Burnout Paradise: Bikes Pack Comments by Dan Whitehead

The bike pack is amazing... took me about 6-8 hours to complete all offline events and road rules, and have only completed 3-4 online challenges. The handling is just perfect and the day/night lighting and effects looks fantastic.
Great amount of content and fun... for FREE :)

Have you seen any weather conditions?

I WANT THICK FOG.

I have seen light and thick fog. No rain or snow.

Street Hawk reference...

Awesome!

That was one cool bike

No one seems to have noticed that the bikes sound excellent.

On my surround system with the volume down quite low, the bike sounds so good. I drive through tunnels just to hear the engine howl.

My record for wheelies is about 1300yds btw.

Oh yeah, and on the PS3 the weather/news screen has been there since the previous (Cagney) update. Loading also doesn't any slower then normal. Certainly not excessive.

What's the point in reviewing a free pack? It gets 11/10 simply because they're not being greedy bastards.

Also, if you go into the options menu and change the time of day, you get the most awesome time lapse effect ever.

Myself and some friends just did our own races - agree a meeting point and end point (ie Wildcats Stadium) - race starts when the in-game clock hits the next minute. Only works if everyone has headsets on though.

The weather / news screens were there in the previous update on the 360 too.

Silly Dan! ;p

The bikes pack rocks, the offline events are really just to get used to using the bikes (took me about 4-5 hours to complete).

The real meat of the "pack" is the online challenges and timed challenges and in those you can "jump over your mates Evil Kenevil Style" as wished upon by the reviewer.

The weather system also adds an astonishing amount to the game making races in the cars and bike challenges a bit less predictable.

Also, i'm playing on the PS3 version and it really doesn't take long to load, once its loaded there are no loading screens after that at all. I always assumed this was the 360 experience as well, but the reviewer suggests otherwise, out of curiosity, does anybody else think the 360 loading times are too long?

All in all, the bike pack is pretty sweet and (to my mind) is obviously leading to more paid for DLC content at a later date, once they have tempted you with the experience, and with the level of quality Criterion delivert its the only EA related game i would happily pay for the DLC too!

Despite my very short time with it, it is very good. I don't know that if it's up there with Cagney... but it is good. I would really like to be able to do bike races though! :P

It would be interesting to see whether the sales of BOP spike when these packs are released. It seems that Criterion understand that providing free content should keep sales going.

I completed all offline and online content in roughly 14 hours you could easily do it in 10 or less but when your down to a few online challenges it can be difficult to get the correct amount of players to do them.

Alas i have done everything burnout has to offer again, so bring on the next update criterion i want more!

how does this compare to pgr4?

I like the fact the super jump camera doesn't kick in cos now you get a proper view as you go over the best jumps.

For nothing this is excellant and I refuse to criticise. The bikes are fast and fun and I had to complete all the new challanges, completly addicted again.

Loved the idea Madafunkola. I'll give it a go tonight.

I've had thick fog, both during the day and night. Crashes abound! No rain or anything yet though.

Very pleased with this since it's free. Not too bothered about the crashes, but it would be good to race, against cars too.

On the PS3 version of BP, the loading times actually seem quicker as once you get to the title screen, a press of START takes you straight into the game whereas before the updates when you pressed START you have to wait a minute perhaps to get into the game. It may be deceptive because of the changes though but I don't think the loading times are longer... maybe it's just the 360 version...?

Anyway, it's a superb expansion pack for an OK game... it doesn't do anything to fix the issues with the game for me but as a freebie it's very, very nice nevertheless.

Just cos it's free doesn't mean it's beyond criticism. Personally for me it was fun to a point, but my favourite modes (Rage, Race) have not been included which doesn't make it as fun as it could be. Then there are other quibbles, night-time racing is hampered by a severe lack of visibility. And why force us into time-based (midnight, day) trials? Just more obstructions between us and the real deal of what we booted the game up for; racing.

Nice to see a game published by EA getting some love for a change. This and BF BC updates being free is good.

Agree with the criticisms in the review. The fact you can't mix bikes and cars is really disappointing, as is the lack of racing other opponents offline. And yes the crashes are rubbish, a long with the magical vanishing rider, but at least they are quicker.

night-time racing is hampered by a severe lack of visibility

Excellent point! It's ridiculous that you shouldn't be able to see as much at night. They should do the night-time races in the daytime where visibility is better.

No but seriously, this is an excellent update. It would have been nice to see rain and perhaps a bit more in the way of meaty bike crashes and, of course, actual racing with the bikes. Maybe these are destined for a future update.

loading times on the PS3 are very quick. must be a 360 issue, or something particular to Dan.

The real meat of the "pack" is the online challenges and timed challenges and in those you can "jump over your mates Evil Kenevil Style" as wished upon by the reviewer.

I was referring more to the inability to have cars and bikes in the same online game. Having one player on a bike and everyone else has to line up under a ramp...there are Freeburn challenges to do that with cars, but it's perfect for bikes. Or some variation on Marked Man where one player has to escape on a bike while the others give chase in cars. There are loads of possibilities.

Plyaed this quite a lot but have come up against the same problem that made me switch off last time. I can;t race and keep half an eye on the bloody map without crashing horribly. Any tips? The problem is that most races lead you north to south or vice versa yet usually via bridge over water or some other must take route.

I think its an absolutely brilliant update BUT why cant you do stoppies??? NO STOPPIES? ARRRRGGHHH!

How can you put a score on a free update?

I'd have been happy even if I'd paid money, but free Bikes is the best thing ever known. Nice score for some great content.

Extra kudos for fitting in a David Blaine = Twat reference.

