January 16, 2007 - While Criterion is hard at work on the first fully ground-up next-gen release in its seminal racing series, Burnout 5, EA is making sure that fans of the franchise aren't left in the cold this winter without a new release. Burnout Dominator is on the way to the PlayStation 2 and PSP from EA's Studio UK, and with it comes the return of some fan favorite features.

Burnout Dominator seems to be something of a family reunion for the series. Its gameplay is essentially a mix of all four previous titles put together, including some aspects of each while also removing others. Crash mode, for example, is curiously missing - we're told it's taking a break while Criterion reinvents the mode in Burnout 5. As well, the lack of this party favorite mode is intended to highlight the game's focus on straight-up racing, further evidenced by the lack of traffic checking.

Indeed, Burnout Dominator feels more like Burnout 3: Takedown than the last release, Burnout Revenge. While the latter focused on destruction and pure vehicular carnage, Burnout Dominator goes back to the series' purer roots and simply has you career down the tracks while avoiding traffic at all costs. Takedowns and the accompanying Road Rage mode are still present, of course, but you can no longer take out the anonymous traffic and use it as a weapon.

One great thing that's made its return is Burnouts. The series' namesake, Burnouts were last seen in Burnout 2 and are accomplished by saving your boost until you're maxed out, and then expending all of the boost in a single use without crashing or letting off. When you complete a Burnout, your boost meter is immediately filled and you continue flying forward at insane speeds. Burnouts can be chained together in succession, earning you a X2, X3 or X4 Burnout (or more). One key strategic element here is that you can't earn boost while attempting to perform a Burnout, so while in the past couple games you could keep your meter filled while boosting by driving (w)recklessly while boosting, you'll need to completely deplete your boost in order to earn more.

The return of Burnouts ties directly into the game's new Maniac mode, an arcade-esque challenge where you drive as wildly as possible. Much like Burnout Revenge's Traffic Attack mode, a counter will constantly tick down during your run, and your goal is to last as long as possible. But rather than crashing into cars to earn time, you simply drive as aggressively as possible, be it into oncoming traffic, powersliding around turns, passing with mere inches between yourself and other cars or, of course, by performing Burnouts. It's a fun mode that feels much more skill-based than Traffic Attack as you need to keep your car in complete control while intentionally performing insane stunts rather than just barreling through same-way traffic. So far it seems to be a fantastic replacement for the previous game's newest mode.

While Burnout Dominator looks to use the same engine as Burnout Revenge, that's just about the only thing that's been carried over from the previous game. Each of Dominator's numerous tracks are brand-new, as are most of the game's cars. The style of everything looks to be largely in line with what we've seen in the past, with vehicles that somewhat look like they're modeled off of Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but are indeed unique and original in their design. One thing that's been changed with regards to cars is that they no longer carry stats on the selection screen. The cars will have subtle differences between them, but the degree of these differences is still being tweaked.