Burnout Dominator

""Burnout 3.5""

Well, here we are…the next installment of the now-legendary Burnout racing series. What's next for the successor of Burnout Revenge, and the predecessor of the highly-anticipated Burnout 5? Certainly, not much. I'm sure that by now, you've heard of just what Dominator plans to achieve in the light of Burnout 5's future release. Already, right off the bat, Dominator doesn't plan on doing anything new, nor does it introduce anything…except maybe one or two little intricacies here and there. But, like the title of this review suggests, it's basically Burnout 3 with a couple Burnout Revenge hints thrown in, probably to help fill out the series while big boy Burnout 5 is in development. Note: because Dominator has hints of the previous games in numerous forms, I'll be making many references to them here.

GRAPHICS----
The graphics continue the legacy of the sleek and smooth graphics, from the cool 60 frames, to the blinding lighting effects and spectacular attention to detail. However, there still seem to be glitches abound that Criterion hasn't bothered to weed out since the last game. Some of these are more or less gameplay glitches than graphical glitches, but there are instances where there seems to be pop-up of traffic in the distance. You probably won't notice (much less care), but that's just something I observed. I'll get to the gameplay glitches later on in that section, because there is a LOT to say about it. But, graphics-wise, they're really good. They're almost no better than Revenge's graphics, but still great nevertheless.

Oh, and there's also this annoying camera glitch that oftentimes sends the third-person camera into twilight, and you can't even see what's going on. It's rare, but it happens.

SOUND----
If you played Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge back-to-back, you'll notice how much better Revenge sounds compared to the other. Of course, in B3, the sound did well enough for a racing game where destruction and carnage were the front of the show. In Revenge, Crash Mode really sounds like a Wreck-a-Thon, bowling down the Interstate at 205 miles an hour sounds like a Dolby Digital nightmare, and battles with the AI rivals sound like over-the-top car chases. In other words, Revenge sounded worlds ahead of any other crazy carnage game ever to come along before it. In Dominator, nothing much has changed in the sound department. Criterion did go back to using the arcade-like bells and chimes from Burnout 3, but that's really all that's changed. Otherwise, the game sounds almost exactly like Revenge. You'd think that the Takedown “wooooooosh” would have at least changed, but nah, it hasn't. It's louder though, but that's all that's really different with the sound design in Dominator.

And, oh jeez...EA went and did it again with this lackluster soundtrack. At least in the last two games, I found about seven or eight, maybe nine songs that actually went along well with the fast gameplay. In Dominator, I only found...ahem...THREE songs that I actually cared about. Man...I played the entire game to just these three songs. I set other songs to be Menu Only, and I shut the rest off completely. One interesting example of the music that EA put in here is the Avril Lavigne song...there are several versions of it in different languages. That deserves a SERIOUS WTF. I mean, what's the point? It's the same song about four or five times over! I'm guessing they ran out of interesting (ha!) songs to put in, so they just slipped in four or five versions of one song. Go figure.

GAMEPLAY----
Okay, kids, buckle up, because I have a LOT to say, here. This is why I call this game “Burnout 3.5…” the game is more like Burnout 3 with slight hints at what's introduced in Revenge. You've got the challenging gameplay of B3 (like the now non-existent Traffic Checking), namely the races, but you've got the Takedown aspect from Revenge. You get your Revenge Rivals (in which the game doesn't necessarily recognize them as Revenge Rivals anymore), and Takedowns look like action-packed car-chase style Matrix cutscenes. Yeah, like I said, they removed Traffic Checking, but you probably won't miss it. I also noticed (sarcasm) that Crash Mode is missing from this installment…why the game neglects to include this mode is beyond me, but I'm guessing the best reason to come up with is that Criterion is focusing on the Crash aspect in Burnout 5 much more.

The game also re-includes what I call "persistent AI," the AI type from B3 whereas the AI racers are EXTREMELY persistent. In Revenge, it was rather easy to get your four boost segments early into the race and just out-boost everyone else. That's coupled with the fact that the AI racers crash very often, oftentimes to make it look like they're deliberately slamming into traffic. Now, even scoring Takedowns during races is a challenge in and of itself. You can mutilate a rival's car for ten seconds straight, and nothing happens. In B3 and Revenge, you can score a Takedown even if you knock a rival across four lanes speeding down a freeway. Here, such a thing is nearly impossible. Even if you manage to knock the snot out of an AI rival and towards an embankment, they won't crash. They'll just keep pursuing you. At least now, Takedowns feel more like a payoff after trying to take out a persistent rival. You can still do Aftertouch and Explosive Payback Takedowns, and you'll be using them rather frequently. You don't have to wait half the game to use Crashbreakers this time, but they're still there for you to abuse infinitely. However, there is still that annoying glitch that spawns you back to a race with all your boost gone if you attempt to use a Crashbreaker. It might be a glitch, I dunno. If not, Criterion must be feeling mean these past couple installments.

