The Burnout series has been a totem of one crucial live-blood: the energy of youth. The instant thrill of the race, the mix of gravel and rubber melting in the sun and the renegade attitude to the laws of society. The original Burnout is the most obvious example of the series' more frivolous intentions; basic vehicles with basic attributes and no need to tune or tinker – just find something for you or earn yourself something better. The original set of vehicles are toy cars for the user to smash, crash and thrash to the finish.

With Burnout 2 the series embraced a more confident, teenage ideology. The A.I. stepped up and even the box-art was adorned with one of the signature vehicles from Rob Cohen's teen marketing dream The Fast and the Furious. Paint jobs were inching their superficial heads in but the settings across mountains and through rural crossings helped counter the aggressive aesthetic. There was a style war raging.

Needless to say the teen sensibility and chasse didn't quite stick to the strict machine of developer Criterion's engine. Besides, EA was cashing the demographic cheques with its shiny Need for Speed brand.

The medical attention required after the excruciating eye-rolls that accompanied EA's acquirement of Criterion can't be understated. The emergency room bills after the revelation that Takedown, the result of the collaboration, was in-fact the best in the series (up to that point) similarly so. Revenge followed soon after with the most battle-hungry A.I. the genre had seen and the Burnout reputation was now on fire (in the cool/teenage sense).

The subsequent handheld releases of Legends and Dominator indicated the strength of the brand-name in the face of EA's other street-racer IP and alas, here we are - with the fifth iteration in the main body of the series, Paradise .

If Criterion has travelled through ideology and age with its series, then Paradise is undoubtedly the mid-life crisis. The main menu opens with Guns ‘n Roses' Paradise City blaring out in glee both at its cheesed-up relevance to the title and also proud of its new-found status as retro-cool podium rock with a younger set of peeps. Users may require a face-lift after the catalysed cringe of this initial boot-up.

That lift, fortunately, can be found in the game itself.

Though Need for Speed Underground 2 and Testdrive Unlimited have each beaten Paradise to the open-world genre retail shelves, the ease of accessibility in this title is unforeseen. Paradise 's city is vast yet easy to navigate after the initial break-in, there are no restarts to pander to your inner perfectionist so you're forced to explore and boost your way to the next thrill.

Under the guise of this open road is where Paradise 's difficulty curve infiltrates your experience. The required license points acquired by scenario wins leads, eventually, to a nail-biting street war declared by the user on every single event. Points, initially an ocean breeze in a soft-top, soon become blood-sport and the title opens it's doors from the memories of the originals' pixel streets to the hair-pulling, rubber-burning controlled chaos of Revenge.

Paradise is far from a fond death-bed reminisce through the gardens of its early-years, it's a rabid best-of splattered on the palette of modern, free-world play. It's the rarest of choices made by that mid-life male; the solid investment in a new car as shiny and fun as a Ferrari but also as economical and friendly as a Ford.

The free-world travel in Paradise is so littered with brilliant, improvised moments that it's hard to imagine the menu system of old returning – or being returned to – ever again. Smash-barriers and billboards rack up achievements but more-so rack up sheer, unadulterated adrenaline. The heart-in-mouth moments of the series' finest scenes are here in all their glory, but for once it's up to the user if and when they conjure them. Outrun is as easily brought to life in the smooth downtown streets as Midtown Madness and the duelling fates of the games' personality is distinctly privatised for each user's preference of play. Know this: no two plays-through of the single-player will be the same.

Whilst the genre is known, in arcade and sim alike, as on-rails by nature, Paradise will no-doubt upset some of the more anachronistic users out there. But for anyone looking for a good time, in their own time, Paradise is… paradise.

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