Burnout Paradise Remastered

Burnout 3: Takedown was a major change in direction for the series with its speed, wrecks, and overall addictive gameplay. Criterion’s Burnout Paradise went even further with an open-world environment and the freedom to progress at one’s own pace. This is on top of fully customizable race settings, a reworked damage model, streamlined progression that rewards new cars consistently, and much more. Crash Mode could even be accessed at any time via the new Showtime Mode. With an incredibly well-designed urban playground and fun gameplay, Burnout Paradise stands the test of time.

This announcement comes shortly after EA’s acquisition of Codemasters, which is hard at work on its upcoming GRID Legends. The studio recently also shipped F1 2021, which received great reviews and has been enjoying solid sales.

Xbox has now hit its stride with Xbox Game Pass, which seems to be growing larger by the day to such a degree that fans consider it to be the quintessential part of owning an Xbox console. The upcoming Halo Infinite also wrapped up its first flight test, which has been well-received by fans all around the globe.

https://twitter.com/EAPlay/status/1422240783772573696

Electronic Arts has confirmed that it reached an agreement to acquire Codemasters. The deal is for $1.2 billion with the latter’s shareholders receiving approximately $7.98 per ordinary share. EA’s offer comes at the last minute when Codemasters was initially slated to be acquired by Take Two Interactive for £750 million (roughly $980 billion).

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson stated that, “We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years.

“With the full leverage of EA’s technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family.”

The publisher also believes that Codemasters’ expertise with the Formula One, DiRT and other franchises along with EA’s Need for Speed and EA Sports brands will enable “our teams to innovate further.” It also believes that it can “accelerate” the developer’s performance with its “deep expertise in live services operations, game analytics and technology.” Resources like localization, art and motion capture, quality verification will also be made available to Codemasters from EA’s side. Of course, having the global publishing and marketing resources of EA is also expected to help expand the market for the developer’s titles.

The acquisition is expected to be done by Q1 2021, unless another publisher swoops in to stake its own claim (cue Microsoft with the last second run-in). It seems unlikely but stay tuned for more details on that front regardless.

It’s been a busy year for Codemasters with several major releases, including the recent DiRT 5. The company revealed its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, which is essentially the six month period ending September 30th. Releases in this period include F1 2020, Project CARS 3 and Fast and Furious Crossroads.

F1 2020 “materially over-performed” compared to last year’s iteration. The performance for Fast and Furious Crossroads and Project CARS 3 was in line with the company’s expectations. Interestingly, it noted that the critical response to the former was “disappointing” (check out our review here to find out why).

Revenue from games-as-a-service titles is “modest” at this point but should account for more of the company’s business in the future. As it stands, revenue and profits have doubled with revenue at £80.5 million while profits after taxes hit £19.9 million. The future should be interesting for the company, especially following its acquisition at the hands of Take Two Interactive (which will be finalized by next year). Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

The UK boxed video game sales charts for the week ending August 1 are in (via GamesIndustry), and Ghost of Tsushima, which topped the charts last week, is still hanging on to that top spot, in spite of a 40 per cent drop in sales. That makes this its third consecutive week atop the UK sales charts, which is the same number of weeks fellow recent PS4 exclusive The Last of Us Part 2 – which is in eighth place here – was in first place.

In second place is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is not a surprise anymore. The Destroy All Humans! remake was the biggest new release this week, and in spite of the franchise having been dormant for over a decade, it’s come back strong in terms of sales, with the remake taking the third spot. It has sold 50 per cent more than the last instalment in the franchise, which was 2008’s Path of Furon.

Meanwhile, Skater XL – which had been in early access for a while – also saw its full release last week, and it, too, debuted in the top 10 in seventh place. Activision must surely by looking at this one in particular with optimism, with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 launching later this year.

You can check out the full top 10 below.

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons 
3. Destroy All Humans! 
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. F1 2020
6. Paper Mario: The Origami King
7. Skater XL
8. The Last of Us Part 2
9. Grand Theft Auto 5 
10. Minecraft (Switch)

Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima has become a huge success for Sony, selling over 2.4 million copies within three days of launch. So it’s perhaps no surprise that it topped UK physical charts again even with sales dropping by 68 percent week-on-week, according to GamesIndustry.biz. By comparison, sales for Paper Mario: The Origami King dropped by 64 percent.

While it’s in fourth place instead of second, it’s still the second fastest-selling title in the franchise (and that’s not taking digital sales into account). Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons instead took the second place spot, while Codemasters’ F1 2020 maintained its third place position.

There’s not much else that’s changed in the charts for the week ending July 25th. Some games have shifted up or down in that time – Forza Horizon 4 and Ring Fit Adventure have re-entered the top ten, for instance – but there aren’t any brand new titles that caused a stir. Check out Gfk’s top ten for the week below.

