Take me down
Burnout Paradise is a remarkably fun game that combines competitive racing with car mashing to create a surprisingly immersive experience that keeps the player wanting more. The premise of the game is simple. Win races to earn money and experience that helps you unlock more areas and buy more cars. It is a fast-paced high-octane joy ride from the beginning right to the very end. There isn't much of a story here, just lots of fun to be had, over 70 cars to try out and multiple race modes to test your expertise at driving on the roads of Paradise City.
For Burnout Paradise, I would choose to design power-ups that come in the form of orbs along which enhance the player's driving abilities in one way or another. The 4 specific power-ups I'd like to add include SHIFT, RAGE, AGILE, and BURNOUT. Of course the idea of power-ups can be taken to whole nother level allowing for strategic game play in a game that's primarily focused on speed and destruction.
This blog will explore the implications of having such power-ups, how these items will work, what each does and how to use them appropriately. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the rules of the road, take a look at the following review to get a glimpse into a place where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.
Overview
The power-ups in the game would work like power-ups do in most racing games. They would be scattered across roads encompassing the playing field and may be picked up at the user's discretion. The trick here is that the power up may be stolen via takedown or on the open road before the player can get to it. The power-up will be designed to looks like a floating orb bobbing up and down at various checkpoints throughout the race. Once the player sees the orb he may pick it up or drive around it should he wish to do so. The orb will constantly change color until picked up at which point it'll disappear in being consumed by the player or an opponent. Opponents may not use power-ups but will be able to pick them up in an effort to prevent the player from consuming them. For this reason, power-ups will be placed more strategically around the game world and taking shortcuts guarantee the player a power-up. The opponent AI will not be inclined to pick up a power-up but will do so on random occasions.
Once picked up, the HUD will display an icon representing one of the four possible power-ups (SHIFT, RAGE, AGILE or BURNOUT). This is completely random and will not depend on which color the orb may be when the player is picking it up. If the player performs a takedown on an opponent that has acquired a power-up, they will immediately consume this power-up. If the player is already in possession of a power-up when this happens, he will automatically switch out his power-up for the opponent's. On the other hand, if a player is taken down, he will immediately loose his power-up to the opponent and may obtain it once more if he exacts revenge. Should the player choose to not use his power-up before he hits another, it will be replaced by another random power-up upon coming into contact with a new orb. Once the player crosses the finish line, an unused power-up is taken completely out of play and can't be used when simply cruising the streets.
There will initially only be one power-up available to the player and as he progresses in the game (unlocking new cities), he will also unlock new power-ups in races. When the player first begins he will not be given any power-ups in races but will once he moves on to his first big city. The changing colors of power-ups (orbs) on the playing field will be represented by the colors of the power-ups currently available to the player. A player should be smart about using different power-ups with different vehicles. The effects have every chance of multiplying their benefit based on what car type is being used in the race. I will talk about every power-up in the order it is unlocked for the player to use.
AGILE
Agile is an ability found in many racing games and most recently in GTA 5 where time slows down for a moment allowing the driver to carefully manouever his vehicle to avoid obstacles and traffic in most cases. Burnout Paradise is made to be a game all about speed and destruction, agility doesn't even come into the equation. But what if it did. What if turns could be made with finesse and traffic could be weaved through without problems or causing a huge accident that sets you back a few positions from first? Wouldn't it be nice? Well, with the Agile power-up you can do just that. Slow time down to make that tight turn or to land that stunt jump perfectly without flipping you car or even to avoid a takedown. It's your call, just make sure you use it before it runs out.
Often when playing Burnout Paradise I found myself noticing shortcuts when it was simply too late to turn in time. Now, with Agile, it's a lot easier to just activate your power-up which gives you increased handling and shift your way across 4 wide lanes to get to that shortcut that puts you ahead of your opponents. Of course it's inevitable with such a fast-paced game that you're eventually going to run into anything from oncoming traffic to a railing or a traffic island in the middle of the road. If you have the fortunate foresight to see yourself hitting these obstacles you can simply get Agile and get right out of their way preventing major accidents that slow you down. Agile is most useful with high-speed exotics and mostly motorbikes that get knocked over quite easily and quite often.
