Going "Beyond cars": Criterion Games' new vehicular action sports IP revealed - Team VVV

News Going “Beyond cars”: Criterion Games’ new vehicular action sports IP revealed

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Martin Bigg

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Wondered what Criterion Games have been up to? Well wonder no more…

As we know, Criterion Games, the loveable band of British blokes responsible for Burnout and recent Need for Speed installments, have been off the radar. While a significant portion of staff moved to Ghost Games to work on Need for Speed, Criterion was left downsized to just 15 employees.

Since then, the tiny team has been hard at work on a top secret project. Cries of Burnout making a crash-tastic comeback were dashed however when Criterion declared their ambition to try something new and stray away from racing games. Fast forward to E3, and their mystery project has finally been revealed.

Well sort of. It's a new IP, but it's at such an early stage it hasn't been officially named. Criterion outlined their ambition to go "beyond cars." and what has been certainly shown lives up to this pledge. It's not a racing game – at least not in the traditional sense. But it does still revolve around vehicles, so Criterion haven't completely abandoned their roots. 

Criterion's new IP can be best described as a vehicular action sports game that lets you run rampant in a variety of vehicle types, from ATVs and off-road buggies, to boats, helicopters and even wingsuits. It's played entirely from a first person perspective, and is being made with Oculus Rift support in mind. In fact, Criterion were directly influenced by the growing trend of first person GoPro camera videos flooding the interweb.

An early prototype video showcases the concept, with one particularly gripping gameplay moment depicting the player leaping out of a helicopter onto a moving ATV. It's like MX. VS ATV Alive and Just Cause had a baby. 

//www.youtube.com/embed/LwRRpnQGLqM?rel=0

Certainly a striking change of direction for Criterion, but we're very intrigued to say the least. What do you think of the concept? Let us know in the comments below, on our FaceBook page or on our forum.

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