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. F1 2020
4. Paper Mario: The Origami King
5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
6. The Last of Us Part 2
7. Minecraft (Switch)
8. Grand Theft Auto 5
9. Forza Horizon 4
10. Ring Fit Adventure

The data for last week’s physical software sales in the UK has come in, courtesy of Gfk (via GamesIndustry), and to no one’s surprise, the two big new releases have taken the top 2 spots. Sucker Punch’s open world samurai epic Ghost of Tsushima was comfortably the highest selling game of the week. Though its launch didn’t touch the heights of The Last of Us Part 2’s debut, it did sell 7 per cent more on its debut that Sony’s previous new IP, Days Gone.

In second place is Paper Mario: The Origami King. The action-adventure Switch exclusive is the fastest-selling Paper Mario game in the UK to date, with more launch sales than the previous two releases (Colour Splash and Sticker Star) combined. It has also narrowly outsold the instalment before those two, Super Paper Mario.

F1 2020, which debuted on top of the charts last week, has dropped down to No. 3, which Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Last of Us Part 2 round out the top 5. The rest of the top 10 is populated by games we’ve become used to seeing on these charts, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Grand Theft Auto 5, and more.

You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending July 18 below.

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Paper Mario: The Origami King
3. F1 2020
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5. The Last of Us Part 2
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
7. Grand Theft Auto 5
8. Minecraft (Switch)
9. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
10. Luigi’s Mansion 3

Codemasters’ F1 2020 has entered the UK charts for boxed video game sales last week (via GamesIndustry) in the No. 1 position, with physical sales being up 22 per cent over F1 2019’s launch sales. This is the biggest launch for an F1 game since 2017. This means that The Last of Us Part 2, which has been in the top spot since its launch, is finally off the top. In fact, it drops down to third place, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons overtakes it to claim second place.

Marvel’s Iron Man VR enjoyed a strong debut last week, when it entered the charts in second place, and now sees a drop to No. 9, following a 75 per cent week-over-week drop in sales. Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise was another new release last week, but the Switch exclusive doesn’t chart in the top 10 (or the 20), coming in at No. 32.

The rest of the top 10 has a lot of games we’re used to seeing on these weekly charts, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (which has re-entered the top 10 following a surge in sales over last week), GTA 5, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Minecraft.

You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending July 10 below.

1. F1 2020
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. The Last of Us Part 2 
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. Minecraft (Switch)
6. Grand Theft Auto 5
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
8. Luigi’s Mansion 3
9. Marvel’s Iron Man VR
10. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy

Recently, we had the chance to ask its developers a few questions about the biggest changes and improvements they’d made to their formula with F1 2020, from My Team to the re-introduction of split-screen multiplayer to the iterative upgrades to the Career mode. You can read our interview with F1 franchise game director Lee Mather below.

"The concept of being able to race for and manage your own F1 team has been something which has excited the team since the first F1 title we did back in 2010."

My Team mode has been seen in the DiRT games, and is now making its way into F1 2020 as well. What led to the mode’s integration in the series?

The concept of being able to race for and manage your own F1 team has been something which has excited the team since the first F1 title we did back in 2010. In order to be able to achieve it to the level which we’d imagined it, we had to be happy that we’d got all the key elements in place. Key for us were the ability to pick a relevant teammate when setting up your new team. The inclusion of F2 in F1 2019 was vital to us being able to achieve that. With the F2 and F1 drivers, we’ve been able create an exciting and dynamic driver market. We also wanted to ensure we could allow the player to pick a power unit from the official roster of Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda. Finally, we needed to have customization in place, and the ability to apply sponsors to the cars. With all of that in place, we’ve been able to create a rich and engaging Driver/Manager mode in F1 2020 where the player is responsible for the performance both on and off the track.

Like all sporting events around the world, Formula One was also impacted by the pandemic. Fans have been glad to see things such as the Netherlands and Vietnam circuits still being included in the game, but what impact, if any, did the pandemic have on the game’s development?

We’ve been incredibly fortunate that the impact on the development was minimal. Our tech and IT teams had started working on a plan to get everyone working effectively from home in the run up to the lockdown, so when it actually happened, we were ready to go. We gave ourselves a few weeks to make a call on whether there was an impact on the performance of the team, and locked in the release date. It’s testament to the skill and professionalism of the entire team that we’ve delivered such a vast title under the current circumstances.

What can you tell us about the new tracks and what they bring to the table in terms of design and challenge?