My biggest gripe of the game is the track design. In B3 and Revenge, the tracks were designed for the type of racing the game had supported. In B3, the twisting, turning, and geometry of the tracks were built for drifting, which encouraged you to drift whenever you came across the proper opportunity. In Revenge, the tracks were built for battling and Takedowns. The tracks were less geometric (basically less hills and wide turns), but because the key aspect of Revenge was the battling system, it did the game well. In Dominator, the tracks just seem to be all over the place. There are more sharp turns than wide turns, sudden hilltop intersections, and strange hazard placement. Traffic spawns seem to time themselves just right for you to go crashing into it, and wall collisions are more often than not. Many times, you'll be crashing into things you can't see, and other times, you'll crash into things thanks to the seemingly unfair hazard and wall placements. Most tracks can be conquered through memorization, but even so, don't you think it's unfair to go flying up and over a hill at 200 miles an hour only to go slamming into a wall that's RIGHT IN FRONT of you on the way over? Not to mention, the sharp turns in the game are WAY too sudden. In the Spritual Towers track, there is a small park you can go speeding through. On the other side of the park is a sharp turn. Of course, there is a directional arrow there to tell you where to go while you're driving towards it. But, 7 times out of 10, you'll be going too fast to notice that this turn goes to the right. On your first couple of playthroughs, you may be going left instead. So, like I said, some tracks can only be managed through memorization.

Yeah...couple that with the fact there's still that glitch where you can fall through the ground or wall into the virtual canvas if you are hit hard enough by a rival. In B3, it was an extremely rare occassion. In Revenge, it was strangely frequent. However, it didn't count as a crash if it ever happened. Now, in Dominator, it happens frequently, but it counts as a crash, now! Did Criterion honestly put that back in there just to tick me off?! This is a b**** to deal with in Road Rages, and if it happens during a Race, you may as well get ready to restart the event. Not only does it take about five whole seconds to fall, but it takes another ten seconds to actually stop crashing. In a game this fast, every second counts, so the last thing you want to be bombarded with is glitches that hinder your progress more than help it. I mean, seriously...even Chuck Norris wouldn't be able to compete with that. Wait...maybe he would be.

The game changes the Signature Takedowns system by replacing them with what's called Signature Shortcuts. They work exactly like Sig Takedowns, but Sig Shortcuts actually do favors for you. They allow you to unlock extra alternate paths that you can use either during races or Burnout Laps.

And speaking of Burnout Laps...the boost system has obviously been replaced by the Burnout 2 boost system. There's no longer the whole "four boost segments" theme. Here, you only get one boost segment that's about as long as four boost segments. With this, there are two types of boosting: Normal Boosting, and Supercharge Boosting. If your boost bar isn't full and the fire is orange, you can Normal Boost. With this, you can only empty it. You can't gain more boost as you are boosting. I would only recommend Normal Boosting in emergencies, like you REALLY need to catch up to a rival or you're on the home stretch to the finish line. Supercharge Boosting is Burnout 2's boosting system, where while you are boosting, you can pull off the classic Burnout risks (near misses, oncoming lane driving, Takedowns, etc.) to gain boost for your next Burnout. This is, of course, a Burnout Chain. When your boost bar is blue, you are ready for a Supercharge Boost. As you Supercharge Boost, pulling off risks will fill your Refill bar. Once the Refill bar is flashing black and yellow, you'll automatically get a full boost bar once your current bar runs empty. If you manage to hold on to the boost button, you can chain Burnouts either to smoke the competition, or to rack up points in score challenge modes.

One of those challenge modes includes the new Maniac Mode. It's actually a combination of the scoring challenges spread throughout the World Tour mode, such as Drift and Burnout challenges. In Maniac Mode, you continue to pull off risks to rack up your points in an attempt to beat the medal score. The only way to actually rack up points faster is to chain Burnouts. For every Burnout chain you complete, the points you obtain are multiplied by how many consecutive chains you've done. This is a challenging and enjoyable aspect. Once you get to the final Maniac Challenge in the game, all I have to say is, prepare to take some painkillers for your crinkled hands.

What many will be pleased to know is that the Single Event makes its return from B3. Here, it's called the "Record Breaker," but it's basically the same thing. Simply enough, just pick a mode to play, pick a track, pick a car, and start it already.

Criterion did, speaking of which, go back to the more acceptable car selection system from B3. Each car in the game is placed in a car series, which actually makes races against AI racers balanced and tolerable (as opposed to Revenge's sloppily-organized car system where you can race cars with a maximum speed of 209 miles an hour against cars with 170 miles an hour).

As I mentioned, the Crash Modes and Traffic Checking system from the previous games fail to make an appearance. Many gripe that the game also fails to include Online Mode. To be honest, I never cared about Online Mode, so its absence made little difference to me. You might be disappointed, though, if you're an online gamer. But again, it made little difference to me.

STORY----
Well, this time, you're in for a surprise, as Criterion actually added a story! You play as a disgraced street racer who meets five other rivals one night, and you all decide to race each other for world supremacy, as the grand prize is a wine truck with five Crashbreakers, which eventually unlocks the hidden Crash event, "The Last Ride."

Okay, I'm just drumming all that up. As usual, there is no story. Probably by this time, you weren't expecting one. I certainly wasn't. So, there isn't much to say there.

BOTTOM LINE----
Of course, I had much to say about the game. As much as I enjoyed Dominator for the time I had it, the missing features and somewhat annoying gameplay ethics dragged the fun factor down a little. I remember after renting B3 and having to return it after a week or so, I was already knocking myself to go out and get it again. B3 was unlike any gaming experience before it, and it eventually drove me to finally buy it. This led to me strongly anticipating Revenge, tracking the game heavily up until its inevitable release. Now, I was excited for Dominator, but after returning it to the rental store after a week, I can honestly say I don't really miss it. I never thought I'd be saying this about a Burnout game, but Dominator was good only for the weekend that I had it, and the only time I'll consider buying it is if I'm collecting all the Burnout games. Until then, Dominator will just have to wait for my overall approval before I even consider buying. 7.75/10 (rounded to 8).

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/16/07