14 DAY TRIAL // 
For quite some time, racing games have become synonymous with Electronic Arts' yearly Need For Speed titles, which have generated massive amounts of profit for the company despite a somewhat descending curve in terms of quality. But EA hasn't been resting on its laurels and has supported the Criterion Games studio to create a new iteration in its Burnout series.
As such, Burnout Paradise was created and launched for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 almost a year ago. Impressing through its stunning graphics details and the physics engine which showcased spectacular crashes through the roads of Paradise city, the game won over a massive number of fans. Now, the racer has finally rolled onto the PC, with the Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box version, containing the original game, the Bogart, Cagney and Bike packs, which were already available for the console versions, and the new Party Mode which enables offline multiplayer. But is the game better on a PC than on a console? Read on to find out.
Story
Story-wise, the game sticks to the basics and doesn't offer much insight, nor does it need such unimportant details. You are a new driver in Paradise City and you need to win races, take out opponents and earn your Burnout driver's license. Nothing is mentioned as to why you came here or why you need to race, but the fact of the matter is that you bought the game to race, and it will offer you some truly unforgettable events in order to satisfy your, ironically, need for speed.
All the information you need to know is offered by a local DJ on a radio station, called DJ Atomika, who offers you small pieces of info about where you can do crazy stunt runs, what cars you need to drive for each type of event and what you need to do in order to unlock new cars. As a whole, the story is exactly how you need it to be – short, concise, and leaving the essentials up to your imagination: Why are there no drivers in the cars? Why are there no pedestrians on the road? Who cares, you're going to race in this game and that's what matters.
Gameplay
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is exactly what it says, the ultimate Burnout experience. It takes a solid game, improves it with the updates that the Bogart, Cagney and Bike packs brought, like a day and night cycle, and new events and the introduction of motor bikes, and places it in one whole package.
The cars handle very well, and you can really feel the differences between each of the three classes, Stunt, Speed and Aggression, which are adequate for certain types of races and events. The big heavy cars are good for Road Rage or Marked Man events, while the easy to control Stunt vehicles can take you to high speeds when you need to take off from ramps of hit billboards, placed in some of the most interesting parts of Paradise City.
The physics are very realistic, although they can sometimes make you a bit angry. The game does its best to make you crash, and you won't disappoint it, as even at somewhat low speeds a minor scratch with another car will send you tumbling through the air and wrapped around the next sign post, all in slow motion, so you can admire the way your once lovely car is transformed to a heap of compacted metal.
In terms of the races, everything is very well polished, but one of the most important things is that the game lets you choose your own route, which can be very overwhelming during your first races. But despite the fact that you will have to switch to your map every 30 seconds or so, the fact that the races or Marked Man events end in the same eight places scattered around Paradise City will make you get used to the roads leading to them very quickly.
Free roam events, like the Stunt Runs or Road Rage races, give you total freedom on where you want to race, in order to discover stunt routes so you can chain together a bigger combo of moves, or a tight road where you can easily take out your opponents and reach the target number of takedowns. In terms of stunts, the system of ramps, billboards and hidden routes is extremely well built, as once you enter one back alley you will uncover new ones at the end of it very easily.
Shortcuts are present in big numbers across Paradise City but you really should be careful which ones you take, as they aren't like the ones found in NFS, and can easily take you further from your destination than the normal road that you didn't take.
Your opponents are pretty smart and will give you quite a challenge in all the events. The fact that you can choose whichever route you think is best also gives the AI-controlled cars the same freedom. When you will approach a destination intersection from one road and see that other cars are coming from the opposite way or from the sides is something that really leaves a mark on the big number of possible routes that you can take.
The damage system is also very well built, with cars really showing the adventures you put them through. During normal races, if you crash your car will be returned to the state it previously was in, but during Road Rage or Marked Man events you only have a limited number of revivals, and thus you must really hunt the Auto Repair shops that make your car look brand new.
Concept
The concept of the game is pretty simple, combining three elements that a lot of gamers will find extremely appealing: races, crashes and an open world environment. While the races through the wide streets of Paradise City will certainly give you some adrenaline-filled experience, the crashes will leave you breathless and make you jump out of your seat.
The road network is very well laid out, and, after a few hours, you'll know Paradise City like the back of your hand. The districts of the open world are also very varied, ranging from the grid network of roads in the city center to the mountain area filled with serpentines and tight roads, perfect for Road Rage events.
The stunt ramps, billboards and shortcuts are cleverly laid out and will make a lot of gamers who like completing every challenge happy as there are a huge number of them scattered across Paradise City for them to smash or race through.
Visuals and Audio
Graphics-wise, Burnout Paradise delivers a stunning experience, from the gritty realism of the road and buildings to the high-detailed crashes and realistic day and night racing conditions. One of the best marks I can give the game is the day and night cycle. No more dusk or dawn races like in the NFS titles; you will now be able to see the sun set and turn on your headlights for the nighttime events. Paradise City looks great no matter the time of day and will surely impress a lot of gamers, even if they mostly race through it at high speed.
The cars look very good, each of them bearing small minute details that further customize and really give them a unique appearance. Even the upgraded ones, which you can unlock through Burning routes, are different from the stock ones as, although they are almost the same in appearance, new features like a body kit or a back wing give them personality.
In terms of the tracks you will hear while racing through the game, their sheer number is very big. From instrumentals, which appeared in previous Burnout titles, to songs that are currently broadcasted on real-life radio, to classical music like Vivaldi or Mozart, everything is at your fingertips. Let's not forget the opening song, Guns N'Roses' Paradise City, which sounds extremely well combined with the roar of the car engines.
Speaking of car sound, all the vehicles feature distinct noises, as you can clearly make the distinction between the high-pitched ones from the Speed-type cars and the lower notes of the big heavy engines in the Aggression class. No car will sound the same and this is just one more reason to race and unlock new vehicles.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode really shines and offers a great experience no matter what type of gamer you are. If you like to complete the single player mode and don't really fancy being beaten online, you can easily jump in Freeburn online where you can explore and complete races through Paradise City while your friend completes his own events.
If you want to try out your racing skills against someone else then you can just as easily go and play in ranked or unranked matches against friends, in which a small leaderboard shows what achievements you made and which driver is best at what events.
Speaking of friends, the Party Mode, which enables you to host an offline multiplayer match, is also very entertaining. You and up to eight of your friends can take turns and complete an event, and the one with the best time wins. Speed, Stunt and Skill challenges will have to be completed and it really offers some very interesting experiences with your friends.
Conclusion
All in all, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is just what it says, a complete package for anyone who hasn't yet played the game on the console and waited for a PC release. It gives you all of the great things that were in the original game, adds the important updates and throws in the Party Mode so that you and all of your friends can interact in the same place.
Although there are some things that might annoy people, like the easy crashes and the fact that you need to open up the map every other intersection in order to see where you need to go, the game makes you forget all of those and delivers a great all-around experience, perhaps even better than the one on the consoles. Every racing game fan should own this and enjoy it for quite some time, thanks to the Criterion team, which brings new things every few months.