It’s great to have two new and very different circuits on the calendar this year. Zandvoort is a very traditional race circuit, set amongst the sand dunes. It’s full of blind crests and apexes, and features some very technical elements. It’s also unique in that a heavily banked corner has been added to the circuit. We’ve built the Zandvoort circuit using a number of new techniques which have allowed us to create an even more authentic representation of the circuit.

Being a street circuit, Hanoi is a very different prospect to Zandvoort. Surrounded by stunning architecture, the track looks fantastic. Layout wise, it features two very long straights which will see cars hitting some of the highest top speeds of the year. There are also some very tight corners at the end of the two main straights which should result in some exciting overtaking opportunities.

"The bulk of the big changes we’ve made this year are part of the new My Team Mode, but we have refined and tweaked some of the systems in Career."

What’s the biggest impact that the addition of full Formula 2 seasons will have on the career mode?

For me, the biggest thing we gain from allowing the player to compete in a full F2 season before making the move to F1 is to be able to mirror the driver journey we’ve seen a significant number of the current crop of drivers take. It also gives the player the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tracks in the slightly slower F2 cars.

Can you talk about the changes made to R&D in the career mode?

The bulk of the big changes we’ve made this year are part of the new My Team Mode, but we have refined and tweaked some of the systems in Career. R&D now features manufacturer upgrades. These are delivered when the engine supplier for your team develops a new upgrade, you automatically gain the part too.

We’ve also made significant changes to how driver moves function, with a new driver market. Unlike in My Team, you’re a commodity in the market. Because of this, it’s important that you negotiate a good deal for yourself with the team of your choice.

Letting players customize the length of seasons has caught the eye of many- what is the biggest impact this will have on career mode in your view?

The inclusion of the customizable season lengths achieves two very cool things for us. First, it gives the player choice as to which circuits they race over the course of the season, as well as allowing players a quicker way to experience more of the 10 season Career and My Team mode. Secondly, it helps with accessibility. There’s no getting away from the fact that some circuits are more difficult than others, so allowing players to be able to remove those circuits from their season will also enhance their experience.

The decision to bring back two player split-screen is one that fans are very excited about- what led to the feature’s re-introduction?

Split-screen was a feature we had on the previous generations of console, and something which we’d wanted to bring back for some time. To implement split-screen in a game such as F1 is a technically demanding task, so this year we partnered with another developer to help us with the work. With the inclusion of the new accessibility features in F1 2020, we felt it would work perfectly with split-screen to allow for players of skill level to have fun and to race together.

"Split-screen was a feature we had on the previous generations of console, and something which we’d wanted to bring back for some time. To implement split-screen in a game such as F1 is a technically demanding task, so this year we partnered with another developer to help us with the work."

The esports scene is obviously something that is very important to the F1 series. With F1 2020, what are the steps you’re taking to grow in that area?

Esports has been an area of fantastic growth for us over the last 3 years, and the additional Virtual Grand Prix Series which we’ve run during the lockdown has really thrust F1 esports into the mainstream. For F1 2020, as we’ve set-up the cameras for the two new circuits, we’ve implemented them to work effectively with the esports broadcast. We’ve also added some additional Amazon Web Services graphics to better update spectators as to what’s going on.

The big changes this year will be in how we run the Official F1 Esports Series. We’ll be talking about the new and exciting plans we have for F1 esports in the near future.

The core gameplay from last year’s entry is mostly intact in F1 2020. After creating and naming your character, you can race in one of the many modes returning from previous iterations, either online or offline. As you race around the 22 total tracks, which include new tracks Hanoi and Zandvoort, car handling is dynamic and depends on a lot of factors, from your speed to track conditions and tire types. Cars feel as real as they ever have, and you can tweak them to become as personalized as you’d like. There’s an expected learning curve, but once you start to get the feel for a car, driving becomes incredibly satisfying, especially when you start to take perfect turns or overtake your competitors, and it allows you to organically feel out how difficult you want your races and driving competition to be.

"With major successful new additions to gameplay, F1 2020 creates a comprehensive experience for any level of F1 fan, making it one of the best racing sims on the market."

Even while races can take nearly 30 minutes to complete with race length at just 25% of normal, it rarely feels monotonous because every turn or straightaway is a brand-new experience and another opportunity to show off your skills. Your crew also gives you consistent detailed updates on the race, including your position, your lead or deficit, tire conditions, and race strategy status, and there is a wealth of information about your car and competitors that you can access mid-race, making quick adjustments much more accessible. New this year is the ability to drive in Casual mode, which turns many more assists on and makes driving easier. While this won’t help series veterans who want to fine tune every aspect of their cars, it’s a great addition to welcome newcomers to the series.

