'Danger Zone' is totally not 'Burnout,' from the team that made 'Burnout'
Three Fields Entertainment -- a U.K.-based indie studio founded by the core creative team behind the Burnout series -- just announced Danger Zone.
Burnout's signature feature is a puzzle mode, of sorts, in which players work with fixed traffic patterns as they try to engineer the largest crash they can. Danger Zone, according to the announcement, is "a new 3D vehicular destruction game where players crash for cash by creating the biggest car crash possible."
Let's all take a moment to give thanks that game mechanics can't be trademarked.
Three Fields fully owns the Burnout connection in Danger Zone's announcement, comparing it specifically to Burnout 3: Takedown's Crash Mode. The new game will launch with 20 scenarios, each challenging players to find just the right angle for causing maximum destruction.
The announcement actually gives a good sense of how the puzzles work, generally. If you remember Crash Mode, this should all sound familiar.
Each puzzle starts with you driving a particular vehicle into a traffic junction. Your initial crash -- "First Impact" -- is supposed to set off a chain reaction. Hit enough vehicles and you earn a "SmashBreaker," which turns your car into a bomb that you can trigger with a button press.
CARD ID: 201350
So the idea is to point your vehicle at whatever impact point you think will cause the most damage. Then -- assuming you score a SmashBreaker -- you want to trigger your explosion with as many cars around you as possible. The only twist: you have to keep your car on the road. If it falls off, you lose.
Three Fields toyed with a different brand of widespread destruction in Dangerous Golf. Instead of using a car, you smacked a golf ball around in an assortment of cluttered virtual spaces, again earning points based on the amount of chained devastation you could create. You even had a similar "SmashBreaker" feature.
Personally, I think this is a great move for Three Fields. Dangerous Golf is a stellar game -- you should definitely make time to play it -- but Crash Mode is still fondly remembered by gamers in the know as this team's baby. To see them tackle a concept they've already nailed so well in the past... it's great news.
In a welcome twist, Danger Zone is coming very soon. It'll be out for PC (via Steam) and PlayStation 4 sometime in May, with a $12.99 price. And as you can see from these screens, it's extremely pretty.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
