Burnout Paradise

In Burnout Paradise players are treated to a rarity in the video games universe: a complete reinvention of an established franchise that equals, if not betters any of the previous games in the series. Yes, this is a large claim, but one that can be explained in a single phrase: Next-Gen Freedom.

Driver's heaven is a wide open world

In Paradise City even cars can fly. View larger.

Go for broke in 'Marked Man' Mode. View larger.

Nothing is off limits, even head-on crashes. View larger.

Start a race any time with 'Easy Drive.' View larger.

Although the Burnout series’ over the top mobile action has been its calling card since it ignited audiences on the PS2 in 2001, and later on the first generation Xbox console, Burnout Paradise is the first game in the series that has been designed specifically for play on Next Generation consoles. This has allowed game developer Criterion to rip the training wheels off the game and rebuild it from scratch. The result is a new, expansive world that players can roll through at will. And what a world it is.

Enter Paradise City
Heaven on Earth, at least to road-raging, crash-causing Burnout fanatics, Paradise City is your domain and ultimate proving ground in Burnout Paradise. This expansive driver’s playground stretches across 250 miles and encompasses all sorts of road driving conditions, from fun-in-the-sun seaside cruising boulevards, to mountain roads and downtown gridlock. But regardless of what stretch of asphalt you find yourself on, the beauty of this place is that nothing is blocked off and your wits are at least as important as the horsepower under your hood when it comes to racing here. Check out Paradise City’s five sub areas (click the links for sample images):

• Downtown Paradise City
• Harbor Town
• Palm Bay Heights
• Silver Lake
• White Mountain

Burnout Your Way
Unlike in previous Burnout games, Burnout Paradise not only puts the keys to your ride in your hands, but places you squarely in the driver’s seat when it comes to where you can go and what you can do.

Along with wide avenues and crowded highways, the open game design of Paradise City is also jammed full of hidden side streets, back roads and alley ways. These can be used as short cuts in races, that is, if you know where they are. As you explore, commit these potential short cuts to memory because they will definitely come in handy in a tight race. And since we are talking Burnout here, players should not expect uneventful, genteel contests of speed and precision driving. In Paradise City players are always free to slam, shunt and wreck opponents in their bids for supremacy and they will. Also, new to the Burnout series, races can now start anywhere, anytime. Just pull up to a stoplight and spin your wheels to start one in one of five different event classes:

• Classic Race
• Road Rage
• Burning Route
• Stunt Run (new)
• Marked Man (new)

Instant Online
Burnout Paradise also keeps the mobile carnage coming while simultaneously setting the new standard in online social gameplay. With the new ‘Easy Drive’ feature you can find friends online and with the click of a button invite them to a race. Once they’ve accepted the race will start immediately. That's right, no more annoying wait times at online lobbies and servers. And keeping in touch with friends is easier than ever.

Team up or Takedown
In the winner-take-all universe of Burnout teaming up usually isn’t the first option that comes to mind, but on these rough and tumble streets it's a good option to keep in mind. With more than 300 FreeBurn Challenges packed into the game, players always have the choice of going it alone against the field as a whole or joining forces with up to seven of your buddies in user-created race routes. Either way, if you are victorious in your takedown you'll get the chance to talk some trash as you exchange Mugshots with your victim via an optional camera hooked to your gaming system or your gamertag/PSN avatar if you prefer to keep your identity on the down-low.

Showtime: Crash Anywhere, Any Time
And finally since a new Burnout release wouldn't be complete without a little something special in the wreckage department, Burnout Paradise continues the carnage with an update of its familiar 'Crash Mode.' Renamed 'Showtime Mode,' players can now crash, bounce and scatter their ride in any location and replay the wreckage over and over in slow motion. One of the most addictive and down right fun features of the game, players activate the mode by simply pulling both triggers on their controller and if they are good enough can also immortalize their Showtime moments on the leaderboards for all to see.

Driving fans this is Next-Gen at its best and definitely the Burnout title you have been waiting for.

Dark Sector

A new kind of weapon for a new kind of hero.

