Burnout 101: Introduction to Paradise City
Posted by HCG Paco | Filed under Burnout 101, Editorials, Gaming 101
Just got that fancy, new-fangled Xbox 360 for Xmas? Maybe you grabbed Burnout Paradise for $20 at the last Gamefly sale. Whatever your situation, here is your primer for the massive and engaging world of Burnout Paradise.
Play Burnout. I mean, P-L-A-Y it. Take your time.
The first thing you need to know is that Burnout Paradise is a commitment. A 25+ hour commitment. It is more of an RPG in a sandbox than most of the regurgitated shite on the market, you just never see the main character. The reason being; you are the main character. If you have an Xbox 360 Vision Camera, Burnout will take a pic of you for your Paradise City License. You are the main character. When you start you have jack s**t and you suck at everything. But at the end, you will be a f*****g god. You will drive from when end of the map to the other. Without crashing. All in less than 2 minutes. While boosting. And never, ever glancing at the map. But, it will take time and it is so worth it. So very worth it. Never forget that and you will have a great time.
Grab your s**t. Pencils down in 5. Let’s do this:
Learn the Map.
Once committed, learn the map. At first, just stick to generalities. Windfarms on the left side. Wrigley field in the bottom right. Coast Guard Top right. Now that you have those three landmarks, start filling in the gaps once you can easily orient yourself. The Naval Yard is at the bottom - between Wrigley Field and the Lone Star Ranch. Keep filling in those gaps and you will start learning the map in no time. Take your time. Remember you are looking for a few landmarks, not the the building on the corner with the graffiti. Start looking at environmental landmarks if you can’t catch your bearings. The ocean. The mountains. The Wharfs. The L train. Use what works for you.
Explore
Drive around the circumference first. Explore, then cut down the middle. Then the middle again. Rinse and repeat as needed. You need to explore the ENTIRE map, this way you’ll find all of your events and learn the map at the same time. Keep in mind, you won’t need to do all of the races - you just need to do enough to pass your license requirement. Once you fulfill your required wins, everything on the map will reset except for the Burning Routes (which are car specific.)
Event Choice is KEY.
I hated Stunt Runs. I couldn’t do them. Hell, I still can’t. So I skipped them until I had to complete them for my Elite License. Maybe you love Stunt Runs but you hate Marked Man. Skip them. Have fun with it. This doesn’t have to be a painful, uphill battle. Stick to what you know and enjoy driving. Remember, you are the main character.
Car Choice is Just as Important
If you wanted to, you could walk around your house in flippers all day. You’ll probably fall into a wall or two and you’ll probably break some s**t and swear a lot, but it works. The same is true with Burnout. You could win a race with a Van, but why not save the Van for Marked Man and Road Rage? Common sense rules here, use a tank for physical races. Use a sleek ride for running out and out races.
Play Efficiently
If you don’t like frequenting the junkyard often, either do all the of one type of event at a time or pick a well-balanced ride like an fast aggression car or a speedy stunt ride. Personally, I love the stunt rides and aggression cars the best, but that’s just me. Since you are the main character, compare your car choice with your weapon choice in any other game. A shotgun is not a wise choice in a wide open desert. A sniper rifle is not good inside dark corridors. Use that same logic when picking your poison. This will help you advance your license and not make you want to pull out your hair by racing back and forth across the map trying to do redo the same event over and over again.
Try Not to Watch the Map During an Event.
When you start your event, map the shortest route THAT HAS THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TURNS. Hopefully you have played a game of Battleship or three and you understand the whole “coordinates” thing. If you cannot go in a straight line with no turns, try to go the most direct route possible. The longer the straight-a-way the more time you have to max out your top speed and gain some ground. Using this (hopefully) 1-turn methodology you can pay attention to the road and avoid the traffic, environment, other racers and maybe even win a race.
When All Else Fails, Follow Them.
The GPS will let you know what it thinks is the best route and that will often differ. Trust yourself, but if you get lost either pay attention to your blinking turn signal and flashing road signs at the top of the screen to let you know which turns to take to get you back on track. Or, follow them. In complicated races, just save your boost and stick to second or third place but keep first place with in reach and follow them until you can confidently guide yourself to a first place finish.
That wraps up this portion of your Burnout 101 training. In the next edition (yes, genius - Burnout 102) we will discuss the importance of not stopping in the middle of a race to crash a gate and trying to manage finding over 500 different “side-quests” for your character. After you learn the map. There may be a quiz.
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Tags: Burnout, Burnout 101, Burnout Paradise, Gaming 101, Guide, PS3, racing, Xbox 360
One Response to “Burnout 101: Introduction to Paradise City”
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Burnout Paradise Walkthrough | Wii Hotties Says:
January 15th, 2009 at 6:02 am[...] game. Just check out the awards below if you don’t believe me. And do not miss out on Hardcore Gamers Burnout 101 post to get you through the massive and engaging world of Burnout [...]
