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Criterion's been giddy with excitement lately over its DLC-licious plan to bring motorcycles to Paradise City. We've shared in its enthusiasm, but it's much easier to get excited when you've actually experienced the Burnout Paradise Bikes Pack for yourself. Which is just what we did at EA.
Like many of you, our main question regarding the bikes wasn't "Why?" or "Really, why?" but rather "Will they be impossible to control?" The answer is, thankfully, no. Just as we're somehow able to navigate the tight turns and traffic of Burnout Paradise going, oh, Mach 50 in cars (we think it has to do with magic, but could be wrong) steering the bikes is equally forgiving – not to say that there isn't a degree of skill involved.
Like many of you, our main question regarding the bikes wasn't "Why?" or "Really, why?" but rather "Will they be impossible to control?" The answer is, thankfully, no. Just as we're somehow able to navigate the tight turns and traffic of Burnout Paradise going, oh, Mach 50 in cars (we think it has to do with magic, but could be wrong) steering the bikes is equally forgiving – not to say that there isn't a degree of skill involved.
No, the bikes are wicked fast. So fast, in fact, that they don't have any type of boost. Criterion reckons that it'd make them nigh-uncontrollable. We'd still like to try, at least.
What we did get to try during our hands-on was getting as close to certain death as possible, rocketing down straightaways and taking tight turns with ease. If there was any doubt that the bikes would suffer from simmy one-false-twitch-and-you're-done control, it's unwarranted. If anything, they control like the arcade motorcycles of yore (see: Hang-On). We'd expected the lack of bike damage to take away from the crashes, but we're happy to report that they're still fairly spectacular and really provide a nice sting when you screw up.
Performing wheelies is actually very forgiving; we were even able to do donuts while up on the rear wheel. The bikes' innate ability to perform them factors into some of the new motorcycle-specific challenges we tried out, specifically where we and other online players were tasked with holding a wheelie for more than 200 yards on a winding mountain road. It sounds challenging ... and it is.
While not gameplay-specific per se, we also witnessed the Bike Pack's addition to the game world itself: a day-to-night cycle. The transition actually takes on the order of 30 minutes to see a change from one to another, but the lighting as dusk sets and the fog starts to settle in is just plain pretty. Racing at midnight in the less dense parts of the city is definitely more challenging, since you must rely mainly on your bike's headlight to see shortcuts and the like.
Set to roll out next month, this free update to Burnout Paradise is downright impressive. It's not an entirely different game with the bikes, but it's certainly more of an already great game – and one, thanks to the game's new $30 price point (or, alternatively, via direct PSN download this fall), you'll be able to get for a song.
