Unfortunately, we'd say no. At $9.99 (800
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Starting a Party event in Burnout Paradise is very easy. In fact, the entire experience is quite intuitive. When booting the game, a new menu appears, giving players the choice of jumping into the new Party mode, or returning to the traditional game screen. The Party menu has just two menus: first, the number of players must be decided. All the action happens with one controller, and up to eight players can participate. You can input your name and take a picture with the Eye/Vision camera as well.
The second step is to determine how many events players will take part in. You can have a short one-round event, or add up to eight. You can have the game choose random events, or you can choose a category for each round. While you can choose a category like "speed" or "skill," there's no way of choosing a specific event or challenge -- the game will still randomly select challenges from within those broad categories.
Once the Party is started, the computer chooses a random player to go first. That player grabs the controller and must fulfill the challenge that appears on the screen. Some challenges involve going from point A to B in the shortest amount of time, while others involve collecting as much air time as possible. While the contestant is playing, all other players must simply sit and watch -- there's no way to interfere or affect the gameplay in any way.
It's disappointing that Party mode is just a pass-the-controller, single-player experience that lacks the competitive spirit of a true party game. The challenges are also a bit too standard, perhaps. Seeing eight people complete the same "smash 3 billboards" challenge is not very exciting. There are a few interesting challenges, such as one in which your controls are reversed, but the lack of any crash-based challenges really dampens the Party pack's potential.
At the end of each round, players are scored and whoever manages to win the most points wins the Party. It's a rather unsurprising affair, with no real sense of accomplishment for the winner. The UI for the Party mode features a lot of color, but the random noisemaker sound effects somehow manage to make the experience that much more lifeless. (ProTip: We recommend bringing your own soundtrack. The in-game soundtrack for Paradise isn't particularly thrilling. PS3 owners will be able to import custom playlists from the Party menu.)
Burnout Paradise Party is a disappointment. If anything, the pack merely serves as a way of giving Criterion a monetary donation, as a thanks for all the hard work they have put into the game so far. We don't see many finding enjoyment out of the expansion, although Trophy/Gamerscore whores will find that the Party pack offers some of the easiest achievements ever created. Perhaps that alone will justify the costly price of admission.