Burnout Paradise included 350 challenges, and there are now an additional 140 challenges with the new packs. You can set up simple point-to-point races all over the city when hosting a multiplayer session, or tackle a Freeburn Challenge set by the developers, with different challenges depending on the number of players.
The online mode is seamless, and there are no loading times you can drop in and out of online games at will. Getting online is as simple as hitting a button during gameplay, at which point you'll join your friends or enter a random lobby.
Some challenges involve nothing more than reaching seemingly inaccessible areas.
The Party Pack is a great addition that finally brings offline multiplayer to Burnout Paradise. Speed challenges might have you smashing a few billboards and then racing back to the start within a designated time limit. Skill challenges include driving into oncoming traffic with boost on for as long as possible. Stunts are a collection of insane tricks, such as successfully landing a cliff-top jump. The Party Pack offers instant gameplay for when you and your friends don't want to compete in longer, more demanding events, and it consists of three challenge types: stunts, skill, and speed.
Once you've set up the number of players and game types, you'll compete in a series of minigames where you earn points for successfully passing a challenge or beating your opponents' scores. The biggest new feature this time around is the Burnout Paradise Party Pack, which adds an offline pass-the-controller multiplayer challenge mode for up to eight friends. Showtime mode isn't as strategically crafted as the challenges in Crash mode, but you'll still get to dish out plenty of carnage on unsuspecting traffic. Unlike in Burnout 3, The crash mode and aftertouch takedowns from Burnout 3 are missing from Paradise, but it does have the Showtime mode, which lets you take control of a wreck through the streets of Paradise City and rack up a damage bill in the process. Burning Route consists of time trials from point to point, and by completing them you'll unlock an upgraded model of your current ride. For those new to the Burnout series, in Stunt Run you chain together drifts, jumps, and boosts to achieve combos in Road Rage events you need to eliminate opponents by smashing them into traffic or objects and in Marked Man you have to reach the finish line before your opponents can destroy your car. Gameplay options are largely unchanged from the console version and include normal race, Stunt Run, Marked Man, Road Rage, and Burning Route. The Ultimate Box crams bikes, night races, and a heap of new modes into the series.
Burnout Party is a pass-the-controller-style offline party mode for two to eight players and is a fun new way to experience Burnout. And last, there's Burnout Party, the first paid-for content to hit the game. The Bikes pack adds two-wheeled racing and a day/night cycle to the series for the first time.
First up, there's Codename: Cagney, which adds the Stunt Run, Marked Man, and Road Rage modes to online multiplayer. In addition to all of the content from the original console game, Ultimate Box also includes all of Burnout Paradise's downloadable content released to date. Couple this deep variety with the fact that it's hugely fun, and Burnout Paradise is easy to recommend. The amount of variety in the game is huge, and how you approach it is up to you explore Paradise City's open world at leisure, unlock the 70-plus vehicles one at a time through single-player events, or join other players for races and challenges online.
With solid online and offline play, an almost staggering number of events, and more than 70 vehicles, Ultimate Box is at the front of the PC racer pack. Burnout Paradise reinvigorated Criterion's ultra-successful smash-up racing series when it launched this time last year on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box brings the series' trademark racing action to the PC for the first time.