A new Fast & Furious Crossroads gameplay trailer has been released online. The trailer showcases the action-heavy combat of the game in contrast to the first trailer released last year that was heavy on showcasing its star-power and cutscenes. The gameplay has strong vibes of Split Second with some touches reminiscent of Midnight Club: Los Angeles (the street racing), Burnout Paradise or even Twisted Metal (although the cars don’t have weapons). Check it out.

With The Fast Saga series of films having gradually shifted from being a street racing franchise to one centered around action, heists and car combat, that approach is reflected in the game as well. Whereas the earlier Fast & Furious game focused more on street races centered around scenarios from the movie, this one takes inspiration from films and concocts more action-centric scenarios around it.

The heist sequences in particular borrow from Fast Five that had series protagonists Vin Diesel and Paul Walker’s characters Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor tie a safe to the back of their cars and parade it around the streets of Rio, a nod that’s referenced in the games. Similarly the giant swirling ball is taken from The Fate Of The Furious, only used in a different way. I’ll admit that despite the sub-par quality of graphics, the action looks a lot more fun than in the first Fast & Furious game which was simply a chore to get through.

Fast & Furious Crossroads was set to release on May 2020 but pushed back to August 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The film and the game’s releases were set to tie-in but the film has now moved to an April 2021 release slot. It looks as though the actors have provided voice-over for their characters and the game could tie-in well with the film’s storylines, seeing as it references them but none of that has been officially confirmed yet.