Dangerous Driving

A SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR TO BURNOUT 3? TAKE OUR MONEY. TAKE IT!

- Justin Towell

In case you’ve missed the rather awesome news, Dangerous Driving is a new Burnout in all but name, made by a small team of breakaway Criterion developers which still believes in smashing up cars, drifting around long corners and playing chicken with oncoming traffic.

From the responsive car handling to the star ratings that pop up for good drifts or catching big air, almost everything’s in place so you can get straight back into this arcade style of driving gameplay. And unlike Burnout Paradise, which recently got an HD to remaster, this isn’t open world. It’s Burnout 3-era ‘ribbon road’ racing and wonderfully pure experience.

You spend your time weaving through civilian traffic at ridiculous speeds, ramming rival racers off the road and earning boost by – you guessed it – driving dangerously. There are eight different event types, from regular races, ‘Shakedown’ time trials and three-race championships, to face-offs with rivals to win their cars, and even police pursuits. Then there’s surely everyone’s personal favorite: ‘Road Rage’, which sees you trying to take down as many opponents as you can within a set time limit. And if you do crash, there’s even a slow-motion button to allow for ‘aftertouch takedowns’, where you guide your own wrecked vehicle into the path of approaching rivals, filling your boost bar ready for the restart. Amazing scenes.