Burnout Paradise Demo Doubles Multiplayer

[bapenguin]

Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/340391/burnout-paradise-demo-doubles-your-multiplayer-fun) has the scoop that the Burnout Paradise Demo on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 now features 8 player multi player instead of 4.

This should make some of those crashes really interesting.

[bean19]

Have they done anything to confine the races to maps instead of playing like Midnight Club?

[bone_matrix]

And I just deleted this yesterday. Looks like I'll redownload it.

[LilAbner]

Seriously: does this add the fun?

Don't like the open world stuff, and the crashes don't seem to be as satisfying.

[Psykoboy2]

Actually, just to steal their thunder for a bit....we had the scoop (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1178506&postcount=617). I just, for whatever reason, didn't think it front page worthy, I guess.

[CoachCrazyMcScot]

And what am I playing this weekend?

[Tricky Thumb]

Actually, just to steal their thunder for a bit....we had the scoop (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1178506&postcount=617). I just, for whatever reason, didn't think it front page worthy, I guess.

You're letting your better judgment get in the way of your love for Burnout.

Looks like I'd better invest in some end-of-the-world supplies.

[Psykoboy2]

You're letting your better judgment get in the way of your love for Burnout.

Looks like I'd better invest in some end-of-the-world supplies.

I just have to be careful with my red powers. Especially for the games I love. Otherwise, they'd all be news post. Hey, I didn't front page the soundtrack announcement either.

[divinechaos]

I didn't know they could update demos. Now can they update it with some online races so I can see whether I'll rent this or not?

[mkelehan]

Honestly, I agree with everyone else about the open world concept being applied to Burnout. It works really well for your GTAs and your Crackdowns, but for a racer, I'd much rather pick my events from a simple text menu.

[SPBTooL]

Wow. They have gone from the "site that could not be spoken" back to official news post source.

EDIT: Ah I see. Psykoboy2 has been clouded by his lust. Off to rehab with him!

[Deadend]

With 8 people, it will be MADNESS!

which is how it should be.

[Klunka]

I gotta say, I'm in the group of people who say this is a bad demo (not a bad game mind you). Just one multiplayer race would have really given me a feel for how the game will work without giving away too much. I would MUCH rather have seen 1-2 events been added instead of 8 players.

[Psykoboy2]

I can see the reason they didn't add an online race. Structured online races don't exist in the game and wouldn't in the demo either. If you want to race online, you set the start point and the end point and any checkpoints in between if you like.

I can see that they didn't want to add that in the demo. Giving that much freedom in the demo could give people the ammo to say, "Why buy the cow when I am getting the milk for free?" It's more likely EA is saying that and not Criterion, but it doesn't really matter.

[Psykoboy2]

Besides, if you want to have a multiplayer race...join a game with me tonight. I plan on doing a few of those with 8 people now.

[Shodan2020]

And I just deleted this yesterday. Looks like I'll redownload it.

Lol, me too.

[bean19]

I'm not buying this and I hope it sells like shit so that they do not make another Midnight Club with crashes. The Burnout Paradise demo was a huge disappointment as I've always loved the Burnout games previously.

[johnperkins21]

I loved the demo, and part of the reason was due to the lack of races. I really think I'd have more fun running around doing the challenges and playing "tag" with my friends than a structured race. I can see some of the complaints you guys are waging, as Burnout is a racing game, but the fact that there's just so much more here makes it awesome.

I'm not necessarily all that good at the racing portion, so constantly coming in 3rd or worse isn't as much fun to me as the free-roaming, demolition derby style of play. I'm not interested in winning games so much as I am in having fun in them. One of my main reasons I don't like Halo.

[Ten19]

So did they actually add events with the updated demo or only just up the player cap?

[Psykoboy2]

The Burnout Paradise demo was a huge disappointment

Care to elaborate?

[Psykoboy2]

So did they actually add events with the updated demo or only just up the player cap?

New challenges were added (13 new), but no new events.

[DeejayKnight]

And I just deleted this yesterday. Looks like I'll redownload it.

Seconded. I deleted it awhile back, and I hadn't even tested out the multiplayer yet. :(

I'll d/l it for both systems to see which is the better choice. :D

[51|RandoM]

Have they done anything to confine the races to maps instead of playing like Midnight Club?

All the driving in the demo occurs on the map, don't know what you're talking about.

Oh wait, you're one of those people who needs walls around the course so he doesn't get lost. :) This game isn't for you.

[51|RandoM]

Honestly, I agree with everyone else about the open world concept being applied to Burnout. It works really well for your GTAs and your Crackdowns, but for a racer, I'd much rather pick my events from a simple text menu.

Well, you've got plenty of other Burnout games to pick from then. The rest of us will move on.

[DeadlyDonkey]

The lack of a "restart event" option breaks this game.

