"You are the Marked Man."
--DJ Atomika, Burnout Paradise Remastered
The best games (and movies, TV/streaming shows, and books) have excellent production values and thematic depth. However, thematic depth is not necessary for a work of entertainment, or art in a broader sense, to have quality; a lack of philosophical significance does not automatically hinder the other components. The work can still succeed on other levels. Burnout Paradise falls into this category, merging an open world with a non-linear event system that does not force any particular sequence. With more than 100 events waiting, the whole of Paradise City can be explored at will inside or outside of event progression.
Production Values
Few handheld ports of such old games have the graphical integrity Burnout Paradise maintains on the Switch. Indeed, its city looks clearer than the models in some Switch ports of more recent games, like Metro 2033. Songs by Avril Lavigne, Killswitch Engage, Twisted Sister, and more comprise the soundtrack, which can be edited to ensure that favorite tracks take precedence and that any songs you do not wish to listen to are turned off completely. Other than occasional narration by DJ Atomika, listening to these songs is the only way players will hear spoken words in the entire game. There is very little voice acting unique to the game itself and therefore little to assess on that front. Paradise ultimately has strong production values for its place in gaming history, just with a very limited scope.
Gameplay
The progression system of Burnout Paradise has you continue to gain new levels for your driver's license by completing specific amounts of challenges. There is no overarching story, just the multitude of individual events scattered around Paradise City that span different categories, 120 Burnout billboards to destroy, and dozens of yellow barriers to break down. Simplicity seems to be the goal of the game's design. Any discovered mission/event can be played or replayed (at least with certain vehicles) and every song from the soundtrack can be immediately turned off or on from the beginning. Freedom to roam Paradise City unhindered lets players become familiar with the game mechanics at a more personalized pace. One can start many events as early in the game as preferred, and a variety of categories awaits.
In Marked Man events, the player's car is targeted by powerful vehicles that try to prevent it from reaching a fixed destination. Neither time limits nor obtaining first place matters here; surviving the onslaught long enough to cross the finish line is enough. Road Rage events have a minimum number of required takedowns of other vehicles that must be achieved within a time limit. While it can be very easy for other cars to crash your own vehicle, destroying the other cars can be a simple matter with the right environment and speed. The more conventional races usually pit 6-8 drivers against each other. However, there is a very unconventional aspect to these races.
There is no predetermined pathway or set of pathways to the finish line, allowing you to take any shortcut or primary street desired. As long as you merely are closer to the end point than the other contestants, regardless of what route you take, you remain in first place. The potential fruatration with this is needing to pause to view the map and plan how to navigate to the destination or risk getting lost or overtaken. There are many fucking ways to crash unexpectedly, so using the e-break, shortcuts, and takedowns can help counteract time lost due to spontaneous wrecks. Unlike Need for Speed, Burnout Paradise does not feature elaborate chases with escalating police forces, but police cars can ironically be selected from junkyards and used in any kind of event, even the ones that are more overtly illegal than others.
Story
The only story in Burnout Paradise entails the player earning a higher class of license one at a time by winning whatever number of events are needed to ascend further. There is no rival character serving as an antagonist, no clash of different factions, or extensive characterization of any kind. An unseen man who goes by DJ Atomika narrates instructions and hints, but this is as close as Paradise ever gets to a narrative structure.
Intellectual Content
Burnout Paradise has high production values for a 2008 console experience ported to the Switch, but it certainly lacks any sort of philosophical substance. With no rigid story in place, it would fall on the game mechanics or setup themselves to carry any thematic significance, and neither the gameplay nor the environments even indirectly point to anything of depth. The game itself still has very strong aspects, even though they contribute to a far weaker whole without any unified story, strong characterization, or abstract conceptual foundation. Anyone who appreciates the game will have to do so on other grounds.
Conclusion
A handheld remaster of a 2008 driving game is far from the worst Switch game that has been released to date. At the very least, it could provide around 10-20 hours of nonlinear racing and car stunts, especially thanks to the included DLC. The worst aspects of Burnout Paradise Remastered have nothing to do with the Switch port. Rather, it is the severe lack of anything more than open-ended driving and repetitive missions that do not feed into a larger story that holds the game back from greatness and more depth. There are far better racing games, but what is offered in Paradise is still a part of racing game development in recent decades.
Content:
1. Violence: Vehicular crashes with no blood or organs are often shown in slow-motion. No drivers are ever seen injured because they are not seen at all.
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