Console(s): Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Price: £7.99/800 Microsoft Points

Criterion Games continue their relentless drive to overload you with new content in Paradise City with the new Cops & Robbers downloadable content for Burnout Paradise.

The new content pits two teams of players against each other; one of the teams playing as the robbers and the other as the cops. The objective is a capture-the-flag style game that has been converted to the world of Burnout, with each team racing to collect a load of stolen gold bars and return them to their base. To stop the opposite team from achieving this goal you must, well, what do you think? This is Burnout, which has three things; cars, speed and crashing - so the objective is to crash into your opponent in order to steal the gold. To add to the fun 35 new police vehicles are also included in the pack, although in reality they are re-skinned and remodeled versions of vehicles already in the game.

Whoever picks up the gold is slowed down by the weight of what they are carrying, so it’s crucial that each team works together in order to protect the carrier and takedown any of the opposite team attempting to steal the gold. It’s harder when it sounds when you’re travelling at breakneck speeds, but unfortunately you can’t go even faster because Criterion have, for some strange reason, removed the ability to boost. This means no last minute rushes to your destination, or using it to get away from someone trying to take you down.

Never the less Cops & Robbers is still an excellent addition to Burnout Paradise’s expanding stable of content. It may all take place in the same city, but when you pack in so much content variety thankfully stays around for a long while. All this content makes Burnout Paradise an absolute steal at the lowest price of only £12!

Honourable mentions:

• Wii:  Sega’s Galaxy Force II came to Virtual Console the other week. It’s an arcade shooter but with a 3-D view from behind your spaceship (see here for a look at the Sega Megadrive version). There are five different planets full of enemy ships, turrets, and loads of explosions. It will set you back 800 Wii Points.
• Playstation 3: Spryo 2: Ripto’s Rage! was released on PSN back in 2007, but was later removed due to a bug that prevented gamers from loading certain levels. Last Thursday it was re-released as part of the PSOne Classics range and follows the lovable dragon through a series of colourful levels where Spryo can glide, breathe fire (obviously) and use a charge attack. Different enemies require different solutions to defeat, but don’t expect much head scratching here.

Download Spotlight is a weekly column showcasing some of the latest downloadable content and downloadable games for your consoles.

Burnout Paradise (which I picked as one of my essential Christmas buys for the Xbox 360) doesn’t arrive on the PC until February, but gamers will be pleased to know that they’ll be able to test the game out with a free trial. Plus, on top of this, you’ll be getting access to all the extra content released for the game so far.

Criterion are doing away with the demo and instead giving gamers access to a big chunk of the game. While the trial will obviously only last for a limited time, you’ll still be able to try out all the game’s events and multi-player modes. There are also three cars for you to try out.

So, want to know if the game will work on your PC? Download the trial in February. Also, want to know if the game is actually any good? Download the trial! (If it’s anything like the console versions then it will be excellent).

You’ll be able to download the trial come February, or share it on discs which can be shared with friends.

Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box – FREE PC trial available to millions - Criterion Games