Dark Sector is a third-person Action/Shooter that thrusts players into a sci-fi flavored nightmare scenario set in the post Cold War era. Playing in the role of Hayden Tenno, an unscrupulous covert operative sent on an assassination mission into Lasria – a fictional Eastern European city on the brink of ruin and rumored to be contaminated by a mysterious and frightening plague, Hayden takes out his mark, but before he can escape is attacked by an unknown enemy. Not killed outright as expected, he is instead infected with the virus that is causing the plague.

New weapons, a new hero

Hayden Tenno and his glaive. View larger.

Hone your skill with the glaive. View larger.

Take on enemies the old-fashioned way. View larger.

Duel-wield glaive & gun. View larger.

The Technocyte Virus and Hayden’s Evolution
Just as with the other victims swarming the street of Lasria, the Technocyte Virus imbues Hayden with powerful, inhuman abilities. These abilities are not static and as they progress they cause severe, accelerated pain; pain that eventually drives their hosts insane, turning them quite literally into monsters of superhuman power. Hayden possesses an unexpected resistance to this maddening pain, but his body is not spared the mutations caused by the virus. The first of these are metal armor that grows from his body and a three bladed, throwable weapon called a "glaive" which explodes from his right arm and can regenerate if lost. But these are only the beginning. Eventually players may also gain the power of limited invisibility, the use of a bulletproof shield and an assortment of deadly melee attacks.

As Hayden slashes his way through the mutants overrunning Lasria he stumbles upon a plot by a rogue operative and his private army of henchmen to harness the power of the strongest of these mutants for some dark purpose. No longer entirely human, but not a mindless mutant Hayden must make a decision whether to use his own new powers to stop this plot or look the other way. But regardless of his choice, he has become the target of both the blind rage of his fellow mutants and a shadowy paramilitary group that seeks to control them.

Weapons: Glaive, Guns and the Black Market
Dark Sector is far from the traditional third-person shooter. The glaive is the game’s signature weapon and as players gain experience they will come to see that it is not only a stylish weapon, but also much more versatile than the traditional firepower available in-game. It is of course deadly as a slashing weapon and can be thrown great distances, but as Hayden’s powers evolve the glaive can be used in unexpected ways, ranging from siphoning and focusing elemental features like fire and freezing cold on enemies, to opening doors and retrieving items from inaccessible areas. But this doesn’t mean that players can shun the conventional weapons scattered throughout the game, quite the opposite.

To be successful players must successfully journey underground to the game’s ‘black market’ where they can purchase new weapons with scavenged rubles and also upgrade their existing weapons. Some of these upgrades include increasing a weapon’s firing rate, larger ammo clips, the ability to fire two simultaneous rounds and a ‘puncture ability’ that allows you to shoot through any enemy to hit another standing behind him. Finding the entrances to the black market are important because firearms in the game are biologically sensitive to mutant powers and unless altered to ignore the existence of altered DNA are useless to the mutated Hayden.

Gameplay Modes and Features
Not only does Dark Sector contains a deep singleplayer story mode, but in addition it features multiplayer functionality allowing players to harness Hayden Tenno’s mutant powers in two different ways, both in awesome 10-person online multiplayer combat. The two modes include:

Infection Mode: Think of this as ‘tackle the guy with the glaive.’ In this timed mode one player assumes the role of a fully-powered Hayden Tenno, complete with shield, invisibility and melee capabilities, while the other nine play as human operatives trying to kill him and take his place. The player in the role of Hayden receives a single point for each kill made, while the soldier that takes him down gets 2, plus the right to wield the glaive in the next go around. Players making assists in the slaying of Hayden receive one point as well. The player with the most points at the end of the round wins.

Epidemic Mode: In this team-based mode, with a set number of rounds per match, two teams, each made up of one Hayden and a group of soldiers, battle to kill the other team’s Hayden. A single point is awarded to each team per kill of the opposing Hayden. Each Hayden begins at full strength and the team with the most points at the end of the round wins.

Other features available in both multiplayer modes include voice chat and global leaderboards.

The Birth of a Superhero
Whether in singleplayer or multiplayer modes the developers of Dark Sector have endeavored to link every action of the player to the mutant evolution of Hayden Tenno. This means that as players progress through the game defeating bosses as well standard enemies they increase Hayden’s mutant abilities and advance his disease. It’s a catch-22 that with every victory Hayden becomes less human, but one that the game’s storyline relishes as the one-time hitman slowly and unsurely morphs into a hero.

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