Flatout Review

The Gameplay

Flatout offers very little or new as far as gameplay modes, and the old racing regulars aren’t too deep. What they do offer is the chance to smash things repeatedly. Career mode is where you progress through races earning gold, silver, and bronze medals to earn cash, which you can apply towards upgrades to your vehicles. You start out with a pretty cheap car, just like other racing career modes, and must work your way to a high-powered, super-destructive machine that you’ve always longed for. There’s around 40 races, which doesn’t include the extra races, so there’s an average amount to do when compare to other racers.

What separates this game from other destruction racing games is the chance to throw your driver from the car and the amount of damage you can do to your environments (more on that in the graphics section). In the mini-games, your driver can be launched to knock down pins or strike a bullseye on a dart board. He’ll spasm and twist into unimaginable positions as he aims for the goal. I don’t know about you, but I love a spinning, flying, contorting driver in my games. Also, during career mode, the driver will bust through the windshield on particularly huge crashes, but you have no control over when.

Other modes included a time trial, a quick race option, and a multiplayer mode. These are basic modes. Use quick race for practice and use time trial for speed practice, and multiplayer to destroy all others.

The Controls

The first thing you need to know is that Flatout' is not about realism. Driving the cars is really, really loose. The slightest direction change is noticeable. I suppose this is for taking turns better and quicker, but each car drove the same until I started upgrading to the higher modifications.

I am almost finished with career mode, but I still haven’t gotten use to the driving controls. Acceleration and braking aren’t complicated at all, as they shouldn’t be.

The Graphics

Since Flatout is all about creating havoc for a purpose, there is ample opportunity to destroy everything. Cars bend and crack and leave stuff behind; fences break; anything available to run into is a chance that it will be left on the road. One funny anecdote: I drove one lap around a track and accidentally knocked over a barrier and smashed it to pieces. On the next lap, most of the barrier wreckage was in the middle of the road and I hit it again…and again…and again… Okay, maybe it wasn’t funny now, but you had to be there.

Track design is good, but seems bare in spots. There aren’t that many tracks and Flatout pulls a Ridge Racer by using alternate routes on tracks to call it ‘new’.

Thompson’s Two Cents

Flatout is an above average racing/destruction game that satisfies you most of the time. After you complete career mode, all that’s left to do is just to do better. If you have some friends, kick on multiplayer and maim everyone just to be the one that didn’t get maimed. The launching driver might be a gimmick to some, but come on, you know you might dream it’s an ex-girlfriend.