When Burnout Paradise was released in January of 2008, one of the first promises developer Criterion Games made was that the already massive city would be expanded by a new downloadable island. They also promised that it would be free.

Fast forward 18 months and the situation has changed. The island has been released, but not for free. It was announced long ago that after a series of free DLC updates, there would be premium DLC packs, but so far none of them have really felt worth the cost. Big Surf Island is arguably the first “real” DLC released for the game. But is it still worth the price?

After downloading the latest update for the game and purchasing the key to unlock the island, you’ll immediately have access to a dune buggy and plopped down onto 4th Street. Long time players may have noticed a bridge being constructed next to the parking garage here for the last several months, and now that bridge is accessible. Begin tearing through the bridge and you’ll immediately begin to understand just what Big Surf Island is all about.

Jump. Lots of jumps. Lots of crazy big insane jumps.

Criterion Games have said that with the new island, they wanted to make it so that if you see it, you can drive on it. While that sadly hasn’t been fully realized (there are several areas where jumping onto a grassy fenced off area means instant wrecking), the amount of driveable area in the game is extremely dense. A huge focus is on the vertical areas of the game. There are tons of ramps, jumps, and shortcuts that will send you hurtling over traffic hundreds of feet in the air. The Crash TV Ski Jump is the largest jump in the entire game, and depending on what car you use, you may be able to get ten seconds or more of air time. It sounds crazy, but I’ve seen it done.

It took me around five hours to complete all of the single player content on the island. There are new events from every event type from the base game, plus a new “Island Tour” event which is essentially a Burning Route that lets you use whatever car you’d like, similar to the Bike Pack’s events. There are new billboards and smashes to find, along with new Mega Jumps to leap over. There are nine new cars in all to unlock, with one only being available once you’ve completed all 500 online challenges. Several of them are nice surprises that will bring a smile to your face. The ten new online challenges are a bit of a letdown, as itt feels like more could have easily been added. The nice thing about them though is that all ten can be completed with any number of players.

So is it worth the money? If you’re a Burnout Paradise fan, absolutely. The new content probably won’t sway anyone who has already decided to pass on the game, but it’s amazing how wonderful it is to have a new area to explore and get familiar with. If you don’t buy any other premium DLC pack for the game, get Big Surf Island. The island costs 1000 MS points on Xbox Live and $12.99 on the Playstation Network.