A completely stupid design decision driven by developer ego, that should have been cut short at management level before it got out of hand.

[johnperkins21]

The lack of a "restart event" option breaks this game.

A completely stupid design decision driven by developer ego, that should have been cut short at management level before it got out of hand.

This is the one part of this game that I really don't like. Saying that it breaks the game is a tad harsh though. It's a detriment to one particular portion of the game. If all you care about is the single player races and getting the best times and whatnot, then this was never the game for you to begin with.

[Venkman]

Care to elaborate?

1) "Stunt mode" doesn't hold a candle to elaborately construced crash junctions in terms if sheer carnage, and in terms of getting you in the play really quickly. While there may be some awesome stunts set up here and there, it just isn't the same as having a dedicated few blocks designed specifically to make the scene more exciting.

2) Burnout moves so FAST in races, that having the option (so to speak) to take a wrong turn in the city and end up somewhere not related to the race makes choosing the races an exercise in frustration and extremely time consuming to retry.

3) Stopping at lights to do events- I like the idea of keeping you in your car, takes too long and is pretty boring. Not to mention it is hard to visually remember fun events you want to do again based on a stop light.

4) Casual gamers who enjoyed previous titles are frustrated quickly with the open world mechanics. Sure, it's fun to drive around the city really fast without having to worry about time... for 15 minutes.

5) The map is inadequate for the speed at which the game travels. Now you have to watch the map to figure out where to go, instead of the game focusing you on your driving the road ahead. The road signs popup to give you clues, but it doesn't help you visually see when you need to turn, sometimes 270 degrees.

6) Driving to a repair shop is boring and it's almost a mechanic from Diablo (your armor needs repair!) The same goes for paint jobs. What was once a button press is now a trip across the city.

7) While multiplayer would probably be a blast, the single player doesn't match the sheer variety and accessibility of previous titles.

8) The restart option. It smacks of the huge amounts of boring sailing in Zelda: WW. Sure it lengthens the time you spend on the game, but it isn't time spent on having fun.

[Nodus]

My particular problem with the demo is that the game just wasn't that fun.

I own revenge and enjoyed 1 and 3 (never played 2) so i am fairly famialr with the series.

It isn't the open world choice so much that kills it as it is the interaction within it. After playing sinple player in the demo for a while, driving about randomly, trying a event/stunts etc i dedcided to take it online and see how that worked.

Played with 3 other random guys following that instance and began hunting them down to crash into them and what not. After killing a few and getting 'revenged' if you will, i shut it off and generally thought it was rather meh for the next Burnout game. The head on collisions and crashes in general ranged from "ok thats not too bad" to "what is this crap". They just didnt feel that good.

Finally, a week after i got a buddy to DL it and we played alone and tryed to salavage the experience. After goofing off a bit, we both agreed the crashes (especially online) didnt feel that right with each others cars and some of it was plain silly. Barely a brush up against me and suddenly im wrecked, and it looks silly in camera wise. Although randomly, i slam into some map related obstacle and trigger a crash complete with flips and all..yet every player crash we tryed looked rather 'eh'.

No biggie, guess i'll wait for the next one.

[Chainblast]

It's cool Criterion would do this but I'm sold on the game already and will be picking it up later this month, so it doesn't really matter to me. Not that I could enjoy the multi-player demo much anyway since I keep loosing my connection with the Paradise servers.

[TeeCakes]

The List

I agree with most of this. I'm really glad this isn't the official 'numbered' Burnout sequel, maybe we can get back to basics when (if) the real #4 comes out.

This is sorta like the "Final Fantasy 11" of the series, IMO-- not really what I sign up for when I purchase a title in the franchise. I will say that it looks as if it'll probably end up being a fun game, though.

[KingGorilla]

Care to elaborate?

Some people have an inherent aversion to that much freedom in a game where they expect confined rules and parameters.

[51|RandoM]

1) "Stunt mode" doesn't hold a candle to elaborately construced crash junctions in terms if sheer carnage, and in terms of getting you in the play really quickly. While there may be some awesome stunts set up here and there, it just isn't the same as having a dedicated few blocks designed specifically to make the scene more exciting.


Stunt mode isn't for crashing, it is for stunts. Crashing is actually counter-productive as it wastes time. Have you played Burnout Paradise?


2) Burnout moves so FAST in races, that having the option (so to speak) to take a wrong turn in the city and end up somewhere not related to the race makes choosing the races an exercise in frustration and extremely time consuming to retry.

The game highlights each intersection for the "normal" route as you near it. Flashing street signs at the top of the screen start at the edge and move towards the center the closer you get. Additionally, there is a minimap highlighting the local area, including all normal streets and intersections.

If you still manage to go astray is it really because you don't have walls around the course or is it because you can't drive for shit?

There is one race in the demo. Going back to the start wasn't "extremely time consuming" to retry. Have you even played Burnout Paradise?


