FlatOut – Review

It’s a funny one this.. Is it a rally game?? Yeah sort of.. So it’s not arcadey like Burnout?? Actually it is, sort of.. It’s like an arcadey Colin McRae, or a serious Burnout. Yep, that’s right, somewhere in the middle. There are crashes galore in the game, and they don’t damage your car too much so that you have to retire. But they do have some impact on the
handling of the car though. So like a serious rally game, you don’t want to wreck your car, but like arcadey racer, it won’t matter if you do. So far, so somewhere in the middle then.

The racing itself is pretty tough, especially later when you can boost your cars speed up. You’ll come zooming over jumps and flying off the course. This can be o.k, because you may have found a shortcut, but chances are you’ll get a message that your ‘off course’, and the red arrow of doom will point to where you must return to so that you continue to race!! You can press the triangle button to reset your car, the only problem being that you’ll be put back quite a way, and you won’t be moving. This happens a lot more as you move up from bronze races (the easy ones), through silver (not as easy ones), to the gold (not easy ones) class. The cars your racing against are faster, so you need to upgrade your car, and get moving faster yourself. With a bit of practice though, and a few laps of the current course your stuck on (using the time trial mode), you can learn where the dodgy corners, and the short cuts (if any) are on the course.

So is it fun??
Yes it is, and at times, no it aint!! But it’s like most racing games. You can’t expect to know every course, and expect to win ever race first time. Your gonna need to practice.
It does start off pretty easy. And you’ll be winning the first few races in no time. And while you are, you’ll be learning how your chosen motor vehicle drives, and how it feels on the track. The most fun part about the races though, is crashing. Or better still, making one of your opponents crash. Hearing them scream as they are shot out the front windscreen is always fun, even better if they land in front of your car!! Even when you crash yourself, because of the great ragdoll physics, you’ll find it pretty funny (most of the time anyway), watching your helpless driver soar through the air and then slam into the tarmac, and then roll and tumble along, taking out signs and bollards, or just stopping in a heap.

Taking out the scenery is great fun too, and it gives you a cash reward at the end for how much damage you caused. Plus the smashed up bits and bobs stay on the track, causing your opponents and you, grief until the end of race. So it’s a serious racer with a bit of fun, or a fun racer that’s a bit serious, with the usual options.
Career: Finish this race in the top three, and continue to the next race, etc.
Time trial: beat the best time on a given track.
Single race: Compete in a single race (duh).
Also you’ve got multiplayer. Sadly there’s no online for the PS2 version but there’s Live support for the Xbox version (yay).

And that’s it right??
Nope… There’s also the bonus games. These involve driving your car very fast down a straight course, and pressing the boost button at a certain point, and shooting your poor driver out of the windscreen at the right angle, to complete a number of different tasks. They include, high jump & long jump (self explanatory), and bowling (shoot the driver towards some giant pins), darts (get the driver to slam into a giant dartboard). Plus a few others. These bonus games are a great laugh, as your driver fly’s through the air screaming, only to come crashing down with sickeningly realistic tumbles, you can’t help but laugh!! Hey there not real people, so it don’t matter..right!! The bonus games are a great addition, i think, because it gives you something to do if your stuck on a certain race. Have a go at high jump – laugh – calm down, and have another go at that race afterwards.

Graphically the game is really great. The cars move around nicely, and damage brilliantly. The tracks all look nice, with lots of trackside furniture, some of which you can smash, some of which is just there to look pretty. The great physics engine really shows. The cars bump and roll in realistic fashion. And when you, or another driver is smashed through the screen of the car, you can’t help but wince (and giggle), as they roll down the track.

Sound is good also. Apart from the cheesy rock music, but it can be turned off, so no harm done.

The lifespan of the game is fair, but not huge though. The main career will take a while to complete, and the bonus games won’t last forever. It’s a shame about it not having online on this version, because that would (as with most games that do have online) have added to the lifespan of the game a lot. Maybe next time??

Female aspect of the game…..
Well, when you create your profile at the start, you get to choose male or female. This means that when your racing, or playing a bonus level, the person who gets flung from the vehicle, will be either a man or woman, and will scream accordingly!! You can also see your driver in the game as well. So at least you have a choice of character. So in that respect, good job.

Review by Roy

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