Criterion has been very nice to Burnout Paradise owners. So nice, that they continue to actively support and interact with their community, even a year and a half after the game’s initial release. Big Surf Island is just the latest in the deluge of content Criterion has set forth. Being the first DLC to bring with it new territory, a lot of pressure has been placed on Big Surf Island to perform.
Luckily, Big Surf Island is everything fans wanted and more. As I mentioned above, it is the first DLC to bring new territory for players to traverse. As eluded to in the title, Big Surf Island brings with it a full tropical island. Criterion has seamlessly integrated the new island within the previous territory, as players just have to drive across the newly built bridge, and voila, welcome to Big Surf!
On the island is a vast assortment of content for players to interact with. Specifically, there are 45 new Billboards, 75 new Smashes, and 15 “Mega Jumps” (the Island’s terminology for Super Jumps), 15 Island-Specific offline events, 10 all-new online freeburn events, and 9 new cars for the player to drive with. Criterion also added a new event to the game’s catalog of events. Designed for Big Surf, “Island Tour” demands players to race around the island within the time allotted. Island Tour definitely tests a players ability to weave in and around traffic, all the while navigating the Island’s terrain.
Speaking of terrain, Big Surf Island does something completely new. For the first time in the Burnout Paradise, players will be able to go off road. And what better way to traverse the dangerous off road conditions than to go in a vehicle designed for it? The first vehicle available to all players is the Carson Dust Storm dune buggy. It’s good for what it is, but after a while a supercharged version of the buggy becomes available, and that’s when things become interesting.
