Ah, the Burnout series. Glorious crashes, dodging traffic and blistering speed… these are the qualities that make the series what it is. Burnout rests midway between arcade racing and realism, and though the series has been to each polar of difference since it started back in 2001, it’s generally been pretty great up until this point.

Sadly, the PSP version of Dominator is lacking those qualities. The sense of speed is small, and although some of the better features are present here, it doesn’t quite add up to an experience worth paying for on the PSP. It’s as if Criterion wanted to create something more, but didn’t have the technology to make it happen.

First of all, where are the cars? It feels like Hull on a Sunday, with the inner-city image it shoots for dissolving when you see only two cars in the distance. With this in mind, everything about the game is suddenly less than thrilling and you can’t help wondering why this kind of experience was expected to work on the PSP. Sure, the graphics are just fine for the console and the frame rate is steady, but this feels like the kind of game that’d be far more thrilling on its Daddy console with a lovely big TV.

There are some features, at least, that keep things interesting. The takedowns are as brutally fun as ever, and for people who have never seen the best Burnout games in action, this is almost appropriate. But who cares about them? This isn’t pleasant for people who have seen the best the series can offer, and to these fans it’ll seem like a shadow of the previous games, and a lame way of forcing people to take what is clearly a console game with them on a train journey.

The ability to chain Burnouts is back, which is a nice feature that almost redeems the underwhelming track design. Still, with the latter being far too noticeable, it only slightly elevates the experience above mediocrity. You’ll struggle to engage yourself in this game, which lacks the brilliant ‘Crash’ mode from previous entries in the series.

Unless you’re truly desperate for a Burnout experience away from its home console brethren, you shouldn’t give Burnout: Dominator a chance. Annoying.

Samuel Roberts