Okay, maybe Burnout Paradise isn’t the newest racing craze, but it remains an absolute classic with incredibly satisfying gameplay. Recently, I dove back into it after finding it on Xbox/EA Game Pass, and I’ve gathered some tips to enhance your experience in Paradise City.
Having previously dabbled in Burnout Paradise years ago, my recent playthrough was significantly smoother thanks to my experience with Forza Horizon and similar games. Earning the “Burnout License” and completing the main game took me around 7-8 hours this time. For those aiming for full completion, there are additional licenses to conquer, which I’m gradually pursuing!
Originally released in 2008, Burnout Paradise was remastered in 2018, incorporating all DLCs for an even richer experience.
Intro
Generally, once you become comfortable with your preferred vehicles, winning most events on your first attempt should be achievable. The events are quite repetitive, primarily involving different start and endpoints across various game modes.
However, luck does play a role. Even skilled players can be unexpectedly hampered by traffic at crucial moments or react too slowly to sudden crashes. Fortunately, the first tip addresses this common frustration…
Menus
1. Instant Event Restart: Right on D-pad
Discovering this was a game-changer! Pressing right on the D-pad during or after an event instantly restarts it.
I recommend utilizing this feature when a race or time trial becomes clearly unwinnable. For other event types, perseverance can often salvage a run.
2. Pause and Plan: Map Access
Pressing the select button opens a comprehensive map, and during races, utilizing this to strategize your route is essential! The game conveniently pauses while the map is open, allowing you to plan your next maneuvers and then pause again to reassess.
Overworld
3. Strategic Event Endpoints
For events without fixed paths (excluding races and burning routes), aim to finish in areas with a high density of available events, such as the city center. This minimizes travel time between events, keeping you in the action.
4. Repair Shop Network: Drive-Through Maintenance
Whenever you encounter a repair shop, make it a point to drive through it. Quickly locating a repair shop can be critical during Marked Man mode, so proactively unlocking them all is highly beneficial for car maintenance and survival.
5. Intersection Unlocks: Explore Every Corner
Events are unlocked and added to your map simply by driving through the intersections where they initiate. Unlocking all events early on provides a comprehensive overview and aids in efficient time management and progression.
The most effective method for this is to intentionally explore new routes while navigating to events in free roam, ensuring you uncover every opportunity Paradise City offers.
6. Hidden Areas: Embrace Curiosity
The yellow “crash” barriers aren’t solely for shortcuts; they often conceal expansive hidden areas. These discoveries are unpredictable, and seemingly empty map sections can surprisingly be teeming with billboards and jump opportunities. Here’s an example I found by venturing into a tunnel concealed by a crash barrier:
7. Big Surf Island: A Whole New Playground
Surprisingly, I overlooked this until several hours into the game, but there’s an entire separate island in the southeast of the map, accessible via a bridge! It features additional events, a network of intricate stunt jumps, and numerous secret areas.
These island events contribute to your license progression, yet the game neglects to mention its existence until you happen to cross the bridge.
Even with my Burnout license, I’ve only explored the island twice, leaving a wealth of events uncompleted.
8. Takedown Opportunities: Approach New Cars with Caution
Upon completing a sufficient number of events, new cars will appear in the free roam environment. However, they spawn relatively infrequently, especially if you maintain an efficient pace and spend most of your time in events.
When these cars spawn, exercise caution when pursuing them. Crashing often causes them to despawn. It’s safer to allow them to gain a slight lead rather than risking a crash by aggressively pursuing them. Prioritize catching these unique cars over immediately starting the next event to expand your garage.
Progression
9. Versatile Car Choice: Minimize Downtime
Assuming you possess a versatile “Aggression” style car, it should be capable of winning any event type. Consequently, after finishing an event, it’s most efficient to simply start the nearest available event, maintaining momentum and minimizing downtime.
This strategy remains effective until you start depleting the pool of available events to complete.
