Trailer Breakdown By: Mack Ashworth
Video By: James Armstrong
For the past five years, Three Fields Entertainment has been building and building to one release. Founded by some of the minds behind the best arcade racing games of all time, their goal was simple: recreate Burnout. If EA isn’t going to do it, someone has to, so why not them? Now, with Dangerous Driving, the studio is almost all the way there, producing a facsimile of sublime and unforgettable Burnout 3: Takedown that will be good enough for most. It’s not the most technically sound game in the world, and it’s missing lots of features. Still, there’s nothing quite like indulging in this style of over the top racing combat once again.
Yes, Dangerous Driving is almost desperate to make the connection between itself and Criterion’s past. Everything from the look of the menus to the loading screens to the orchestra sting whenever you get a takedown is all ripped right from its inspiration, potential lawsuits be damned. Most of the terminology is the same too. Outside of the word “Burnout” changing to “Heatwave,” you’ve got everything from Psyche Outs and Boost Shunts to Hot Streaks and Aftertouch. All the mechanics and game modes you remember are present and accounted for.
You’ll play through all of them too. At launch, the only way to play Dangerous Driving is through a linear series of events. There are 31 tracks split into seven areas inspired by national parks. This means that you’ll be blasting through a lot of wide open roads, which is a bit of a departure from the crowded cityscapes of Burnout proper. Still, there’s plenty of variety in your surroundings. At times, Dangerous Driving even manages to impress visually with its vast deserts and woodlands blazing by. It’s clear that this game is working above and beyond its scope as a budget title.
In addition to the tracks, there’s a good variety in the mission types. You need to play almost all of them in each class, meaning you’ll need a well-rounded skillset. Most Burnout veterans will find a good time in Road Rage, where the goal is to force as many rivals to crash as possible. There’s also the new Pursuit mode, where you climb into a cop car and keep slamming into criminals until you run them off the road. These are the bread and butter of the campaign, and they’re still fun even in this more limited form.