I know these questions sound obvious, but the 70 Freeburn challenges are all online stuff. Why the obscure terminology? Why aren't they called Online Challenges?

Also there seem to be Multiplayer offline challenges? Are they split screen? How do you get 8 players offline? 8 tiny postage stamp sized windows?

DFaweks- I was just about to mention that. I can't believe they used the word "twat" I didn't realise its deemed OK to use that word?
I must be getting old

Brilliant pack - the bikes are simply perfect - much fun speeding around.

Fog is awful - a step back from the gorgeous visuals already there.

Night also pretty dodgy - why do none of the street lights come on at night? And the Skyscrapers look flat without any lights on them!

why do none of the street lights come on at night?

I couldn't quite put my finger on why the night time races weren't 'quite right'. Spot on!

@jonsaan: If it's not immediately obvious to me which the best route to take is when they're showing me the race route before the race, I tend to pause as soon as the race begins and check what it is I'm going to do. Only advice is to play it loads more and you will start to learn the best routes without having to look at the map.

@oreillymj

Totally agree - the sound design was what first struck me about the bikes. I cranked the surround up higher than I've ever had it - the roar of acceleration is so satisfying and the tunnel echo effect is deafening. Superb.

Thanks for doing this EG, it's really appreciated that you put this together.

Is it me or are these the best-controlled bikes in any video game, ever? Super-hang-onny but with a touch of physics - they're yummy!

As this was my first proper DLC for a game i had barely owned for a day, I have to say I was most impressed. The handling of the bikes was just so natural for my style of play. none of the twitchiness of, lets say PGR4. Of course the crashes did disappoint slightly and I disagree with he loading screens being excessive. just a little longer than usual I would say. But one thing I would say though, the reason that they have been able to make this FLC free is that they are not paying out for any licenses. All the cars and bikes in burnout franchise have all been an amalgamation of real world vehicles.

"but the reviewer suggests otherwise, out of curiosity, does anybody else think the 360 loading times are too long?"

It's not so much the loading times as the title screens before you get "into" racing, because of that big front screen you can't do anything on. I'd have preferred it if it dumped you into your last selected car at whichever event you last completed, then let you drive to the junkyards; show the news on the nearest billboard like the player score in CrackDown. That'd be nice :)

Yes I'm never happy.

had they charged for this content, what would everyone have been prepared to pay?

I would have hapilly paid 800 points for this.

Has anyone had any problems with the bikes pack on the x360? I've had to download it twice because it became corrupted somewhere along the line (and that was after I spend some time with it) and I'm wondering if anyone experienced something similar...



PS, adamamosa, please, don't give them ideas :)

@ Dan Whitehead: The new loading screen has been there since the Cagney update

@jonFE

Yes, mine came up corrupted, but I just had to exit the game and reload it. I didnt actually have to redownload it again,

Thanks adamamosa, will keep that in mind :)

Wether something is free doesn't automaticly make it good or fun, wich is why this review is here. And it turns out it is good, thankfully :D

A review score is about the quality, not the price.

Really enjoyed this and can't quite believe its free either... but...

I can't help wonder why Criterion are laboring away on free updates for an 8 month old game instead of working on something new and exciting that might actually make them some money... I.E...

BLACK 2 !!!










/please ?

@speedjack
They do have in-game advertising, perhaps they have twigged that they can rake it in provided they can convince advertisers that there will be a constant population in the game. By keeping 'em coming back for more with free updates maybe?

I think it's great that they've added to the game rather than release a sequel with this extra content in. eg. I'll probably have to buy FIFA 09 if I want to play online as most people would have migrated from 08

I can't understand why people are moaning so much about the Bike Pack's deficiencies. I am disappointed that you can't race etc but it's free and if you really don't like it then switch the Time of Day to Midday and never select a bike again. Hey presto, you're back to how it was before you spend £0.

I agree that the loading times are a bit excessive on the 360 version now, but it's not new to this update - it's ever since they added the news and weather screens in my experience.

Criterion deserve praise [...] for doing more than just reciting the predictable "extra cars, extra races" DLC mantra.

Errr.. isn't that exactly what this DLC is? Not complaining like, but this bit of the review baffled me a little.

I'm really enjoying this update but:

1. driving at night sucks the fun out of the game -- you cannot see AND you're going super fast. Very frustrating.

2. The bikes handle too easily to offer a challenge. They are FUN to speed around the landscape and you can drive between cars, but the bikes are almost "cheats" in terms of their easy steering. Unless you are driving at midnight that is.

3. The weather graphics are nice but underwhelming. I've seen lots and lots of fog. Has anyone actually seen snow?

All in all it is a nice free update but I still prefer the car racing bits of the game.

I think it'd okay to criticise it, despite being free. Although it was cool to load up the game again for the first time in 6 months to try the bikes, I don't think the implementation would have been worth paying for.

When you choose a bike, it really becomes the Burnout Bikes sub-game, not integrated into the rest of the car game. The license is too easy and repetitive: 32 races that can be beaten on the first try with ages to spare (though it's good that some of them are longer checkpoint races). No crash animations. No weather except fog. The city hasn't been re-lit for nighttime like games that have proper day/night cycles. The sound effect that signals nighttime is so basic it's funny... owls and church bells? It's great to zoom around on bikes, but it's also pretty half-arsed. This is why it's free.

You didn't mention that it's about 450MB and mandatory (if you wish to play online). But you did mention how it takes the game an age to load up because of the online "News" page it goes to. Also, accidentally pressing A on the pause menu will initiate this long, long loading of the News screen.

Whoa, a bike pack for Burnout! I love bikes and am always slightly disappointed when another brilliant game comes out with no bikes in it. This might persuade me to get the game!!!