Here at AceGamez all I ever get to review is shooting games, sports games and driving games - one after the other, over and over again, day after day - and I love it! Especially when it means that I get to play games like Burnout Dominator. Criterion haven't changed a great deal of its modes and features since the last outing, but they have still managed to provide us with a superb arcade-style street racing game that is exciting to play and rewarding to master. Sorry to give away the verdict so early folks, but Criterion have created a superb driving series and once again they have delivered the goods.

However, before you rush out and buy it, you might want to know what is new about the game. As with the rest of the series the emphasis in Burnout Dominator is firmly on racing like a maniac in a very dangerous fashion and causing loads of impressive crashes, ideally involving your racing competitors rather than your own car! A new game mode called Maniac is introduced, where you basically earn points by driving dangerously. This doesn't mean getting blind drunk, hotwiring a car, starting her up and hurtling into the nearest lamppost though - it means driving on the wrong side of the road, drifting around corners and narrowly missing oncoming vehicles - so there is a lot of skill involved. To earn a serious amount of points you have to boost while doing this and this is where the game gets really exciting and challenging. If you are dangerous enough while super-charge boosting, your boost refills once emptied (you have performed a burnout), meaning you can chain together your boosts and multiply your score, reminiscent of the system from earlier iterations of the series, like the classic Burnout 2. The trick to this mode is becoming proficient in these burnout chains and driving as dangerously as possible. In the later stages this becomes hard work, as longer and longer burnout chains are needed. Let's just say you can't lie back and let your instincts do all the work - you really need to pay attention, but it is a rush of adrenaline when you get it right.

You can now also unlock signature shortcuts; these are secondary routes on the tracks that can only be opened by smashing an opponent car through the barriers that block them! This isn't always an easy task, but once the short cut is unblocked you can use it from then on. Although a keen eye for hazards ahead and good reaction times at speed are the most important skills in Burnout, learning the track layouts can be advantageous too. They have also added Party Play in the multiplayer portion of the game, which means you can have up to four players to compete in the various game modes. Split screen gameplay is still an option for two players but this new mode means you can take it in turns on various challenges. Although turn taking can often be a stale affair in gaming, this eliminates a huge weakness that the split screen mode has - it is immensely important in Burnout Dominator that you can see plenty of the track ahead and all of the traffic that is on it. Even in the single-player mode you will need a large screen to play on, because it can sometimes get very hard to spot other vehicles at high speed, so on split-screen this is doubly difficult. That's why the turn taking mode is so good, and watching the resultant thrills and carnage in Burnout is never dull!

The presentation of Burnout Dominator is superb and the graphical effects are a testament to the power of the PS2 in these latter stages of its lifespan. Even the flame effects on your boost bar are incredibly realistic and all the competing cars shine with crisp lighting effects. That is until everything gets as aggressive as a steroid-addicted alcoholic who's just had his pint spilt - then a shower of sparks flies with every shunt or crash and cars deteriorate in an almost cringe-worthy fashion. It was often during multiplayer events that I would exclaim the obvious statement - "Yeah I would have died there!" - because these crashes can be hugely catastrophic and yet they're thrilling to watch. The environments look incredible too, and there is only a very small amount of barely visible pop-up for objects on the horizon - the lack of pop-up is really important for spotting hazards when boosting and thankfully it's not an issue here.

Although the cars don't have official licenses there are plenty in each class to unlock and take for a spin. You start off in the Classic series then move onto the others - Factory, Tuned, Hot Rod, Super, Race Specials and finally the Dominator. Each series has a few familiar cars from the previous Burnout games, but there is plenty of variety throughout each of them. However, the cars aren't given stats; instead each has its own trait. For example, there are drifters, muscle cars, cruisers and GTs, which differ in performance and handling. It is when you progress through each car class that you will see a significant difference though - you can pick up some crazy speeds in the latter portion of the game and therefore you really need to 'get in the zone' to dodge traffic and stay ahead of the pack.

