First Impressions: Big Surf Island

So long awaited Big Surf Island was released this morning for Burnout Paradise. I grabbed it when I woke up this morning and managed to get some time in today to play quite a bit.

• The price seems a little much, however, when you realise how much is added and how much free stuff you have been given, it seems just right.
• I wish there were more achievements to the 360 version. However, since other games are hitting 1750 in the number of points in one game, this leads me to believe that even more updates are coming.
• I really enjoy the way the island looks. I keeps the city like feel while adding enough aesthetically different aspects to make it feel brand new and its own.
• I enjoy the new car you are given, feels very well rounded.
• I'm very glad that they added stuff for the bikes as well.
• Not enough new online freeburn challenges. They only added 10, considering how much is going on with this island, it would not have been hard to add more.
• I love how there are so many jumps. What makes it even better is the jumps are now more involved in the tracks. Now you get the incredible speed with a regular dose of huge air while racing.
• The idea to make the check points giant yellow pillars was a great idea, it means I can now see which direction I should be going and this helps me choose short cuts to take.
• The super jumps are even bigger than anything from the first game, this is great.
• There's no area to just play around in and do tricks as much as the first area. It does have the construction zone, but with the big bowl in it, it makes it harder to drive around in. I preferred the airfield and the quarry in the first region because it had more level space to the ground.
• Though the land mass is small, it feels more dense and packed in. It also it a lot taller I feel, you can drive up more buildings and there are many more ramps.
• The Island Tours are the best runs (and the new event) because they take you all around the island and make you drive through specific shortcuts and go off certain jumps. This helps you become more used to the island and know where these short cuts are for later. It's a great way to really make the player experience what they should.
• The size restraints no longer allows for the "here is your destination, go" kind of race; everything has check points now. This makes me sad since BP was known for it's open world racing. However, you can still take any route you wish to each checkpoint.
  

Overall I am quite enjoying it but I feel that there should have been more added to it. Even if it was just more freeburn challenges or more races and events that moved from the island to the main area would have been good. Playing it for a couple hours and only missing one achievements makes me think it isn't worth the 1000 MS points after all. Maybe I just need to 100% it then I will know for sure.