10. License Upgrades: Event Reset Advantage
Each time you earn a new license, all previously completed events become available to complete again. This presents an opportunity to quickly accumulate wins by repeating past events that you found particularly easy, accelerating your progression.
11. Post-Credits Content: Completionist Licenses
Despite the game displaying credits upon earning your Burnout license, you’re actually only around 30-40% through the total game content! Numerous additional licenses exist, progressively increasing in difficulty and pushing completion beyond 100%.
Driving
12. Takedowns: A Core Skill
Mastering takedowns is arguably the most crucial skill to develop in Burnout Paradise. Executing takedowns instinctively while navigating challenging corners grants you free boost and slows down your crashing rival (and any other vehicles colliding with them).
13. Takedowns as a Safety Net
If you and a rival are heading directly towards a wall, as long as they are slightly ahead, they will crash first, and the game will “save” you.
You can strategically exploit this by taking down a rival immediately before a junction you’re unsure how to approach. The takedown animation will play, and the game will automatically steer you through the junction, even granting brief invincibility.
14. Avoid Crashing: Preserve Momentum
Crashing incurs a significant time penalty. Rivals overtaking you or taking a less direct route is almost always preferable to crashing.
When leading, especially in faster cars, there’s no need to drive aggressively and constantly boost. Drive safely, avoid obstacles, and secure the win without unnecessary risks.
15. Traffic Awareness: Don’t Push Your Luck
Traffic vehicles are more susceptible to crashes than you might anticipate. While rivals can be pushed around (and will retaliate), even a minor nudge into a parked car can ruin your run. It’s safest to avoid traffic entirely.
This caution extends to glancing blows while overtaking, which might seem survivable. However, if a crash cutscene triggers, the severity of the initial impact is irrelevant. Steer clear of traffic.
16. Crashed Rivals: A Hazard Remains
A rival has exploded ahead – excellent! However, their wreckage might roll into your path and take you out, potentially leading to their respawn before you recover. Oops.
Avoid crashed or rolling rivals; they become even more dangerous in their wrecked state.
Cars
17. Drive Your Style: Car Choice Freedom
Unlike many other driving games, Burnout Paradise doesn’t restrict car choices for specific events (except Burning Routes). Want to attempt a Marked Man event with a fragile but incredibly fast car? Go for it!
All cars are viable for most events, and you’ll unlock the same cars regardless of your vehicle choice for races.
18. Boost Types: Understand Your Advantage
There are three distinct boost types, and most cars (excluding Boost Specials) are limited to one:
- Speed: Boost is only available when fully charged, reminiscent of earlier Burnout games. It provides a powerful burst of speed, ideal for long straights. These cars are fast and agile but tend to be fragile.
- Stunt: Boost can be activated at any time. Stunt cars are typically fast and easy to handle but also fragile. Boost is replenished by performing drifts, jumps, and other stunts.
- Aggression: Similar to stunt boost, but takedowns and destroying street furniture earn additional boost, potentially holding up to 3x capacity. This allows aggression cars to boost almost continuously, though they are generally heavier and slower.
Personally, I find speed boost cars less versatile, favoring stunt boost for stunt runs and aggression boost for all other event types. Outmaneuvering opponents through takedowns often outweighs raw speed.
19. Speed Isn’t Everything: Handling Matters
Rival car performance in races is dynamically balanced based on your chosen vehicle. Selecting the fastest car in your garage will result in equally fast rivals, making it challenging to maintain a lead. Prioritize cars with handling characteristics that suit your driving style.
20. No “Best” Car: Find Your Favorite
There’s no single car that excels in every event. “Spur” is a personal favorite due to its balanced handling, near-infinite boost potential, speed, and decent durability.
The “Carson GT Nighthawk” (Legendary car) is popular for its responsive handling and robustness. However, its extreme speed can make Road Rage events overly frantic, and I prefer the flexibility of on-demand boost.
