Generation 5: Domination

Burnout Dominator

The fifth generation of Burnout is unearthed in the game Burnout Dominator, released for the Sony Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable on the 6th of March 2007 in the US, on the 22nd of March 2007 in Australia (26th of April 2007 for the PSP release), 23rd of March 2007 in Europe (27th of April for the PSP release) and is scheduled for a 20th of September 2007 release in Japan. Many would count Burnout Dominator as a spin-off in generation 4 (or some would even say generation 3), but I feel that this game has taken the series to a new level since it includes new modes of gameplay and several other “breaking changes” compared to generation 4.

Gameplay changes compared to Generation 4 baseline

• Crash Junctions are removed from the game
• The cars and events are yet again grouped in series; Classic Series, Factory Series, Tuned Series, Hotrod Series, Super Series, Race Specials and Dominator Series
• Traffic Checking and Traffic Attack is removed from the game
• Gameplay difficulty slightly increased because of Traffic Checking being removed from the game
• Burnout Points renamed Maniac Points
• Burnout Chaining is re-introduced into the game, combining the best of both worlds – you can now use boost even if the Boost bar is not full, but you only get to earn new boost while boosting, if you’re boosting from a full Boost bar (called Supercharge Boosting) – Burnout Chaining also increases Maniac Points gain – Burnout x 1 gives a x2 multiplier, Burnout x 2 gives a x3 multiplier and so on
• Crashbreakers are now available in all race events, not just special Crashbreaker events
• Dominator Points introduced – basically 1 Dominator Point represents 0.01% of the game completed
• Maniac mode introduced – drive aggressively and gain as much Maniac Points as possible
• Near Miss Challenge introduced – get Near Misses to gain Maniac Points
• Drift Challenge introduced – drift around corners to gain Maniac Points
• Burnout Challenge introduced – get a high enough Burnout Chain to get a medal
• Signature Takedowns have been removed from the game
• Signature Shortcuts introduced – each track has two shortcuts which can be unlocked by performing a takedown on a rival into the shortcut
• No Xbox Live integration as this game was never released on the Xbox platform
• Support for Wireless Multiplayer Ad-hoc mode for 2-6 players added (PSP only)
• Burnout HQ introduced – the game can now connect to an online server and download content and upload scores to an online scoreboard (PSP only)
• Downloadable tracks introduced (PSP only)
• Ranks have been removed from the game
• Event rating has been removed from the game
• Preview Laps have been removed from the game

Next page: Conclusion