3) Stopping at lights to do events- I like the idea of keeping you in your car, takes too long and is pretty boring. Not to mention it is hard to visually remember fun events you want to do again based on a stop light.

What? Turn the wheel and hit the e-brake, you'll stop pretty damned quick. You need to practice that for powerparking anyways. If you can't remember what intersection a "fun" event started at I really have to wonder how much fun it was. Have you played Burnout Paradise?


4) Casual gamers who enjoyed previous titles are frustrated quickly with the open world mechanics. Sure, it's fun to drive around the city really fast without having to worry about time... for 15 minutes.

What casual gamers are you referring to? This complaint doesn't make sense even if you haven't played Burnout Paradise, lol. You can take the game at any pace you want. It doesn't get any MORE casual.. or any LESS casual than that. Have it your way, unless having it your way means not having it your way at all.


5) The map is inadequate for the speed at which the game travels. Now you have to watch the map to figure out where to go, instead of the game focusing you on your driving the road ahead. The road signs popup to give you clues, but it doesn't help you visually see when you need to turn, sometimes 270 degrees.

You haven't played Burnout Paradise, have you? You haven't seen the full map, have you? A big part of the game is knowing that map. Knowing Paradise City like the back of your hand is going to be important to people who want to compete online.

6) Driving to a repair shop is boring and it's almost a mechanic from Diablo (your armor needs repair!) The same goes for paint jobs. What was once a button press is now a trip across the city.

You haven't played Burnout Paradise, have you? A) Repairing your car is completely optional. A "damaged" car works just as good as a completely repaired car. There are a bunch of repair shops in the demo and even more in the full game. Worst case scenario, you're out in the middle of nowhere and you can't find a repair shop, what do you do? Wreck! Voila, brand new car, all repaired. Paint jobs? Optional. Paint shops? all over the place.

7) While multiplayer would probably be a blast, the single player doesn't match the sheer variety and accessibility of previous titles.

Once again it sounds like you haven't played Burnout Paradise. It has just as much variety as previous games, probably even more and now that it is less linear that variety is even more accessible.

8) The restart option. It smacks of the huge amounts of boring sailing in Zelda: WW. Sure it lengthens the time you spend on the game, but it isn't time spent on having fun.

Finally, this could be a valid complaint. You couldn't have a restart option with the way they've implemented multiplayer but I don't see why they couldn't have done it for singleplayer.

Maybe it is just a case of a glass half empty vs half full but your complaints don't make much sense to me after playing the Burnout Paradise demo for a few hours.

[Venkman]

Stunt mode isn't for crashing, it is for stunts.

I understand. Stunt mode is boring. Crash mode wasn't. Big difference.


Crashing is actually counter-productive as it wastes time.


I would call stunt mode the waste of time. if they wanted to at least harken to their own established style, the city should be much more extreme. Like a hot wheels track with giant loops and insane jumps.


Have you played Burnout Paradise?

I played the demo to death. The full game is out tomorrow, which I will not buy.


The game highlights each intersection for the "normal" route as you near it. Flashing street signs at the top of the screen start at the edge and move towards the center the closer you get. Additionally, there is a minimap highlighting the local area, including all normal streets and intersections.
Have you played Burnout Paradise?


Yes, I know. I do not feel this is adequate.


Have you played Burnout Paradise?


yes, yes, yes.
I played it.


If you still manage to go astray is it really because you don't have walls around the course or is it because you can't drive for shit?


It's a little of both, but I'm pretty damn good at Burnout 3 and Revenge.


There is one race in the demo. Going back to the start wasn't "extremely time consuming" to retry.


That is subjective. i don't care to waste time to drive back to the finish line at all. If it takes 45 seconds to drive back, I consider that 45 seconds of load time. Either way, it's time not spent redoing the event.

If you like spending that time driving back to the beginning, then more power to you. You are easier to entertain then I.


Have you even played Burnout Paradise?


Again, yes, I have.


What? Turn the wheel and hit the e-brake, you'll stop pretty damned quick.


yes, you do.


You need to practice that for powerparking anyways.


That sounds.... BORING. I'm going to go boot up American Pro Trucker on my Dreamcast if I want to practice parking.


If you can't remember what intersection a "fun" event started at I really have to wonder how much fun it was.


I think we agree on that part. There isn't much to remember about the demo except for 1) how nice the graphics are and 2) how little fun the game actually is in practice.


Have you played Burnout Paradise?


Is there an echo in here? ;)


What casual gamers are you referring to? This complaint doesn't make sense even if you haven't played Burnout Paradise, lol.


I don't understand, do you want names and addresses? These are people who loved playing Wii sports (which I also find boring). They found this game boring. Their words. Believe me or not, I don't really care.


