Hour one: This is great! Burnout is awesome in HD! The soundtrack is the worst yet, but whatever!
Hour two: Car variety is nice, I'm making swift progress and the city is big and pretty!
Hour three: PARKING GARAGE!
Hour four: Woo! Class B and the crashes are purty!
Hour five: Okay, got some more cars!
Hour six: What am I doing?
Hour seven: Why am I still playing?
The open world idea is a disaster for the series. It sounds great on paper and it plays great for 4 or 5 hours, but it's almost impossible to "master" the track when the track is like 10 square miles. I can't take a shortcut I can't see and given that the game's average speed is 160 mph, I can't see shit. I liked the game well enough, but the thrill of running a course over and over, really learning it in and out, is gone. I recognize stuff, but not nearly well enough to establish any kind of relationship with the material. A shame because it looks great and plays great and the cars are pretty and diverse, but the core gameplay has never been more boring. WIthout more courses to look forward to, what's the point in just accruing cars? Not to mention that road rage has never been simpler: Turn out the boost and whack a quarter panel and you're set. I regularly had 10-15 streaks and I'm terrible at this game.
Also: Who the fuck took out the biggest crash mode? Way to ruin the party. "Showtime" mode fuckin' blows, I can just keep hitting A and hopping down the road, which looks fucking stupid and isn't even fun. This game is a victim of diminishing returns, every hour is more boring than the last. A giant shame.
