Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box Review

BY Nicholas Rego | POSTED: 15 March 2009

Set the streets on fire!



Let me start this review off by saying that for the record, I’m not a huge fan of racing games. Heck, even in real life I’m not much of a driver – I’m one of those people you’ll find driving on the last lane of the freeway with their left indicator on for the next 4 kilometres. Having got that off my chest, I must admit that I had a ridiculous amount of fun playing Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box on the Playstation 3. Having not had a chance to play the original Burnout Paradise, I was absolutely thrilled by how much fun this game was, and the extra goodies thrown into the Ultimate Box make this one of the best racing games yet.



Probably the most appealing factor about Burnout Paradise is that it’s a no-nonsense racing game. There are no street gangs to race against, no girls in shorts to impress, no police cars to outrun, and no making shady deals with old men in steamrooms. All you do is jump into your car and drive for miles around Paradise City. The city itself is HUGE, with over 400 events that you can unlock, making for an unforgettable driving experience.  The Ultimate Box takes the original thrill of Burnout Paradise and adds a number of bonus packs to the game, making it all the more enjoyable. The first add-on you get is the ‘Codename: Cagney’ pack, which adds the Stunt Run, Marked Man, and Road Rage modes to the game. The Stunt Run lets you combine jumps and boosts to rack up the most points, while the Marked Man mode sees you racing to a point on the map while avoiding other drivers who are trying to crash you off course. Lastly, the Road Rage mode lets you race against other drivers and take them down as you go, earning big points and a massive speed boost. Each mode plays like a dream, and the cars handle each event beautifully.

The next add-on is Burnout: Bikes, which lets you show your driving finesse while strapped to a lightning-fast bike. While you aren’t given a boost option when driving a bike, it’s really not much of a loss, as the bikes go at screamingly fast speeds anyway. You can do a variety of tricks on your bike as well as compete in various time trials, either during the day or night, so although you aren’t given as many events as with the cars, you’re still going to enjoy all the same breakneck speeds and unbelievable stunts.

The last pack you get is by far the best – the Burnout Party Pack. At last, true offline multiplayer comes to Burnout. The Party mode lets you setup a game for up to 8 players, in a ‘pass the controller’ fashion. Simply pick the events that you want to go through, and fire up your ride – each player then goes in turn to either perform the fastest lap, cause the most damage, or reach ridiculously high places (like a building roof) to earn the most points. If your Playstation Eye is plugged in, you can snap a photo for each player and really personalize the fun. The Party Pack is truly a welcome add-on to what’s already a remarkable game. If you tire of the single player (as if) or if you don’t have buddies around for the Party Pack, you can seamlessly hop online while still in the game and compete against other racers. The online multiplayer is superb, and with literally no lag, you can race against and take down hundreds of players in Paradise City, adding to the already steadfast replayability of the game.



Visually speaking, the game exceeds every single expectation for a racing game. For one thing, driving around Paradise City is a flawless experience – there are hundreds of roads and hidden shortcuts, and plenty of stunning sights to see as the landscape unfolds before you. The countryside area of the map boasts luscious and vibrant greens, while the centre of the city is a maze of intersections and towering skyscrapers. Both cars and bikes have plenty of detail, and each crash is pure poetry in motion, with crunching frames, flying doors, and catapulting tyres – you can almost feel each crash as you see your precious ride shatter on screen. The sound is also top notch, with some good rock tracks playing in the background as you drive around. Though why Avril Lavinge and Mozart were included in the playlist, I’ll never know.

Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is a must have for anyone who hasn’t played the game before. If you own the original game, then you’re better off buying the packs separately from the Playstation Store. With plenty of downloadable content coming soon to this game, this is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a racing game to remember.