Racing games have never been my passion in the same way that Keiran and other members of the PG staff enjoy them. However, I have very fond memories of the Burnout franchise because I am an absolutely terrible driver, and the Burnout franchise can reward you for high speeds, crashing, and stunts. So when Burnout Paradise Remastered was unveiled for the Switch, I was excited to revisit the series, though I’m not sure that I am all that fond of some choices made in this one.

Burnout Paradise Remastered seems to require an internet connection, specifically being logged in to EA’s servers, in order to play. This is (it seems) by design, as Burnout Paradise takes you around Paradise City, doing events in order to raise your Burnout License ranking. You can play alone or you can challenge players online, and compete for high scores or compete in races. Personally, I prefer playing alone and you can do that well enough but to have to be online, even when playing solo, is somewhat annoying.

There are a multitude of events to undertake, including Stunt Runs, which ask that you do jumps and other maneuvers to get a certain amount of points in the time limit. There are also Marked Man challenges, which ask that you get to a location, without being taken down by other cars that are gunning for you. That doesn’t even take into account regular races, burning routes, and the other myriad of event options that you can participate in.

By completing a certain number of events, you can raise your License ranking and unlock new vehicles. Most vehicles have to be taken down in the open world of Paradise City in order to unlock them, but there are some you get for completing events or simply ranking up.

Paradise City is beautiful, though there are a few things missing from it that I wish were more accessible. For one, there is a map, but there is no way to set a waypoint to a specific event or fast-travel closer to an area you want to do events in. Furthermore, if you fail an event, you have to drive all the way back to it, rather than simply having a restart button.

Something else that I find very annoying is that Burnout Paradise Remastered doesn’t have any sort of options menu. There is no way to adjust in-game volumes, including that of the music from the radio or the in-game narration, which is sometimes hard to hear. There’s also the fact that you can’t remove songs from the in-game radio station, so you constantly have to skip over songs you don’t like. Granted, there are plenty of solid songs in the game, so the in-game radio isn’t all bad.

It should also be noted that Burnout Paradise Remastered has all 8 expansions to the original game included. This includes Burnout Bikes and Big Surf Island, which contains new locations, new challenges, and vehicles. You can play in both online multiplayer (with up to 8 players) and Local multiplayer as well.

There are over 150 vehicles that you can unlock, though switching between vehicles is somewhat frustrating. Instead of it being tied to a menu, or an easy to access area, you must go to one of four junkyards that are scattered around the map. With no waypoints, this becomes time-consuming when you might just want to switch things up a little.

On top of that, every car you look at when you’re in a junkyard has to load in. So, you spend a lot of time waiting for each car to load in, so you can pick the one you want to drive. I ran into a few laggy moments as I played, which is probably because my internet isn’t the best. However, this is why I am somewhat against “always online” console games. If you don’t have a stable connection and you’re playing by yourself, why do you need to be online at all?

Overall, I will say that despite the issues I have with the game, Burnout Paradise Remastered is a great arcade racer. Is it the Burnout experience I was looking for? Not entirely, Burnout 3 had a tighter, more enjoyable experience. However, there is something to be said about being able to drive around the open world of Paradise City too.

As a chill game, a time-waster, or something to play with friends and family, Burnout Paradise Remastered works. I’m not sure how viable taking the game on the go would be and maybe I’m wrong about it being always online, but it sure doesn’t seem that way. If the game does play offline in some way I couldn’t figure out, then I think it is a great game to take with you on the go. A few races on a bus or plane will help pass the time quite nicely.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Burnout Paradise Remastered was provided by Electronic Arts for this review.

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Burnout Paradise Remastered

$19.99 USD

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful Open World
• Tons of Cars and Bikes to Drive
• Lots of Things to Do and See

Cons

• Seemingly Always Online
• No Waypoints on Map
• No Quick Restart for Failed Events

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