Burnout Paradise PC Demo Will Include Entire Game

Criterion's raising the bar for try-before-you-buy by offering a full version of Burnout Paradise on the PC as a free demo.

The trial version of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will include all previously released content for the game, including all the downloadable content packs, updates and online multiplayer. "You can go anywhere in Paradise City and check out everything on offer," the studio said.

Why so generous? Criterion says they "want all our PC players to be sure it runs perfectly on their system, before they commit to buying it...but there's a lot to show you!" Most PC gamers are familiar with the agony of fully purchasing a PC game and then finding that it runs poorly (or doesn't run at all) on your rig when you get home, despite what it says on the back of the box. It's certainly to Criterion's credit that they're aware that this happens, and want to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

There's a catch, though. "Obviously, there's a limit to just how much you can do and for how long, but we hope you'll agree that there's plenty there to give you glimpse of what the full game has to offer," Criterion wrote. The announcement refrained from detailing what exactly the limit entailed, so if all of this sounds way too good to be true, it might just be.

The demo will be downloadable from Criterion and EA in February next year, and will also be distributed in "millions of disks".