Dangerous Golf Review

Burnout, what a wonderful title, it’s been many years since we’ve seen the fantastic arcade racer crash onto our screens, and it’s doubtful we will anytime soon. And while other big racers have taken its place, there is one particular mode from the Burnout (3 - onwards) that’s yet to be replicated and that is the chaotic and explosive Crash mode. That is till now.

Three Fields Entertainment, a brand new development team, comprised of ex-Criterion members, have brought back the thrilling crash mode, but not with cars, instead as a game of golf. Now, you’re probably thinking, “well that’s not very exciting” and of course you’d be right, but if the name of the game hadn’t already given it away, this isn’t any golf, this is Dangerous Golf.

From the very get go, everything is reminiscent of the classic Burnout style, from the menus, music and tutorials, it all feels very 2004. And is pretty clear the developers wanted to ride on nostalgia. It’s simple and just works. And not only that, but the feeling of nostalgia is only furthered by the return of DJ Stryker who was the Crash FM DJ from Burnout 3: Takedown. Upon first seeing and hearing, I couldn’t help but smile and become eager to play. Afterall, it’s golf but as the crash mode, what could go wrong?

Dangerous Golf has a simple premise, and for those who have played Burnout’s Crash mode before will certainly have the right idea where this is going. The car has been replaced with a golf ball and the roads and other vehicles are replaced with rooms full of destructive, explosive decor. In golf you aim for the hole, in Dangerous Golf, you do the same but not before wreaking havoc across the room destroying as much as can before putting the ball in the hole. Doing so takes precision, control and a flaming golf ball. The main mode World Tour, has you take swings across four different countries; USA, France, England and Australia. Each country features a different environment for you to par in. These range from a Kitchen in USA, a Palace in France, a Gas station in outback Australia and a Castle in England. The rooms are the same, but each have different challenges each containing enough destructive variety to keep you going and stay challenged. The Palace may have you destroy a table full of wine and glasses and next it would be full of statues or pianos and so on.

Before you tee off, you’ll be able to assess the room with a camera flyby. Rooms are filled with wine bottles, glasses, bookshelves, hanging paintings and more. If you can see it you can smash it. Unlike actual golf you don’t try and get the lowest score, everything is based around how much damage you can cause. Every time you smash, crash, bounce off, wreck and blow up you increase the dollar damage. Hitting the ball into something is only the beginning, the real fun is when you activate the SmashBreaker - which is totally not ripping off Crashbreaker from Burnout - activating by pressing B/Left click turns the ball into a ricocheting flaming ball of awesomeness. This is where you can rack up the most damage, by guiding the ball into everything you see until the SmashBreaker bar depletes, you can even slow down time during this and see the glorious flaming ball glide through the air in a path of destruction.

After comes the real game of golf, getting that ball in the hole. You could just aim for it, but that all depends on where you land and the game will encourage you to perform some snazzy trick shots like bouncing off a wall or performing a powershot straight to the hole. The real nuisance is if you miss you’ll lose your bonus and it can make or break that reward for the coveted gold or even better platinum.

Throughout the world tour it’s not just about causing enough damage, it’s also the fun of the challenge, each environment has a number of secrets and signature moves. Like me, you may just get entirely lucky with most, but most require certain objects to be destroyed to get the signature move, rewarding you a massive bonus and a cheeky polaroid. The secrets aren’t very plentiful, but if you’re skilful enough you can break past doorways and find hidden cash holes for that added bonus.

Visually Dangerous Golf is incredible and is the high-point. Built on the Unreal Engine 4, it’s utilised exponentially to the point where it is quite demanding. Everything is entirely photorealistic, with impressive amounts of detail and seeing it only makes its wreckage in a realistic manner only more satisfying. The game also takes advantage of Nvidia’s Flex, a graphically demanding feature that uses Physx for realistic physics. This is where you’ll be able to break away at statues, glasses, tables and see them break apart in pieces scattering across the floor realistically - this is only if you’ve got the system to handle it.

With a 100 holes across four different countries Dangerous Golf has plenty to do. Outside of the world tour, you can partake in co-op and party modes so you can play locally, taking turns seeing who can cause the most damage. Visually it’s very impressive, but the overall experience borders on glorified tech demo. Replayability is entirely up to you, just like any score focused title. I found myself playing in short burst, play for a few holes, perhaps try and beat a previous score and leave it. Three Fields has made massive improvements to the performance (didn’t have keyboard and mouse support on launch) but as it stands, at £14.99 I can’t recommended it for that price, but at a discount it’s certainly worth checking out; especially if you are wanting to scratch that destructive itch.