Remember Burnout, the ridiculous arcade racing game that has crazy crashes it even made a mode, and a game apparently, around the concept of crashing as many cars as you can? Developers Criterion Games have had their hands full after their last Burnout game, Burnout Paradise in 2008. Ever since, they successfully rebooted Need For Speed Hot Pursuit in 2010, rebooted Need For Speed Most Wanted in 2012 (which is actually a Burnout Paradise in disguise, rather than being faithful to the classic 2005 title), and working up on some new IP which we only knew about to this day was a slight these back at E3 2014.
In that time, co-founders of Criterion Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry left to form Three Fields Entertainment. Their first title, Dangerous Golf, is a surprise, but understandable take of golfing. Instead of aiming for the lowest strokes, it’s all about causing as much points from causing destruction. “It’s as serious a true golf game as Burnout was a serious simulation of real driving”, wrote Fiona on the US Playstation Blog.
Levels are varied from indoor areas to outdoor areas filled with stuff to break, such as hotel kitchens, a gas station and even a medieval castle. All of this are powered by the latest tech, using Unreal 4 and Physx to render all those wreckage.
From the looks of it, this is Burnout’s Crash mode in another form. There’s a “SmashBeaker” mentioned in their site. Burnout veterans will get this. (Hint: Things explode) While the idea of the downloadable game Burnout Crash was good on paper, the execution was lacking. The cartoony aesthetics took away from the visceral feeling of seeing something break and explode. Dangerous Golf may deliver on the destruction part.
Expect Dangerous Golf to appear on PS4, Xbox One and Steam this May. I for one am excited. Not only for this game, but the fact that we are now a step closer to a Burnout spiritual successor.