Experiment with different cars and discover your personal preference.
21. Car Unlock Order: Progression Rewards
Cars are unlocked by completing a specific number of events or achieving particular objectives. The Burnout wiki provides a comprehensive list of vehicles by unlock order.
Special Vehicle Packs
Upon starting the remastered edition, the included DLCs, such as tiny cars, legendary cars, and motorbikes, might seem overwhelming. Here’s a brief overview:
22. Bikes
Motorbikes handle significantly differently from cars, and they are extremely prone to crashing. While wheelies and leaning are possible, they lack boost and handbrake turns.
Bike progression is separate from the main game, with a “Rider License” earned by completing bike-specific events.
While bikes technically have varying speeds and strengths, they all feel incredibly fast and fragile.
23. Legendary Cars
This small collection of four cars are all potent and possess unique abilities. They are also clear homages to iconic vehicles.
24. Boost Special Cars
Two cars are designed specifically to showcase unique boost mechanics.
25. Toy Cars
The toy car pack is purely for novelty. These are smaller versions of existing cars, offering a disorienting driving experience. They can participate in all events but are challenging to control.
26. Police Cars
The 33 police cars are essentially reskins of main game cars with identical stats. Early in the game, they offer access to more powerful vehicles than initially available in the main progression.
Game Modes
Races
27. Route Simplicity: Fewer Turns is Better
I’ve found that routes with fewer corners and less complexity are generally more successful. A slightly longer route with straightforward paths often outperforms a shorter route with numerous twists and turns.
This is partly due to the distractions of frequent map pausing and potential boost disruptions. Additionally, every corner introduces risk, as traffic can appear unexpectedly, and successful turns aren’t guaranteed.
28. Strategic Planning: Pause and Analyze
Since the game pauses during races, there’s no benefit to rushing your decisions. Plan your route meticulously, memorize as much as possible, and then execute your strategy.
29. AI Route Following: Learn from the Best
Alternatively, if you’re unsure of the optimal route, following the AI opponents is a viable tactic. They typically drive reasonably efficient routes and are easily overtaken (or prone to crashing). Following them until the final mile can secure a win without extensive pre-planning.
30. Mid-Turn Boost: Cornering Technique
If you’re using a car with readily available boost (as you should be!), a useful cornering technique is to initiate a handbrake turn and then use boost to straighten your momentum and accelerate out of the turn.
31. Indicators and Signs: Minimal GPS Assistance
Technically, the game includes a GPS routing system… but it’s practically unusable during races. Your car will signal turns based on the game’s shortest route calculation, and street signs will briefly flash at the top of the screen.
However, these cues are difficult to notice during fast-paced races and are not entirely reliable. The GPS also doesn’t incorporate shortcuts, even obvious ones like corner cutting.
Marked Man
32. Off-Road Escape: Long, Unpaved Paths
In Marked Man events, chase cars predominantly spawn on roads. Therefore, utilizing extended sections of off-road or closed roads is the most effective way to reach the destination. Railroad tracks, for instance, are ideal if they align with your route.
33. Late Turns: Predictability Avoidance
Chase cars attempt to anticipate your turns and intercept or T-bone you. Counter this by avoiding apex cornering. Instead, hug walls where possible and slide around corners, denying them predictable interception points.
34. Auto Shop Reliance: Frequent Repairs
Regardless of driving skill, chase cars will inevitably inflict damage. Ensure your route prioritizes passing as many auto shops as possible, and utilize them even after minor damage to maintain your car’s condition.
Road Rage
35. Directional Freedom: Choose Your Battlefield
Similar to Marked Man, direction is irrelevant in Road Rage events. This allows you to strategically drive towards favorable takedown locations or auto shops for repairs, as damage is likely.
Driving in any direction will quickly draw target cars alongside and ahead of you.
36. Target Prioritization: Bully Speed/Small Cars
Spot a small, fast car speeding past? Excellent – target them first! They are fragile and easy to takedown, accelerating your progress towards the target count.
