Burnout Dominator – PSP – Review

The Burnout series has always been a
great alternative to the much too serious racing-simulation genre. While Gran
Turismo was getting everyone worked up over the realistic aspect of racing
Burnout was sticking to a more arcade style. For many the selling point of a
Burnout game wasn’t about racing, it was about destruction. The Crash mode was
the stuff of legend for many gamers since it was all about crashing your car and
creating the most expensive wreck possible. Well Burnout: Dominator doesn’t
include the Crash mode but it still offers an exciting and fun racing experience
on the PSP.

For veterans of the Burnout series
you will probably be disappointed by the lack of new features and updates for
Burnout: Dominator. I missed out on Burnout Legends but Dominator plays almost
identical to Burnout Revenge. The whole presentation and layout of Dominator is
practically the same as Revenge. The game has you racing in what is called the
World Tour event. The World Tour has you racing through cities and locations
from across the globe competing in a variety of races.

The race events in Dominator are
composed of events from the previous Burnout games and a few new races. The
Race mode is just as the name describes a race against the competition. Burning
Lap is a time trial style race that has you competing to get the best time
possible. Road Rage has you competing in a race but the objective is to take
out (called a Takedown) as many cars as possible during the race. Eliminator
has you racing to finish first because fourth, third and second are eliminated
at various points during the race. The Grand Prix mode is a multi-race event
where you race to win the final medal in the Grand Prix mode.

The various new modes in the game
might be called new but they still don’t add anything revolutionary to the
game. The Maniac mode is a race that awards you for driving as crazy as
possible. Drifting, near misses and driving on the wrong side of the road are
all awarded in the Maniac mode. The Burnout, Drift and Near Miss challenges are
new races where you need to perform a certain number of special moves. For
example in the Burnout challenge you might have to perform two burnouts in a row
or drift for a specific number of feet. The Near Miss Challenge has you racing
to perform a specific number of near misses without wrecking.

The Rival Challenge mode tasks you
with performing a very specific takedown of a rival during a race. Completing
the Rival Challenge rewards you with unlocking the car you performed the
takedown on. After finishing all of the Rival Challenges you unlock the
Dominator Challenge. Completing the Dominator Challenge lets you unlock the
Dominator car. All of these events feel more like marginal enhancements to
features already built into the game instead of being new and inventive. 

The gameplay is still the classic
Burnout style we’ve grown use to over the past few years minus the Crash mode. In case you’ve never played a Burnout game before, the whole point of the game is
driving as crazy and reckless as possible without wrecking. Driving on the
wrong side of the road into incoming traffic while nearly having a wreck is not
only encouraged but keys to winning the game. By performing these moves you
increase your boost meter which allows you to perform a supercharge blast of
turbo to blow past the competition and traffic.

Another import feature in the game
is the takedowns of the other drivers in the game. Just as in Burnout Revenge
all of the takedowns in the game are presented in a short cutscene that shows a
close up view of the wreck. Even on the PSP screen all of the crashes are
spectacular to view but get a little repetitive when you have multiple takedowns
in the game. One important feature of the crashes/wrecks are the Impact Time
and Crashbreakers features.  As soon as you wreck the game switches to a view
that allows you to slow down the wreck and maneuver your car in slow motion. During certain races you then get to perform a Crashbreaker which lets you blow
up your car to cause another racer in the game to crash. As soon as the Impact
Time or Crashbreaker are finish you jump back into the race.

In the end Burnout: Dominator is
another solid title that feels more like a yearly update instead of a brand new
title in the series. I’m sure this is because the new version, Burnout 5, is
still in development. Dominator will please fans of the series but will leave
most veterans of Burnout probably looking for something more. The new modes
just don’t offer anything that you won’t play in a regular race. Please,
please, please EA bring back the Crash mode. There is nothing like performing a
20-million dollar wreck with an ice cream truck.

Gameplay: 8.5
The gameplay is still the classic reckless style built from the Burnout mold. I
would recommend ditching the analog nub and use the directional buttons to
control the car.  The Impact Time and Crashbreaker features can be a little
cumbersome to control due to having to hold the right shoulder button. At one
point I shut down by accident the PSP since my right hand was sitting on top of
the power switch while holding down the right shoulder button.

Graphics: 8.4
Visually the game looks fantastic with tons of detail in the background,
spectacular effects in the crashes, and a solid/steady framerate.

Sound: 7.0
Yes, the whole EA Trax music tracks are still in this game and get played
repeatedly. Due to the UMD media all of the tracks sound just a clear as a MP3
or CD. The sound effects of the crashes, tire squeals and other car effects come
through very clear along during the races.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Once again we get another PSP title that features a nice Ad Hoc mode but a
limited infrastructure mode. The Ad Hoc mode supports up to five players and
has a Race, Maniac and Road Rage mode included. All of the vehicles and modes
are unlocked in the Ad Hoc mode. The infrastructure mode is limited to just
downloading new tracks and uploading your scores to the Burnout server.

Concept: 7.0
Dominator offers small improvements instead of huge advancements in Burnout.
Once again please bring back the Crash mode.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
As I’ve mentioned earlier forget the analog nub and stick with the directional
buttons for the controls. This will make the barrier to entry much easier to get
use to playing the game.

Overall: 7.7
Hopefully the EA syndrome of releasing a new title in a series every year
doesn’t mean we’re going to get moderate improvements to Burnout. Sure, these
small improvements are nice but they don’t offer enough for veterans of the
series. If you played the heck out of Burnout Revenge then honestly you could
really skip Dominator.  But if you need a PSP racing game then make sure to
check out Burnout: Dominator. The fast packed, break neck excitement of a
Burnout games is contagious even on portable system.