Burnout Paradise Remastered

Burnout Paradise Remastered brought one of the most beloved arcade racing games ever back to PlayStation 4, this time with higher resolution, smoother frame rate, and all the expansions that were gradually released for the original. The foundation is the open city of Paradise City, which you can drive through freely with no menus or loading screens whatsoever. You start a race by braking at an intersection and hitting the gas, the finish line is always somewhere at the edge of the map, and how you get there is entirely up to you, since the game offers no set route.

The gameplay is uncompromisingly arcade. Nitro fills up through risky driving in oncoming traffic, jumps, drifts, and close near-misses, and the reward for boldness is even more speed. Alongside regular races, the game offers chases where you have to wreck an opponent's car, timed runs where you protect your own bodywork, and above all stunt runs, where you try to rack up the most points by smashing fences, billboards, and jumping across rooftops. A crash here is a spectacle, since the camera slows down and shows exactly how the car deforms, and you can still steer the wreck itself into rivals. The city is full of hidden shortcuts, breakable fences, and jump ramps, and finding them makes up a large part of the fun.

The remastered version also includes motorcycles and a winter makeover of the city. On PS4 it runs very smoothly, which matters most at these speeds. The soundtrack uses licensed rock and punk tracks that fit the carefree nature of the whole package perfectly. The original game was received enthusiastically at the time, and the remaster brought it back to the attention of players who'd missed it the first time around. Critics of the remaster only complained that it stuck too faithfully to the original and added practically nothing new, but otherwise it was honest, solid work. Open-world arcade racing isn't common these days, and that's exactly why Paradise City still feels fresh, especially compared to titles that lead the player from one point to the next. Crucially, the game barely interrupts the pace at all, since after finishing a race you can keep driving immediately, and the next competition can start at any intersection.