While Dangerous Driving desperately wants to declare itself Burnout’s successor, it’s simply too hollow to ever truly earn that title. It’s buggy, repetitive and lacks all the depth that made Criterion Software’s acclaimed franchise such a phenomenal hit. There are the fundamentals for an explosively fun driving game within this barebones arcade racer, but ultimately Dangerous Driving is more a knock-off Burnout clone than a worthy spiritual reboot.
While Effie has its heart in the right place, it can’t seem to find the spark that made its iconic platformer inspirations such lovable classics. It’s simplistic and just a little too bland to work, and while there are definitely elements that show care, it can’t save what is, at its core, a forgettable experience.
There are definitely elements of Summer Catchers that work. The visuals are astounding, the music is brilliant and, when you get lucky, there’s some solidly fun endless runner gameplay to be had. However, its strange focus on luck over skill means every element suffers, the fun level design never given the chance to shine as it should. In the end, Summer Catchers feels so insistent on being deeper than a simple runner that it ends up stumbling at every hurdle instead.