety of cars in the game. As you've seen, we have plenty of sports cars, as in all previous Burnout games. However, we've also included some of our favorites from the past such as the Gangster car and the Classic from Burnout 2. There are also pickups, SUVs and even a big van. This is definitely the most varied collection of cars we have ever had. In addition to this, there are three different classes of cars from which to choose: Aggression, Stunt and Speed cars. Choosing the right car for a particular event will give you the upper hand; it also really adds to the overall experience.

Crispy Gamer: Now how do the online and multiplayer modes work?

Cannon: Online is an incredibly important part of the game, and the first thing that we wanted to do with it was to make it easy to get online, as many people find it a daunting experience and just don't do it. As I said, we hate sitting in lobbies, so we've gotten rid of them. You can now connect online while playing your game. It's probably the first game where you might go online by mistake. The focus of the online experience is playing socially with your friends, as there are 350 co-operative challenges in the game. Obviously, you can still play with people all over the world, as you can connect with up to eight players online in Race and Showtime modes, but the default is your friends list.

Crispy Gamer: One thing you are doing online is something you're calling 'Mugshots,' which has the PS3 Eye camera or Xbox Live Vision take a picture of you when someone wipes you out. What inspired this?

Cannon: We think the cameras are really cool and no one is really taking advantage of the technology. As our online focus is playing with your friends, we felt that using the cameras really added to the social aspect of the game. If I take someone down, and they have a camera, we take their Mugshot, showing their face at the point of impact. We also have Smugshots for when you beat a Road Rule, and a Photo Finish, which is a picture taken of the winner of an online race. Finally, part of the single-player progression is to upgrade your Driver's License, and you can personalize this with a picture of yourself using the cameras.