Criterion responds to Burnout Paradise demo feedback
Last week saw the release of the much anticipated demo for Burnout Paradise and while many enjoyed the new additions presented in the sampler, namely the introduction of free-roaming gameplay, there was quite a few that had a beef with various aspects of the game. Sick of the growing number of criticisms, Alex Ward and the rest of the Burnout team recently decided to answer some of the “misconceptions floating around”.
First of all, the team wants everybody to know that any feedback made with regards to the demo will have no effect on the final version of the game, as “the demo was made AFTER work on Paradise was completed”. Next, the Criterion folks made it clear that the Burnout Paradise demo was, well, just a demo and should be treated as such:
Everyone breathe, relax, and remember, it’s only a demo - we think we made THE best demo released all year - you don’t see many other games getting an online enabled demo up on both systems before launch.
Personally speaking, I don’t believe it is possible to even capture the essence of this new Burnout experience (and I use the word ‘experience’ there deliberately because this new Burnout is an experience that YOU choose how to play rather than us forcing a game structure on you - when the rest of you get to play the full game I am confident you will agree) in a single demo. So we picked a couple of things and a small area in which to play.
For those comparing Burnout Paradise to other open-world racing games, such as Test Drive Unlimited, the team emphasizes that it is “not some other game”. The same goes for fans of the previous iterations in the Burnout franchise, particularly Burnout 2:
As we have said many many times already this year - each Burnout is a reflection of who we were AT THAT TIME. And times change and so do we. We don’t see this with many other games - they often do one thing and then stick to it. Whereas Burnout has always and will always be about evolution. We’re quite open about this, and we’ve said it many times and in many interviews so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone really. Just because we do something in one game never means it may or will come back in another.
As to those who can proclaim from a taste of the demo that Burnout 2 was the best game (always nice to see all those Gamecube owners on the internet who haven’t played the game since B2! ) or that B3 is the better game - again, I can only smile. Those of us who have made the games dearly love those games but we’re confident that if you love those games too then you will love Paradise. All of the B2 stuff is in there (and all of the original music including the never before heard original B3 soundtrack) - it’s a WAY WAY better game than B2 or B3. At least that’s the way we feel about it.
Moving on, the Burnout team turns to criticisms related to the new approach the series is taking, including the major overhaul of the Crash Mode (now known as Showtime). By adding free roaming to the series, Criterion hopes to give players total control over how the game is played. In order to make the overall experience as streamlined and smooth as possible, compromises had to be made, like the lack of a retry option for example:
/…/ The lack of retry really isn’t an issue. You may disagree, but we don’t feel it is and retry would have introduced loading into the game, which we didn’t want to do. In fact, we hate loading with a passion now. Games like Burnout Paradise and Uncharted Drake’s Fortune (and Haze I think and GTA) keep you IN THE GAME rather than watching what is usually a very dull screen. (At least we used to write special tips for our load screens when we did them, most people simply do nothing….)
Another major gripe fans have with the upcoming iteration is the reinvention of the much loved Crash Mode. Standing their ground, the team gives reason as to why Showtime is more suited for the new open-world approach than the fan-favourite Crash Mode:
‘OMG The Crash Mode suXXors’…. Hmm, again, none of you have played it yet. N’Gai Croal at Level Up seems to like it. It’s not Crash Mode, it never was - it never could be. There was no way we would have created a linear and limited experience in a massively open game that is about freedom, expression and seamless play. Again, try it for yourself and make up your own mind. Don’t let the internet do it for you. We feel that a crash experience where YOU choose when to start and stop it, YOU choose where to play it, and YOU experiment with is way better than anything we built before.
For more answers to fans’ criticisms, check out Criterion’s “Merry Christmas and some demo questions answered …” post in its entirety by clicking here.
All nice and such but whenever a developer feels the need to “explain” a game to their community and justify their descisions you know from experience that they are very aware of the fact that they messed something up and took a wrong turn somewhere along the development process.
With that beeing said, I still love the demo in mp and still have quite some doubts about sp but all that matters not because ….. well, it’s x-mas(s effect). So merry x-mas to everyone
agreed, completely.
I love Burnout but I also hate this free roaming approach. I like to pick an event and do it, not find one, lose, find the beginning again, blah blah etc.
I like the free roaming aspect…. but I also would have preferred a set event for crash mode. But like the guys said… we haven’t tried it yet so it’s hard to complain too much.
My biggest complain about Burnout as a series…. is I wish they wouldn’t have changed the oncoming traffic…. the cars are like cardboard boxes. (I’m not explaining it very well…. but I’m tired.)….Constantly bumping into cars for boost gets old….and it seems like your rewarded for driving badly. I really preferred the way it was in Burnout 3…. which is my favorite Burnout so far. (But I haven’t tried this demo yet)
I definitely like B3 better than Revenge, that’s for sure. I like the brighter colors.
yeah burnout 3 was better than 4 but the trafic check is more relstic now u can still slam into them from the side but if u go 200mph into the back of a car ur gonna crash
ive been hoping for a while now thta burnout 3 will make xbox orignols just so that people will start playing it
also since this is paradice city will the burnout 3 tracks be put into this as i seen a clip which looked alot like the lake track from no 3
I thought the open world feel was a nice touch and gave me the warm fuzzy feelings that I had in NFS: Mostly Wanted. To just tour and enjoy was definitely a great experience for me.
