Criterion recently released Big Surf Island, an amazing piece of downloadable content, that really shows how DLC should be handled. And when I speak of how DLC should not be handled, I'm talking about DLC being announced before the actual game is released, which has happened with a few titles, but I won't go into detail. All I have to say is, that Criterion knows how to please their Burnout community. The game is still very active online and numerous amazing smaller chunks of DLC was rolled before as well.

Basically, Big Surf Island is an entirely new chunk of land that is positioned as an island, right from the main area of Paradise City. The bridge on which you crossover already slightly hints of the madness you'll experience there. You'll find more billboards, more gates to smash and new versions of Super Jumps, called Mega Jumps. And that's a pretty accurate description. You'll find yourself jumping through a lighthouse or across an entire bridge. There are added cars as well, two buggies and a handful of other cars, like certain toy versions of already released Legendary Cars. But that's not what makes Big Surf Island so fun. By connecting all of these small features into a whole, you find yourself in a fast-paced, almost out of control mad cruise all around the island, which would seem to last forever.

You eventually find yourself in a flow, where you drive continuously through all around the island, and only a crash brakes that flow. But now worries, the usual crashes are caused by misplaced jumps and similar whilst driving on dirt terrain and steep hill roads. Because the overall island is structured differently and more wildly than Paradise City, the gameplay is more exciting. There are around 15 added events, two of which are completely new and actually very exciting and useful. Island Tour, and as the name suggests, the game takes you on a tour around the island, with a given time limit. It's actually very useful, because you already see an even bigger glimpse of the content and secrets you can search for. There are new Road Rules of course and more Freeburn Challenges The overall time you spend unlocking and reaching full 100% of your new Island license is about 5 - 6 hours. Because of the smaller scale of the island, you'll also have a better sense in control of finding out the various routes on how to smash billboards and etc., which also gives you motivation on actually completing everything.

Overall, the added experience is fantastic. How Criterion deals with DLC for a game that has been released well over a year ago is really marvelous and I'm glad to see that there is more interest with Criterion in DLC for Burnout Paradise, rather than working on a sequel. Because the game itself offers an amazing and lengthful experience that everyone with a small need for a digital adrenalin fix should check out. The only thing two minor complaints about this DLC is the fact that if you're a Burnout fan or if you find yourself really enjoying the content, you'll get the feeling that vacation is over too fast. The other issue is one that Criterion has done in the past with all its DLC and that is adding the actual DLC into their updates, meaning people who don't want the content, still have to download the "update", which contains the new map. Maybe it's because of marketing issues, maybe they have issues releasing it on its own, you can't really say.