I picked up Burnout Paradise for the PS3 yesterday, long time overdue, I know. I got home, downloaded all the patches that have ever come into existence, and then went to pick up my kids. I told them on the way home that I had a new game for them to check out. Read on to find out what they thought.

Recently, my son and daughter have been going nuts wanting to watch me play games. This is a good thing, except for the fact that they typically enjoy crap. Not their fault, they’re just dumb when it comes to quality gaming. Luckily I’ve been able to start swaying them into classier fare. My son switched from only wanting to play Railworks (boring) to Sid Meier’s Railroads! (fun micromanagement). My daughter actually has better taste, for the most part, but would occasionally pull out the EyePet box which forced a heavy sigh from my side of the living room.

Then last night, I loaded up Burnout Paradise. As soon as the kids saw me wreck other cars into the walls, they were….puzzled….but intrigued. My son loved the wanton destruction and “speedy fast” cars. My daughter was equally entertained, but gave a big “AWW!!” of disgust whenever I’d push the purple and pink, star embellished pimpmobile into oncoming traffic.

Above all, the one aspect of the game that my kids could not get over was the license. You see, my kids are total dorks who should have grown up in the late 80’s or early 90’s when video camera’s were a novelty and you couldn’t walk through a department store without seeing your face plastered on multiple televisions. In Burnout Paradise, you have the option of taking a new photo for your drivers license after every event (if you own the Playstation Eye, that is). So without fail, after every race, there my kids were up at the TV, making dumb faces and trying to see their asses on the big screen. No joke, my son got naked and his climbed on the TV stand so he could get his ass in the camera’s view.

I doubt the obsession with the camera will last but if I can keep pants on my son, I’m going to enjoy it as long as I can.

Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn

Blogger and Podcast host for Multiplaying. All viewpoints in my words whether written or spoken are my own, and do not reflect the views of the community I am a part of. I don't do this for a living, and it shows!