Burnout Dominator - hands-on

What this means is that you'll still be able to smash up your rides (and those of your competitors) in a slow-motion death-ballet, but the emphasis on wrecks has been toned way down. Your ability to plow random traffic out of your way is gone; rear-ending a non-competitor will now just make you crash, something we did a whole lot during a lengthy session with the PS2 version. Sadly, the series-defining Crash mode is gone as well, meaning you won't be able to tear through intersections and explode spectacularly for points anymore.

With that in mind, Dominator brings back the actual "Burnouts," last seen in Burnout 2. The way these work is that, once you've filled up your turbo meter by doing crazy stuff, you'll get even more boost if you can empty it out in one, crash-free burst. And if you do risky stuff while boosting - like driving in the opposing lane, drifting around turns, getting air or scraping past cars - you can actually chain your Burnouts together into one long blast.

All that comes into play in the new Maniac Mode, where you'll be tasked with doing as many reckless stunts as possible within a set time limit. Work up a high enough score by driving like a complete ass, and you'll come away a winner.