“Old-school” can be a compliment or a dig, depending on the context. “Dude, these tunes are totally old-school!” has a very different shade of meaning from, “Wow, those boots are so... old-school.”
Burnout: Dominator is an old-school Burnout game, and not necessarily in a positive way. That is, unless you’re a Burnout purist who hated the last two titles in the series, in which case: Rejoice! It’s 2002 all over again!
Just as Superman Returns pretended that Superman III and Superman IV never happened, Burnout Dominator feels like it should have come out after Burnout and Burnout 2 but before Burnout 3 and 2005’s Burnout Revenge.
The difference is Superman III and IV sucked so hard they created their own gravitational field. Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge were stellar games, and Dominator’s step back is a little bewildering.
It’s not that the game looks bad. It’s got the same super-fast, super-slick visuals as Burnout 3 and Revenge did on the PS2, and a whole host of new tracks to unlock and signature crashes to discover.
But Dominator has done away with traffic checking -- sideswiping cars to knock them aside -- and has gone back to having you increase your boost meter strictly by performing dangerous moves, like veering between oncoming cars. Also, your post-wreck “Crashbreaker” explosion has significantly less oomph in this game, meaning you won’t be able to take as many of your foes with you when you wipe out.
Those omissions by themselves might be OK, since not everyone thought traffic checking and Crashbreakers were a necessary addition to Burnout 3. But Dominator also dispenses with Crash mode, in which the object is to do as much damage as possible with one massive, chaotic pile-up in a pre-set location.
Crash mode was a perfect counterpoint to the racing in Burnout, kind of the delicious hot fudge topping on the sundae of destruction. No matter how good the racing is -- and make no mistake, it’s as good here as in any other Burnout game -- ditching Crash mode makes no sense.
Ultimately, Dominator is a step back for the Burnout series. Diehard fans of the original Burnout games will like it a lot, as it does tend to shift the focus back onto maniacal, seat-of-your-pants dangerous driving, and requires a higher degree of skill than the more recent games.
But this game seems too much like a stopgap effort aimed at keeping the Burnout franchise alive in peoples’ minds (and raking in some easy cash to boot) while EA works on the next-gen sequel for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It’s old-school, baby. And not really in the good way.
Bottom line: Dominator is as slick and insane as the other Burnout games, but it’s missing some key features found in its most recent predecessors. Fans of the latest Burnout titles might want to swerve to avoid this one.
WHAM! Rating: |
6 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
T (Teen) |
Official Web Site: |
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