Danger Zone
Developer(s)Three Fields Entertainment
Publisher(s)Three Fields Entertainment
EngineUnreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release
  • Windows, PlayStation 4
  • 30 May 2017
  • Xbox One
  • 9 October 2017
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

Danger Zone is a video game developed by Three Fields Entertainment. The game involves driving vehicles at high speeds into various traffic situations to cause as much damage as possible. It is directly inspired by the Crash mode in the various Burnout games developed by Criterion Games, which the founders of Three Fields had been a part of prior to founding their own studio. It was released in May 2017 on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 systems, and in October 2017 for Xbox One.

Gameplay

The player takes control of a car situated in virtual crash test facility, where one of about twenty scenarios are available, featuring parked or moving vehicles and other obstacles. The player's goal is to score as many points by driving their car into the scenarios (the "First Impact"), creating chain reactions of collisions. If the First Impact causes enough damage, they can then trigger a "SmashBreaker" (similarly to Burnout's "CrashBreaker") that causes their vehicle to explode, creating additional chain reactions for damage. Points are awarded based on the degree of damage done, including special points for unique targets and other scenario-specific goals. Players compete through online leaderboards to obtain the best score.[2]

Development

The founders of Three Fields Entertainment, Fiona Sperry and Alex Ward, were former members of Criterion Games, the studio that developed the Burnout racing series; Burnout, unlike more traditional racing games, had a considerable focus on realistic collisions, and several games in the series included Crash mode, where players purposely drove vehicles into situations to wreck as many other vehicles as possible. As Electronic Arts, the publisher for Burnout, transitioned the studio from Burnout to the Need for Speed series, which was focused primarily on racing, Sperry and Ward left to found Three Fields, with the anticipation of developing a spiritual sequel to Burnout.[3] The studio's first title Dangerous Golf, which is based on causing as much damage by hitting golf balls in enclosed spaces, was used to help develop the necessary tools through the Unreal Engine and middleware such as PhysX towards realizing their Burnout-inspired goal.[4]

Development of Danger Zone started just after the studio published Lethal VR, around December 2016.[5] With three games completed since the studio's founding, they wanted to make sure they could replicate the Burnout Crash mode but now supported with more realistic physics enabled by modern computers and consoles, as at the time of the Burnout series' development, they had to make a number of sacrifices in the physics to have the game play well on older hardware.[5] The team initially thought of setting the game in a crash test facility inspired by those used in real-life, but found the clinical look would be a problem, and instead changed the appearance of the areas to be more industrial, which is how they derived the name for the game.[5] To help the player visualize the course prior to crashing, they took inspiration of showcasing each scenario in segments, inspired by a similar visual tool used in the British show Grand Designs.[5]

Reception

Danger Zone received "mixed or average" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic, with all three platforms reaching a 64 out 100 rating.

Sequel

Three Fields announced Danger Zone 2 in June 2018 to arrive the next month for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One systems. It will follow the same type of gameplay, adding more emphasis on the driving segments, and will have these crash courses take place within settings inspired by real world highways, such as the M1 motorway in England or the freeways near Los Angeles International Airport.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Faller, Patrick (17 May 2017). "PS4/PC's Danger Zone Turns Burnout 3 Crash Mode Into A Full Game, Gets Release Date". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Sarkar, Samit (26 April 2017). "Burnout creators spin off Crash Mode into its own game, Danger Zone". Polygon. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. ↑ Wawro, Alex (26 January 2016). "'You've got to make something that you love' - Designing Dangerous Golf". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Allen, Jennifer (3 June 2016). "The small team behind Dangerous Golf's huge destructionfests". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Davison, John (26 April 2017). "'Burnout' Series Creator Talks Remaking Crash Mode for 'Danger Zone'". Glixel. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Danger Zone for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  7. ↑ "Danger Zone for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  8. ↑ "Danger Zone for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (21 June 2018). "Criterion founders reveal two new games". Eurogamer. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

Further reading

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