The Burnout series is one of my all-time favorite series. I still fondly remember getting my first platinum trophy in Burnout Paradise in 2009. So, what does Burnout have to do with a Danger Zone review? Three Fields Entertainment comprises former Criterion developers who worked on the Burnout series. They set out to make Danger Zone a spiritual successor to the popular Crash Mode in early Burnout games. The point of that mode was precisely to create the most significant crash possible in one run. It sounds simple, but it’s a very strategic process.
| Release Date | May 30, 2017 |
| Genre | Driving |
| ESRB Rating | Everyone 10+ |
| Platforms | PC/PS4 |
| Players | 1 |
| Developer | Three Fields Entertainment |
| Price | $12.99 US |
Keep It Simple
Danger Zone keeps things simple, which is one of its biggest downfalls. The game is set in a holographic testing area. Your goal is to ram an unmanned test car into simulated traffic patterns. The vehicle is equipped with one Smashbreaker (a bomb that creates a bigger explosion) that can be triggered when a pre-determined number of cars are destroyed. There are other Smashbreaker icons that you can collect throughout each course, as well as monetary bonuses that will increase your score (collect them all, and you get an even bigger bonus). The goal is to cause as much financial damage as possible with the traffic available to crash into.
Little Personality
The base experience in Danger Zone is what you remember from Crash Mode in those older Burnout games. The crashes and explosions are beautifully rendered, and you can see how you would expect them to be on the PS4. I still couldn’t help but feel that this game lacks personality. It feels like more of a tech demo than an actual game. The environments are even less detailed than the developer’s previous game, Dangerous Golf.
The fact of the matter is that you’ll see the same backdrop the entire game. Danger Zone doesn’t even have music, making it feel even more empty than it already did (Where’s the Kenny Loggins?). It’s almost eerie. I know that this was probably an artistic touch to make the crashes seem more impactful if they’re the only sounds you hear. Different settings would have gone a long way to making this game more aesthetically pleasing.
Gameplay
Precision
Regarding the gameplay, there’s a steady difficulty curve as you go through the stages. Each stage has a bronze, silver, and gold medal, and you have to obtain a medal to move on to the next level. Worldwide leaderboards rank you among the world’s best and tell you how many attempts it took to get that record. My problem is that excessive precision is required for some of the later levels, which detracts significantly from the fun of playing this game. I don’t want to replay the same level a hundred times, trying to perfect every little movement.
AI/Smashbreaker
Much of the frustration of playing this game stems from the fact that things often don’t happen as they should. Cars sometimes fail to swerve or react as they should, leading to a botched run and necessitating a replay. This is incredibly annoying on the multi-tiered levels requiring near-pinpoint accuracy. Sometimes, I hit the Smashbreaker button, and my car died before I could gain momentum. The lack of control during a Smashbreaker wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t need it as much as you do. This is the game’s central mechanic, and it just doesn’t give you the precise control you require to collect other Smashbreakers and bonus cash icons.
Scoring
My biggest issue was the scoring system, which assigns a higher weight to vehicles caught in a Smashbreaker explosion than to the total number of vehicles impacted. So you could hit a ton of cars and still have to replay the level because you used the Smashbreaker at the incorrect time. It’s a puzzling choice that they went with.
Final Thoughts
Danger Zone was a good concept that was poorly executed. It’s a budget game, priced at $13 US, so it’s not surprising that this game left a lot to be desired. I enjoyed playing it for what it was, but it’s not something I will go back to after the initial playthrough. There are only 20 levels in the game, and you can play through the whole thing in 3-5 hours. I think this would have been a perfect Nintendo Switch game, and I’m sure that if Three Fields Entertainment had the resources, they would have developed it for the platform. Right now, it’s only available on PC and PS4.
