[PC] - Burnout Paradise : The Ultimate Box - Vincent-V

Hi guys, haven't been lately on the forums... actually I have been checking the day and night happenings on the board ... just guess , I was missing you guys out there. Romulation since my last regular visits has changed enormously ... when my eyes just popped out looking at the new the sassy frontpage, well it's obvious that the credit should be gone to the mods and admins for handling such a great site in such a well-mannered way and often filtering those explicit contents out.. *_- . I have been thinking for such a long time for making one of those great vincent_v comeback again but I got damn bored out of them since those aren't popular as well ;D . So , I sat on my comp table thinking all my way browsing on the net and came out with an idea. Why not make one of those comebacks again with one of those game reviews. So here it is.... and crap!!!! I feel emotional writing this.. enough of this intro!! ;D

[PC] - Burnout Paradise : The Ultimate Box​

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Developers – Criterion Games

Publishers – Electronic Arts
Alex Ward (Creative Director)

Engine – Render Ware

Version – 1.90[1]

Platform – PS3, X360, PC

Release date -
PC
NA – February 5, 2009
EU – February 5 , 2009

Genre – Racing, Sandbox

Rating – ESRB – E10+

System Requirements for PC -

Minimum PC – Win Vista/ XP
Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent

Vista : 3.2 GHz
XP : 2.8 GHz

RAM – Vista – 1.5 GB
XP - 1GB

Video Card -
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or faster; ATI Radeon X1300 or faster with 128 MB, with Pixel Shader 3.0.​

Since when this game released , I have been feeling to just grab it off the stores but had to wait a bit until I had acquired my first paycheck. I have always been fascinated by the Burnout series since the start. Well , its not a surprise that they had my expectations fulfilled yet again. Criterion has yet another masterpiece added to their hall of fame , I think they have these sort of things ummmmm... Why break your head on it . Seeing it steal glory all over the PS3 and X360 consoles. Criterion's has come up with Burnout Paradise : The Ultimate Box , as the name suggests the game has a lot in just one mere DVD box. Yes, it's here for the first time a Burnout on PC. The Ultimate Box brings solid online and offline gameplay with a number of events and with over 70 cars up for collection. It is the best racing genre game on PC till now , according to me such fun was never available on any NFS titles so The Ultimate Box has strong contendership on the racer's pack.

Variety is the word i'd say to describe a game like Ultimate Box. It is for the first time I have had a leisurely time driving on the roads of an open-world game in the city of Paradise. Criterion's has spent a heck lot of time cramming whatever interesting feature came up to their mind. The Ultimate Box has a lot of inward content that you can't just wait to explore or if you can't just get enough of it there are a lot of downloadable contents on the net that I bet would just get you off your seat. There is for the first time ever the bikes pack and the fabulous day-night cycle. To add a lil'bit flavor from its predecessors that is from its console games a full pack multiplayer pass – the – controller party pack has been included and what the good thing is that it's offline which can accommodate from 2 to 8 players.... if your feeling a grudge on your friend just battle it out on the party mode. BRING IT ON!!

The Showtime Time mode allows you to unleash your carnage on the traffic.​

Gameplay, to be true hasn't much new when it comes to events such as Road Rage, Burning Route etc. For those who are playing Burnout for the first time I'll explain the options I have mentioned above. I am not exposing all of the events coz' that's for you to discover. In Road Rage events you'll have to crush down your opponents or rivals that you'll come across well for Burning Route you follow up through the time trails from lap to lap actually such events are very dinkingly helpful as they give you some pretty cool rewards and they come very handy as you progress through the game. Unlike its previous games some of the events have been excluded from the Ultimate Box such as the crash mode which reminds me the amount of fun I had causing devastation on busy intersections and highways. Actually it has a lot of resemblance with the GTA series when it comes to public vandalism and destroying out those relatively unaggressive and harmless cars that go BOOOM!! but I should say that despite this they have kept quite good E10+ ESRB rating... So that's OK. But to replace the Crash mode they have come up with the Showtime mode, which of course lets you cause wreckage over the inter-city roads .... Now' thats what I am talking about!!!! , Showtime mode is quite similar to the Crash mode so their isn't something that's really off the game.