Quite personally, I had no interest in Burnout Paradise when I first heard of it’s coming release. But after playing it (the demo) for quite a few hours, I have to admit I wanna grab up a copy when it launches in January.
I’m a major fan of the Paradise demo. I liked NFS:MW when 360 launched and this is just like it but bigger and with Burnout mixed in. So it’s something new, big deal. I’ll take it for what it is and play B2 or B3 on 360 now that they are backwards compatible.
I do agree that Showtime looks god awful though. Just TERRIBLE in videos.
Okay criterion since you felt the need to change the game, and ruin the burnout franchise, I will be “Out of the Game” and not buying your pos product!
Oh and when EA shuts down your studio, just like they did to EA Chicago, when they screwed with Def Jam, I will just laugh!
wont happen, you are simply bitter that the game is better than you.
kinda harsh for a bunch of assholes that dont know what theyre talking about…they developed the game, they played the game, they know wat the fuck to do with it so dont badmouth the shit out of em for their fucking decisions. i dont see u dumbasses creating these games do u?? u prolly couldnt count up to 11 on ur fingers…………………………n if u just tried ur a fucking dumbass n should end ur life now!!!!!!
Take your pills like your mommy said and lie down for a bit… maybe you’ll feel a litte more relaxed then.
well thats like saying i should be amazed about every game including robtron and joust because i can’t make them it
we all have the right to our oppinions so shut up
That last line sounds VERY intelligent, keep it up.
“Just because we do something in one game never means it may or will come back in another.”
Great attitude.
He should have just said, “Screw you, we don’t care what you want”
A good follow-up quote will be, “Just because a series was a success in the past doesn’t mean it will be a success in the future.”
Screw EA, Screw this dead series.
Sheesh…I take it some people just can’t handle change. Wow.
2nded!
3rded
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I think this saying is wrong. Let’s take a window for instance, you don’t really need to improve upon it as the design is essentially one that isn’t broken, but it won’t stop people from improving on it with double glazing, bullet/shatter proof glass or self cleaning glass now does it?
Stop blowing hot air around and give the game a go rather than slating it simply because EA are PUBLISHING the game.
Are any of those things necessary, though? No point in bullet proofing glass in a gated community.
I’m not slagging it because of EA, I’m saying it’s been ruined because of Criterion themselves.
That developer is an arrogant fucker, aint he?
Burnout is about holding down the accelerator and mashing the boost button non stop yelling in glee until you smash into something and explode, and then laughing and doing it again.
Burnout is not about stopping at gas stations.
“There was no way we would have created a linear and limited experience in a massively open game that is about freedom, expression and seamless play.”
We certainly wouldn’t want a -racing game- to be linear. After all, it’s not as if racing is about seeing who can get from point A to point B the fastest.
I don’t want Tony Hawk with freaking cars. I want burnout. I’m going to “express” myself by not buying this game. “Thanks”, Criterion and EA, for ruining my favorite game series of all time.
Exactly what my point has been through all of this.
I want a racing game with neat crashes, not an open-ended “see who can jump the farthest” dick waving competition. Those should be mini-games or just not there at all. See: Crackdown, a good example of just what kind of role those things should play in an open-ended game. At least that had a (shallow) plot to carry it; racing games don’t have that, so linearity is a -necessity-.
I like how arrogant Ward is when he says “always nice to see all those Gamecube owners on the internet who haven’t played the game since B2!” Well, Alex Ward, I started playing these games on the GCN, and I’ve played every iteration up until this one, and I can safely say YOUR FRANCHISE HAS GONE DOWNHILL.
Fuck Alex Ward, and fuck his attitude.
Wasnt impressed with the demo, the original Burnout was the game i played the most, felt like a Sega game with all of those bright blue sky’s………BO Takedown was a good laugh tho
I do like to see developers crapping in their pants with abject fear when a game doesn’t go down too well with the fans.
They always come out with such entertaining bullshit.
Shades of Shadowrun here I think. Very funny.
I had no problems with the demo, in fact, I felt it was one of the funnest racing games I’ve ever played. (I prefer arcade racers over sims, tho) I also have to agree it is the best demo all year. I think people forget this is a demo and that in the real game, EVERY intersection you pass through offers you another challenge to beat. So when you crash and can’t “retry” the same thing, you won’t care because you’ll probably end up landing in another intersection and want to try that challenge aswell.
People compare this to open world games like GTA, but I got more of a Crackdown feel from it. If you can’t beat one challenge, do another, win a better car, and then come back and beat it later.
The demo was ok but it seems like to much effort you have to go through to actually get into a damn race. I don’t mind cruising the paradise every now and then but there are time when you just want to put the game in and race, not drive around and look for one.
The stunts are cool and everything. Showtime Mode looked stupid though IMO.
If you can go to a race by simply hitting pause and selecting one, I am fine with the game. If you have to go looking for one each time you want to race, that’s going to get old real quick.
hm. i played the burnout paradise demo…and this is sad for me, because its more like your usual racing game in the handling. I used to love the crazy drifts in burnout revenge… but maybe thats just the starting car eh? i think ill rent this game when it comes out.
Classic Burnout gameplay mixed with freedom of choice equals success. Definitely the right approach. Keep up the good work guys! Test Drive Unlimited was great. This shall be even better. Just my opinion. I can’t stand EA. Especially after how they’ve ruined the Tiger Woods franchise with shoddy development. But Burnout has never suffered from that, luckily, as Criterion are a good software house and pushing the boundaries of what makes a racing game. Well done!