RAGE
Rage is powerful and very effective especially in a game like Burnout Paradise. When picked up and activated, Rage initiates a red saturation of everything in the player's view. Anything you now hit will not do any damage to the vehicle and will only serve to get rid of anything in your way. As you tear up the streets, traffic, opponents and cops will simply be propelled away as you blaze through to the finish line. Rage, like Agile, is controlled by time and only lasts a short while allowing you the competitive edge to get ahead in a race or to not have to worry about pesky traffic getting in your way to glory. The best part about Rage is that it doesn't break momentum and allows you to continue on at the same speed you're going at. This means that takedowns don't hinder your velocity at all getting you further ahead faster.
In addition, hitting obstacles accidentally won't be a problem anymore. Essentially, Rage gives the player the opportunity to blaze through the race for a short amount of time, not having to worry about anything that slows you down. In essence, this focuses your attention on driving straight and getting right from point A to point B. Rage is especially helpful when you' need to takedown an opponent but their speed happens to match yours preventing your from performing a take down from behind. Now, you can simply activate Rage and blast right through knocking the rival off the race track altogether. Rage is also a great way to build up your boost quick earlier on in the game. It is important to remember that Rage is most effective with bigger cars but is beneficial for motorbikes that are easily swayed by traffic and often get thwarted because of their speed and size.
SWITCH
This fun power-up gives players the advantage by moving them up an extra position when they take a player down. The way this works is that when a player is behind another and takes him down, he does not only gain his position, but switches positions with the player in front of him essentially making it easier to get to first place. Of course, this power-up may only be used once and will disappear once it has been used to advance. When the switch takes place, the car in the position the player is switching to is shown before the player is teleported there automatically. This helps support the game's positive feedback loop and gets the player where he needs to be faster. If the player takes down the opponent in first place, he remains where he is. Of course, when the player is taken down, he immediately loses his power-up and can't switch.
This mechanic is pretty straight-forward and is mainly created to help players trailing behind to catch up and get the advantage they need to possibly win the race. As this power-up is strong and gives the player a large advantage, it is introduced later in the game, after RAGE. This power-up stresses takedowns and gets players to ravenously hunt down their opponents in order to gain the extra advantage available with Switch. It focuses the player on dodging traffic, handling well and taking their opponent down. Overall, it adds to the player's satisfaction in finally catching up and taking down the rival that's been plaguing you the whole race through.
BURNOUT
Burnout is possibly the most useful of all power-ups and is introduced late in the game. On activation, this power-up immediately begins re-filling your burnout meter completely and affords you unlimited boost while replenishing your bar. This mechanic essentially lets you slide right by and take that lead with ease. That is, if you know how to control a car at such high speeds. If you choose not to boost while Burnout is active, you can just allow it to refill your boost meter. If you do choose to boost while it is filling you up, there's absolutely no effect on draining the meter and you can continue using your boost until it's been completely replenished.
Burnout is best to use when your nitrous is nearly empty and isn't the best power-up to make use of when you're topped up. With Burnout, the player is essentially given the ability to boost constantly for longer period of time. If used correctly, this can allow the player to blaze ahead of the competition one nitrous tank after the other. It is specially helpful when the player hasn't done much to build up their meter and could really use the extra boost. Be warned though, Boost is a powerful item and if used continuously will make the car unstable and increase the sensitivity of the handling when travelling at breakneck speeds in addition to blurring the player's surroundings preventing them from seeing the playing field quite clearly.
Burnout is the only power-up that will not be stolen when you've been taken down in order to allow you to get back to your position in the race after you've been set back due to a crash.
In Conclusion
When coming up with a lot of these power-ups I had to think how they would enhance the game and in what way they would change the experience for the player. I believe that they would introduce an interesting dynamic in which players would be able to be very strong for a short amount of time giving them a competitive edge when pit against highly skilled opponents. I also feel like they are a fun way of boosting the game's base mechanics of speed and destruction. With a couple of the power-ups I had to really think about whether to keep them available to players after a takedown and how long they would last for or where they should be placed on the track when the race begins. I can imagine that this is what runs through the heads of game designers when figuring out what mechanics to implement and which to leave out. At the end of the day, every player chooses their own personal experience and especially with power-ups it is important to always remember...
"With great power comes great responsibility."
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