Don't get too cocky though, because the crashes get bigger and better too - it's almost a shame to see exotic cars turned into scrap. Almost! There are also plenty of challenges to progress through (88 in World Tour mode) and in order to get loads of Dominator points (to unlock each series) you should really push for the best performance you can muster. Each challenge gives you a chance to earn Dominator points depending on which medal you win - bronze, silver or gold. The better the medal, the more points you get and the sooner you can unlock all the tracks. In some of the challenges you also have the chance to win cars if you perform certain sub-missions, for example performing a set number amount of burnout chains or drifting over a certain distance. You can accrue Dominator points by performing various milestones too, for example getting 1,000 overall near misses in World Tour mode. Furthermore, each track holds top scores for certain events, so all of this is a great incentive to keep you playing - even after you have completed the World Tour mode.

The single player experience lasts a lot longer than most arcade-style racing games, but the overall longevity does suffer a big kick in the pants thanks to the lack of an online mode. As I touched on before, the multiplayer experience is a little flawed, because split screen reduces your vision of the track too much and despite how much fun it is to watch Burnout, playing it is better! Having an online mode would have ramped the lifespan of Burnout Dominator through the roof and would have been a much better alternative to split screen play if you had the choice. I can't complain too much though, because the multiplayer experience is Dominator's only major weakness.

Having said that some of the challenges are surprisingly similar (Maniac, Drift and Burnout mode - I'm looking at you) but there are plenty of others to take your mind off that (Road Rage, Near Miss Challenge, Eliminator, Grand Prix and Race mode). Curiously, EA have disposed of the greatly satisfying Crash mode for the time being - which is one of the features the series is most famous for. If you haven't played a Burnout game before (or any of the more recent ones) there is plenty of help along the way. There is a short tutorial movie (which plays on start up of the world tour or can be viewed in the handy driver details menu), plenty of tips displayed on the loading screens and even some button hints during gameplay. For example, your heads up display shows you which buttons to use after a crash to get an 'aftertouch takedown'. This is one of the game's coolest features, because you can subtly manoeuvre your vehicle in slow motion to take out opponent cars after you crash. You can even make your car explode to takedown multiple opponents, which fills your boost bar. Use this 'crashbreaker' feature wisely however, because if you blow up your car without taking anyone out then you lose your entire boost.

It has become a common feature in Burnout games to be able to takedown your opponents (albeit temporarily), but it is still one of the most exciting aspects and there are plenty of ways to achieve this. The easiest way to take down your opponent is to shunt them into a wall or a barrier of some kind, but you can also use traffic and the aftertouch feature to your advantage. Much harder takedowns include vertical takedowns (where you need to drive up a ramp and land on an opponent) and psyche outs (where you intimidate your opponent into crashing, for example blocking their path so they remain in the way of oncoming traffic). All the modes are good in their own way, but Road Rage is one of the best breaks in the race-orientated gameplay, as your main objective is to takedown opponents and achieving multiple takedowns in a row can make you feel invincible (until you total your car moments later!)

The music helps a little bit too, because it is mostly fast paced and caters to a lot of different styles. Apart from the odd exception, the music nicely compliments the frantic gameplay and adds to the high-octane, nitrous guzzling action. The sound effects are nothing short of superb too, from the whoosh of your supercharge boost and passing traffic to the huge crunch of twisted metal after a devastating pile up. The way the music fades in and out during play is a nice touch too - it cuts out during crashes to signify the carnage and fades slightly during burnout chains to ensure your concentrating. You can also change songs before you begin an event or even during with a simple press of a button, so you can avoid any tracks you wish to steer clear of.

As a single player experience, Burnout Dominator has really hit top speed and taken down its rivals. The racing is fast paced and thrilling, taking out other cars and even totalling yours is so satisfying. The crashes are huge and compelling to witness and they are certainly some of the best you will see in a driving game. As a multiplayer experience though it lags behind the pack and is lapped by many of its rivals. The lack of an online mode hurts its longevity and the omission of a Crash mode this time around may frustrate fans of the Burnout series. But the main focus of the game, the World Tour mode, is excellent and it gives you a real incentive to master every challenge. Dominator could be classed as filler until the next game in the series comes along - but as far as fillers go, this is very, very tasty!

Reviewed by Liam Bennion for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).