37. Strong Car Takedowns: Rear-End Assault
Stronger vehicles like vans can often overpower you in side barges. Instead, strike them forcefully from behind to induce a spinout.
38. Weak Car Takedowns: Side Nudges
Weaker cars are highly vulnerable to side pushes. Driving alongside and aggressively nudging them sideways will typically result in a takedown. The impact point is less critical, but hitting the middle or rear is more likely to cause a spinout.
39. Target Achieved: Cease Aggression
Once you reach your takedown target, simply stop driving. The event will conclude successfully within seconds.
40. Ideal Takedown Zones: Long, Narrow Roads
For maximizing takedowns, long stretches of narrow road are ideal. They facilitate easy driving alongside target cars for takedowns.
The long bridge in the southwest, with jumps in the middle, is a personal favorite. Nudging cars is straightforward, and you can reliably achieve 6-7 takedowns by the bridge’s end.
41. Takedown Invincibility: Strategic Offense
Immediately after performing a takedown, you gain brief invincibility. If you’re about to crash, prioritizing a takedown can potentially save you from damage.
Stunt Run
42. Extended Time: Infinite Final Run
Even when the timer reaches 00:00, your run isn’t actually over! You can continue until your combo breaks or you crash.
Boosting or drifting extends your combo timer, providing significantly more time than initially indicated. Don’t feel overly pressured by the timer.
43. Favorite Stunt Spot: Location Familiarity
After playing for a while, you’ll likely identify reliable areas for boosting your stunt multiplier by destroying billboards.
The main North/South road on the city’s east side is a personal favorite. It features several large jumps and numerous billboards, and its width reduces the risk of unexpected obstacles. I often gravitate towards this area during stunt runs.
44. Crash Landing: Points Secured
Even if your run ends in a crash, your accumulated points are still registered! There’s no need to strive for a safe stop at the end.
Burning Route
45. Route Planning: Essential for Timed Challenges
These timed routes are genuinely challenging, especially with suboptimal route choices. Invest time in meticulously planning your entire route before starting the race. There are no rivals to follow; success hinges on your planning.
46. Showtime: Optional Mayhem
Pressing RB, R1, LB, and L1 simultaneously in free roam initiates a crash mode, spawning more traffic. Use B and steering to crash into even more objects.
This mode is entirely optional and doesn’t contribute to license progression, but it’s a fun way to unleash chaos. Surprisingly, the game never mentions this feature, despite crashing being a core element of the Burnout series.
47. Road Time Trials: Completionist Pursuits
Every road in the game has a record time that can be beaten. This feature is also optional, except for completionist achievements, and you’ll likely find yourself beating some records while simply driving between events in the late game.
Conclusion / Minireview
Burnout Paradise is an intriguing game. The gameplay is exceptional, event variety is well-balanced, the open-world implementation is commendable, yet… something feels slightly amiss.
Entire game modes (Showtime) are completely overlooked by the game’s structure, while the expected core mode (racing) can be largely bypassed. It almost feels like a remarkable tech demo that needed further development into a fully structured game, perhaps with a narrative, but was released prematurely.
Similarly, the game’s opening is peculiar. You are essentially dropped into Paradise City and instructed to find something to do, with no initial guidance or suggestions. The game seems indifferent to whether you engage or not! This appears intentional, as even the DLCs don’t add any structured progression. They introduce new features (bikes) and areas (Big Surf Island) but lack direction on why you should explore them.
Despite these criticisms, the gameplay is so inherently satisfying, the driving strikes a perfect balance between arcade and challenging, that it remains captivating. The desire to uncover all secret areas, unlock every car, and complete the extensive completionist objectives is strong, and there’s a high likelihood I will continue to pursue them!
Additional resources
For further tips and strategies, I highly recommend exploring online Burnout Paradise communities and wikis.
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