PSP Review: Burnout Dominator

The original Burnout is lauded as one of the best racing games on the PSP, which is no small compliment considering the quantity of great racing titles for the system. Dominator promises to offer more of the same destructive, arcade-like action with some new gameplay twists, but does it live up to the standard set by its predecessor? More importantly, does the addition of new material warrant a second purchase? How you feel about Burnout Dominator is largely going to depend on whether you are a fan of the series in general. We are happy to report that Dominator retains enough of the gameplay conventions of the original to appeal to fans, while mixing up enough new ways to unleash destruction on the track that it keeps things fresh, even for those of us who are feeling a bit “burned out” on the whole crash-drift-race formula.

EA have consistently shown their mastery of the arcade racing genre with the Burnout series. Point multipliers are the king of any good arcade experience, and Burnout Dominator takes this convention to heart. The biggest new addition to the racing formula here is the “maniac” event mode, which has players earning points for pulling off dangerous driving maneuvers such as nearly missing oncoming traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road, taking massive air and drifting around curves. In the later events, simply driving like a European is not enough: players can multiply their maniac score by emptying their boost supply without taking their finger off the button, in a move called “boost chaining”. Do this more than once, and the multiplier increases, allowing you to earn the big scores necessary to take gold on the harder events. The rub, of course, is that it takes an unholy amount of skill and luck to pull these moves off at the kinds of speeds that Burnout offers. The frustration level never rises above boiling point, thanks to the sheer fun of the game and the short time that it takes to complete most events. EA inexplicably removed the strategic crash mode from this release, which would disappoint if maniac mode weren’t so similar. Other familiar race mods return in Dominator, including road rage, race, and grand prix events.

Dominator does not feature as many tracks as its predecessor, but the courses that are available are well-designed. Shortcuts can be opened in each of the tracks by performing a signature takedown on a rival in a particular part of the course. For the most part, the tracks felt slightly more challenging than those in Revenge, although this might have been an effect of their novelty. It does seem easier to crash in Dominator if one veers too far from the pavement. The overall effect of the difficult courses and emphasis on chain combos is that the game rewards skillful driving, something which is a welcome change to the direction the series has taken.

Burnout delivers an impressive graphical performance on the PSP, and somehow manages to top the first game in terms of what it squeezes out of the system. Textures are crisp and colorful, the framerate maintains a solid 30FPS throughout, and the game manages to convey a blistering sense of speed. The tracks this time around are more vertical in design, providing lots of opportunities to show off the draw distance as well as a launch point for massive air. Objects and buildings littering the side of the course are rendered in larger-than-life proportions, which fits with the arcade style of the game and suits the limitations of the smaller screen very well. There were occasional graphical glitches, which appear to be a holdover from the first game, in which textures or cars appear to dance around during slow-motion sequences. Overall, however, this is another showcase for the PSP’s awesome graphical abilities. The music is more of what we know and love from previous Burnout titles, and includes indie rock tracks from bands like Hot Hot Heat and LCD Sound System.

Finally, perhaps the only disappointment to be found here is the lack of any kind of internet multiplayer. Ad-hoc racing is available with support for up to six friends, and players may log on to the EA server to upload records and download new tracks when they become available. However, players who absolutely must have online are advised to wait a couple of months for Test Drive Unlimited, which promises the first massively multiplayer open world racing experience for the system.

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Final Score: 8/10