But my favorite just stands off these all events that is Burnout Paradise Party Pack. An offline multiplayer pass – the- controller system that I should say is quite an innovative idea , although this idea has been used before in some good'ol games. It can handle up to eight players and that just magnifies the excitement and fun as more people and friends partake in the challenges. Well after setting every one up then you'll undergo a series of competitions where you earn points to head forward defeating opponents. Actually if don't want go across some of the events you can even select events of your choice. Events range from stunts, skills and speed. In which we have another set of subcategories that are the races. Actually my favorite is the skills part coz' it includes a lot crashing and those sort of things. As for stunts they order you do some insane stunts that some times go out of control and for speed challenges they have you to deal with more of acceleration and jumps. It's just pure fun for all those going to get these games just check it out.

It is highly evident that the PC version is really strong on the visuals than its console versions.​

Multiplayer on The Ultimate Box is simple and smooth. Getting on the net can be done only by touch of a button during offline hours that is during the gameplay. Multiplayer mode just starts in a zip coz' the loading screens don't occur often. Setting up races is also quite easy pinpointing the ends and starts in our very own Paradise City. Burnout Paradise includes 350 challenges and that's huge coz' I have only finished a tiny 58 of them hardly... I should say mainly because I rarely care . Challenges vary from beat the clock, straight races , jumping over other players' rides etc. Challenges are exciting only if you have some comrades to play around with , that adds some longevity to the gameplay.

About DLC contents, they aren't much mainstream and wouldn't spoil the main content as most of the time you would be on cars. Actually I feel Bikes shouldn't had been just ordinary DLC packs but should have been added on the main game. Bikes are fast NO! Very fast... Some times you just loose the control of the bike and leaves the controls very loose. Day and Night cycle also is really fast paced and adds depth to the gameplay.

The Night mode DLC pack is so good that I think it should have been added into the main game rather than being just downloadable pack.
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On the graphics , I am just speechless the city just gets crispier and crispier by increasing the screen resolutions.. detailing also has been the key - the fog, the suns glare, the lightning and innumerable other small details have just brought the urban racing world to the next level or should I say to the modern level.

Sound is top-notch , the traffic and environment noises add depth to gameplay and provides fun and entertainment. I will have to comment about the cool high-pitched growls of the engine that really pierce through your ears.. the in - game tracks are generic rock and a bit pop that I would say just gives you that AHHHHHHH!!!!! factor to crush down all those opponents and make them just a piece of steel skeleton. Audio performances have been done by some renowned artists such as Guns' N Roses that have dedicated to the games main soundtrack. Other various performances are done by Jane's Addiction, LCD Soundsystem and many more.

There is a collection of 70 cars to choose from and roam around challenging your opponents around Paradise City​

Burnout on its very best has done it again I can't remember having such fun since NFS : Most Wanted.
Whole new features, great graphics and fantastic sound design makes it the best Burnout till this day.
Now for the scores -

Presentation – 10/10 – Really well presented in the beautiful city of Paradise the game has fleshed out some very good new features , sound effects and good aspect of the graphics just bind in together to form a nicely presented game.

Graphics – 10/10 – Crisp and sharp the keys to describe The Ultimate Box's graphics... it has also managed to keep up the stable frame rate.

Gameplay – 10/10 – The new features , and Party mode just keep the good name of the series alive and leave space for more good features in a sequel.

Sound – 9/10 – Sound is just that matches the gameplay and as I said it is really overwhelming.

Replayabilty – 8/10 – Well I would say why not wait for another Burnout then playing it again. Well the Showtime mode and challenges are always exciting or going online on the multiplayer.

Overall Score – 47/50 – Burnout Paradise is the best game on PC in the racing genre.

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References​

Screenshots courtesy - IGN.com

Box art and System Information courtesy - Wikipedia.net

Possible next review - Dreamfall : The Longest Journey [PC]

 

I will plant a stamp on it with the word "Accepted" on it.
If I were the Review Mod.

 

A very good and detailed review....

Now I have more reason to get this game....

 

I've been looking to purchase this game myself Vincent. Another excellent review here.

 

This is what the reviews should look like. Awesome work. Accepted with no problems

I love Burnout and have been thinking about getting this game on my PC for a while now. Glad to see it lives up to expectations. I am interested to see the bike pack in action. The day night cycles look awesome too.