The biggest new addition to F1 2020 is the brand new MyTeam mode, a platform for you to create and manage your own team in Formula One and try your hand at winning the Constructor’s Championship. This mode is wide-ranging and comprehensive for the whole experience, and it’s where the game shines the most. You take control of every aspect of your team from the beginning, giving it a name, color scheme, and logos. You can decide if you want the F1 season to last 10, 16, or the full 22 races, and you can choose which of the tracks are raced that season. When you get into team management, though, you have control of virtually every aspect of your team’s operations. While your created character is the one you control on race weekends, you’re in charge of signing and managing your team’s second driver, as well as negotiating with new drivers after each season. Race weekends are mostly untouched from last year’s game, with three opportunities to practice racing a track before qualifying and ultimately racing.

Off the track, though, is where the MyTeam experience comes into its own. Over the course of the season, you’re tasked with managing each facet of your team. Signing sponsorships, for example, is a primary way to increase revenue, and you can choose from dozens of sponsors who offer weekly payments and bonuses for achieving goals like reaching a podium spot or driving a certain number of laps. Sponsors with higher bonuses may pay lower weekly payouts, but if you’re willing to take the risk you may have higher total revenue. Your finances help you invest in each of your car’s departments, which create the parts for your car from the R&D division. R&D works similarly to last year, where you can spend your research points in creating new parts for your car, though you can now rush the development of any part, which works faster but increases failure chance. Increased investment in each department can lower chance of failure or increase the number of developments happening at once.

"MyTeam is wide-ranging and comprehensive for the whole experience, and it’s where the game shines the most."

In the weeks between grands prix, you have free days during which you can assign activities for your team or drivers, such as team building activities, PR events, or upgrading your vehicles, each of which provides some benefit, though you can rarely do every possible activity in the time allotted. Some weeks will also have events like invitationals and press briefings. Invitationals are fun side activities that give you another way to experience each track, while press briefings, along with pre- or post-race interviews are great ways to increase acclaim with your fans or improve morale among your internal departments. Every aspect of MyTeam creates a stunningly wide-ranging racing management operation that makes you feel like the mastermind behind your team. It’s surprisingly engaging to develop new parts and sign sponsors, and it somehow never gets boring. Even if you just want to race, it allows that, too, and will autofill activities or automatically recommend part upgrades, which give you freedom to decide how much you want to put into your team’s operations, as opposed to just competing in races.

Returning from past games is the Career mode, allowing you to join one of the existing ten teams and build yourself up to become the best. This mode feels a little barebones compared to the MyTeam mode, as MyTeam includes expanded versions of most of the Career’s features, like R&D and contract management. Your teammate is no longer a character, and it’s mostly focused on your growth to becoming the best Formula One has to offer over the course of ten years. Before you begin your journey, you can race in a full or shortened F2 season to improve your acclaim or jump straight to F1, though I didn’t find that the F2 season was particularly challenging. The Career mode is still a worthwhile experience if you’re looking to build a single driver and don’t care about external operations, but it can start to feel lacking compared to MyTeam. Other modes are returning and generally untouched from last year’s installment. While I was unable to test the online racing, modes like leagues, ranked races, and unranked races are back with similar layouts to previous installments, as well as time trials, individual invitationals, and new split-screen multiplayer, all of which are other ways to allow you to race wherever you want without the structure of longer modes.

Visually, F1 2020 still doesn’t compete with series like Forza or Gran Turismo, but it has made noticeable improvements from years past. While character models can still be wonky and textures a little flat, lighting effects are often beautiful at different points during the day, and weather, alongside making tangible differences in car handling, is impressively varied. Loading times can become a bit frustrating, especially when at least three are required during every race weekend, and an ability to simulate an entire Grand Prix weekend would have been a nice implementation for players who want to speed up their pace. Within races, though, opposing drivers’ AI is usually realistic in its balance between being conservative and aggressive, especially on higher difficulty levels, which makes beating other drivers consistently satisfying, and the dynamic ways that cars react depending on their specific features is impressive in its own right.

"F1 2020 still doesn’t compete with series like Forza or Gran Turismo, but it has made noticeable improvements from years past. While character models can still be wonky and textures a little flat, lighting effects are often beautiful at different points during the day, and weather, alongside making tangible differences in car handling, is impressively varied."

F1 2020 is both the best installment in the series and one of the best racing sims in recent memory. Its driving is as refined and personalized as ever, and every moment feels like its own experience in improving your ability to control your car and defeat your opponents. Its additions to gameplay, especially the new MyTeam mode, are comprehensive and engaging, making for a great balance of experiences on and off the track. If you just want to race, F1 2020 has a great way to do so, and if you’re after a more wide-ranging simulation, it has everything you could ask for.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.