You can take the game at any pace you want. It doesn't get any MORE casual.. or any LESS casual than that.


Truly you have a dizzying intellect...

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:95CuKUX44zv-eM:http://groovig.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/vezzini.jpg

Imagine playing Wii sports, but you had to walk to the baseball diamond, or the boxing ring. I know they are not the same game, but who wants to waste the time when you have a bunch of people over?


Have it your way, unless having it your way means not having it your way at all.


I'm not having it my way. :( My way is more fun, and it is called Burnout Revenge.


You haven't played Burnout Paradise, have you?


Do you need this answered multiple times? Yes, I have. I still thought it sucked.


You haven't seen the full map, have you? A big part of the game is knowing that map. Knowing Paradise City like the back of your hand is going to be important to people who want to compete online.


I saw the map on the demo, but that's it. If you like memorizing an entire city for a video game then be my guest. They aren't getting my $60.


You haven't played Burnout Paradise, have you?


Stay with me here. This time I'm going with.... Yes, I have played the demo.



A) Repairing your car is completely optional. A "damaged" car works just as good as a completely repaired car. There are a bunch of repair shops in the demo and even more in the full game. Worst case scenario, you're out in the middle of nowhere and you can't find a repair shop, what do you do? Wreck! Voila, brand new car, all repaired.


Is that fun?


Paint jobs? Optional.


They always were.


Paint shops? all over the place.


Used to be a button press.

They should let you do it when you get your car or switch cars. Perhaps they do in the full game. Regardless, just let us pause the game, adjust some sliders to a color we like, and make the whole thing totally custom on the fly.



Once again it sounds like you haven't played Burnout Paradise.


I spent way too much time downloading that demo while Xbox Live was being flaky. I'm lucky I got it when Live was so bad, because I had a pre-order that I have since cancelled.


It has just as much variety as previous games, probably even more and now that it is less linear that variety is even more accessible.


Variety? Perhaps. Accessible? That hasn't been my experience. As fun? most certainly not, but that is also subjective.


Finally, this could be a valid complaint. You couldn't have a restart option with the way they've implemented multiplayer but I don't see why they couldn't have done it for singleplayer.


It's load time either way you look at it. I wouldn't have minded a load screen.


Maybe it is just a case of a glass half empty vs half full but your complaints don't make much sense to me after playing the Burnout Paradise demo for a few hours.

It may be the glass half empty, but my complaints came from playing the demo, and nothing else.

[Psykoboy2]

I understand. Stunt mode is boring. Crash mode wasn't. Big difference.

Crash mode is now called "Showtime". It isn't the crash mode we know it as before, but it's always changed, just never this dramatically. Stunt mode is another mode separate and different from the "new" crash mode (called "Showtime"). It may be boring, but once leaderboards are active for it, perhaps the challenge of beating RandoM51 will alleviate the boredom factor.

I played the demo to death. The full game is out tomorrow, which I will not buy.

The full game is out on the 22nd. As stated in the demo. Sure you've played it, right?That last part, I am totally just giving you shit

[Venkman]

Crash mode is now called "Showtime". It isn't the crash mode we know it as before, but it's always changed, just never this dramatically. Stunt mode is another mode separate and different from the "new" crash mode (called "Showtime"). It may be boring, but once leaderboards are active for it, perhaps the challenge of beating RandoM51 will alleviate the boredom factor.


Sorry, I keep calling it stunt mode because of my poor attention span. :) I don't have live, so you see where the excitement suffers for me in that department. It just isn't aimed at me. I thought the previous burnout titles were great party games. it looks like they are focusing more online as they go forward, and i think some users will find that disappointing.


The full game is out on the 22nd. As stated in the demo. Sure you've played it, right?

You know, it said that in the demo and in my pre-order, I don't know why I thought it was coming out the 8th. I am way to busy.

That last part, I am totally just giving you shit

That's OK, I earned it a bit. ;)

[Psykoboy2]

I don't have live, so you see where the excitement suffers for me in that department.

If you said this earlier and I missed it, then shame on me, but if this is the first you mentioned it, you should have done so sooner.

You really should reconsider and give Live a go. There's a ton more out there than just Burnout that really enhances a game's experience by having Live.

[Venkman]

If you said this earlier and I missed it, then shame on me, but if this is the first you mentioned it, you should have done so sooner.

You really should reconsider and give Live a go. There's a ton more out there than just Burnout that really enhances a game's experience by having Live.

It's not a matter of not wanting to get Live, internet access options where I live are limited to dial-up. :( I go to a friend's house to download stuff, or bring it to work on a Friday. The peeps at microsoft tried to talk me out of canceling LIVE when I moved.

I used to have Live and loved it (until people started hacking Halo 2). Crimson Skies... my god I miss that online.

You can see why CoD 4 and Halo 3 have limited appeal to me. The meat of those games is online.