Like racing, stunts, road rage, crashes, a big garage, online play? Don't mind a bit of frustration? This is it!
The game world is completely open, meaning you have the ability to drive everywhere right from the beginning. Locales include the mountains, beach, downtown, and everywhere in-between. The only area you may be disappointed with is a tundra or icy region - there is none. In some ways this is a good thing though, as the game proffers enough challenges without adding the worst road surface to complicate matters.
In addition to this open world is a unique little feature that keeps track of the time of day. Days come and go in-game, cycling through various conditions that make all the difference when competing in various events. A sunny day becomes a colorful sunset, night transforms into a foggy (smoggy?) morning. Night driving can be easier if you consider the lack of traffic, but may be harder if you are not familiar with where you are going, or your gamma isn't adjusted correctly.
Two different camera angles are available, each with their own pros and cons. Ultimately (no pun intended) it's something that requires experimentation. Third-person is a great starting point, but don't forget first-person view exists too. The latter I found most useful for dodging oncoming traffic, especially on the freeway.
The mini-map is something you will find yourself studying more often than not, to begin with at least. Some of it can be confusing, if you don't know what you are looking for. The freeway is a great example. It shows on the map as a gold coloured road, with a notable break in it where another road is overlaid. Getting on and off the freeway is most easily accomplished via on- and off-ramps that run parallel to the freeway. Funnily enough, these ramps are shown on the map as normal roads. Furthermore, the map does nothing to show elevation, or overlapping roads.
Point-to-point races can be a nuisance too, due to the open-world nature of the game. Often you'll find yourself missing turn-offs, or taking a completely different route to that your AI rivals are taking. Thankfully you can get away with winning these early races regardless as the computer eases you into the experience.
But what you really want to know about is the cars, right?
Typically, Burnout's array of unlock-able vehicles are given their own names, so don't expect cars to be called Ford or Holden or whatever. Instead, cars are classified more generally in terms of the type of boost they have. Boost plays a large part of any Burnout game, and Paradise is no exception, taking it to the next level. The three types are Racing (yellow flames), Aggressive (red flames) and Stunt (green flames). Each charges differently to the others. For example, racing charges faster by driving in oncoming traffic, while stunt cars charge better by getting lots of air time and performing outrageous stunts. Aggressive cars only have to bash other family cars, or take-down other drivers. Some interesting notes - aggressive boost bars can lengthen or shorten based on whether you take-down others or get taken down; the racing boost bar is always small, can only be used once it is full, but can be chained together depending on how reckless a driver you are.
The sizable garage is unlocked as you progress through the game, with some exceptions for getting all the little bonuses, such as all the super jumps or all the billboards (smash-able red signs bearing the Burnout name). The various cars handle differently, but generally speaking: stunt cars have notably lower traction than other cars, allowing for better flat-spins and other stunts, but turn a lot better than other cars; aggressive cars are armoured (sometimes heavily) and are usually slower than other cars, with slower acceleration; racing cars tend to be harder to control at slow speeds.
Events range from point-to-point races to stunt runs (move around grabbing jumps, barrel rolls, air time, boost to rack up as many points as possible), marked man (get chased by various aggressive cars, basically survive until you reach the finish line), road rages (make everyone else crash as often as you can), burning laps (test out your new vehicles in car-specific timed runs). All require their own tactics, different cars and an in-depth knowledge of the roads in Paradise.
But in addition to the four-wheel all-sorts, Paradise also comes with the Bikes package. At the menu, upon choosing a bike to drive the player enters a different Paradise world, which is the same as the car Paradise with a few exceptions. Most notable is the fact that cars and bikes can't co-exist in the same on-line game. Events consist of night-only races and day-only races, but there is only a timer - no competition. There are no extra unlock-ables, and the traffic is notably less - players could probably count the traffic on one hand.
Cars and bikes each have their own achievements list for you to aim to complete. These are specific goals that show your mastery over the roads. Examples include accumulating a large boost chain, unlocking new licences, getting a 360 flat-spin. For the bikes, getting a large wheelie distance makes up a few of the bike achievements.
But wait, there's more!
In addition to single player achievements, there are on-line challenges! Free-burn challenges you can take your time to complete, while timed challenges can test everyone's skill. The number of players in-game determines what you can choose from, with about fifty free-burn challenges for two players, another fifty for three players, all the way up to eight player games. There are ten timed challenges per each sized game too, while bikes have significantly less challenges. The challenges are exactly that - made to challenge the serious player. They start easy, with such challenges as "Get some drift", or "Use your boost". They soon get hard though, with such requirements as landing a barrel roll through a tiny ring in the airfield. The challenges list is basically the same per each of the 2, 3, 4, etc player games.
But wait, there's even MORE!
At the game menu the observant player may notice various car categories to choose from. "Legendary cars", "Boost special cars", and other such wondrous menus that show a selection of cars that are not available to begin with. Among them is a Knight Rider type of vehicle, something that looks like it came from outer space (with switchable boost types), and a beast of a thing that once its boost is activated, it won't turn off! Totally mad!
The only troubles that may be a deciding factor when considering this game:
-- traffic. Whether you are using the first- or third-person camera, you will become painfully aware of the ridges in the road you cannot see past until it is too late. As is always the case with such things, almost like a cliche, there tends to be a vehicle waiting patiently to get a slamming. It does not matter what side of the road you are on either - with the speeds you are required to reach to win, oncoming or same-way traffic might as well both be standing still. You could try driving on the sidewalk or parking lane, but just hope there are no parked cars - those really are standing still.
- psych outs. If you ever played Burnout 3, you'll know what I mean by a psych out. In Paradise, they don't happen to opponents, they happen to the family cars that just happen to be bearing down on you during a particularly tedious race. What tends to happen is they swerve to avoid you as you swerve to avoid them - usually the same way. Usually unavoidable too. Did I mention crashes take a long time? Well, they do.
- on-line play. There are a large number of players on the Internet that delight in the simple pleasure of taking your trolley down at the drop of a hat. For no reason. This is especially irritating when you are in the middle of completing a challenge. Or waiting for players. The host can be unusually lenient too. Then there are the people that speak other languages and don't get your instructions. Or the people that won't stop yapping. Take your pick - in the end, single player may be your yellow brick road.
The other con you may want to consider is Big Surf Island - not available to PC players (at this time).
But in the end the Ultimate Box is pretty ultimate, and you really should try it. If you love racing and unlock-ables, and have a PC powerhouse to take advantage of all the visual splendor, then take this game with both hands. It even boasts music from earlier installments, such as Burnout 2 and 3, a selection of great rock, even opera! Perfect for making a pyre of crashed cars and buses.