Parents' Guide to Burnout Paradise Remastered

For kids old enough to know that reckless driving only has a place in video games and not in real life, this game can be an exciting fantasy to explore. In Burnout Paradise Remastered, cars are categorized based on speed, strength, and stunt ability. This also determines how to increase their boost meters. Stronger cars, for example, will use an aggression boost meter, which rises with overly assertive driving. The natural fallout of this aggressive driving are the explosive crashes. Wrecks look cinematic, as glass shards and chunks of metal shoot across in slow-motion before the full effects of your collision are realized. Sometimes this can be accidental, like when you turn a corner and accidentally collide with a car or a ramp. In other cases, you have to cause as much mayhem as possible, like Road Rage events where you need to take out as many competitors as you can before your car is demolished.

Burnout Paradise Remastered's greatest achievement is eradicating almost all downtime. Load screens and menus are rarely seen. Cars can zip into repair shops and gas stations with no break in action. The gameplay has been significantly expanded with the inclusion of the eight previously released downloadable content packs as well. Now drivers have access to 150 cars and motorcycles to race through the streets. The inclusion of Big Surf Island adds new challenges and new roads to tear up as well, further expanding the racing mayhem. Plus, the enhanced 4K visuals makes the gameplay look incredible, whether its the vistas of Paradise City or the slick sheen of the paint on each car. The Nintendo Switch doesn't have the same fidelity that the PS4 or Xbox One versions do, but it manages to run at 1080p when it's docked and at 60 frames per second, which just feels buttery smooth. The biggest downside on the Switch is that in handheld mode, the screen can appear to be a bit darker than normal, which can make judging the distance of oncoming vehicles and some hazards harder than it needs to be. (Much of this issue is alleviated when you dock the Switch to a TV screen, by the way.) If you're a racing fan, Burnout Paradise Remastered will easily rev your engines.