Burnout: Dominator is one of those games that really present a challenge to a reviewer. Not because the game itself is overly difficult and hard to get through, but because it is one of those titles that makes you want to review the game based on its potential rather than the actual execution of its stated goals. But it is even more difficult than just that with Burnout Dominator The developer’s were very clear – Burnout 5 is in development for next-gen platforms, this is not a traditional Burnout sequel. Got it. They are understandably pulling a CYA (cover your ass). The problem is that they created a game with the words “burn” and “out” smooshed together in its title. That brings with it a lot of baggage. A lot of good baggage. But if the game can’t lift all that good baggage, do you still tip the handler?

Ok, so where am I going with all this? Burnout is a great expansion pack that is bursting with a lot of new content. Unfortunately it’s missing some of the features from the more recent titles that have made Burnout games so great.

For instance, crash mode. I know a good number of people who spend 90% of their time with the game playing crash mode and still others will wince at the reduction of Takedowns. But others may dance a jig to hear that older elements like old school Burnouts (from Burnout 2) are back and you have to fear traffic again (no more traffic attack mode).

For those new to the series, Burnouts are expendable speed boosts granted to the player as a result of dangerous driving. Having enough close calls or driving on the wrong side of the street fills up your boost meter. Holding down the boost button and having even more close calls refills a secondary meter that allows you to continue your insane speed after the boost from the first meter has burned out. Rinse and repeat and you have a burnout chain. They are quite a challenge, but aren’t necessary during the first wave of tracks to get high scores and win medals. But very quickly it becomes a necessity and you can count on replaying races repeatedly until you get through them holding down the boost button the entire time.

The problem with having a large number of long tracks requiring you to hold down a single button the whole time is that you start looking for duct tape to take some of the burden off. Add to this the removal of traffic attack gameplay (the ability to crash into almost any vehicle from behind without any consequences) and you have a title much more focused on precision driving than vehicular destruction. And to more recent fans of the games, that may not sound like much of a Burnout game at all.