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Flatout
Flat is developed by Bugbear Entertainment and is easily one of the most
spectacular racing games of 2005 that can be considered the successor to
Destruction Derby series. Containing over 45 different tracks with 16
fully upgradeable cars, players get the chance to drive their vehicles
in a true destructible gaming environment.
The gameplay of Flatout gives the gamer a minimal amount of money before
they start which allows them upgrade their cars before a race. Right
from the outset however you have choices to make such as do you go for
the ultimate lemon car but have the ability to put a few parts on it, or
go for the most expensive car you can afford and add parts later. Once
you reach that decision you have the choice of the career mode, quick
race or time trial game modes. It may not seem like much but it should
keep you going for a little while. Quick race allows you to race against
a number of competitors on any track you have unlocked in the career
mode, while time trial pits you against the clock again on any track
which you have previously unlocked.
The main mode of the game is the career mode which consists of three
main cups and some excellent mini games to unlock. Each cup has more
tracks to complete and you must place in the top three on each track to
advance, which is harder then it may sound. The tracks progressively get
harder and if you don't continuously upgrade your car or even replace it
then you will be left eating dust from the AI competitors.
Probably the most impressive feature of Flat out is the physics engine.
While the bumper camera will give the greatest feel of speed, you will
miss out on how realistic the car turns and reacts to bumps that you see
in action in the two rear views. The car, depending on how fast its
going, will bend into corners and you can actually see the chassis move
left and right. This is the kind of stuff you expect in Gran Turismo,
not a bash and crash racing simulation. Another unique aspect of the
game is how a driver reacts to the large impact. The cars feature no
seat belts so hit something hard enough and the poor male or female
driver is going to go right through the windscreen. The game even tells
you how far they have travelled. It is a novelty but it doesn't seem to
get old quickly. The mini games also revolve around this fact with the
tasks being knocking down bowling pins or hitting a dart board with the
driver.
Races take place on four styles of track; urban, woodland, dirt and even
snow. The snow tracks are the toughest to gain control on, especially
with the most powerful vehicles. Some of the tracks are are a little
ordinary and it seems that these are the ones which are the longest
however other tracks, mainly urban have lots of interactive objects
which you can knock over. Objects such as house foundations, fences,
tyres nearly everything can be knocked around if you're going fast
enough. To help with this, the cars are equipped with nitrous and it
appears that excellent driving gets you more nitrous to use throughout
the race.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game is the graphics on
display especially considering it's on the PS2. The draw distance is
highly impressive and going with this, there is really no pop up to
speak of. The cars are highly detailed (at least when they have all
their parts, which isn't very long in most races) and even with lots of
cars and crashes on the screen, the frame rate remains entirely smooth.
In conclusion, Flatout is a great racing game and can definitely be
called the next generation of Destruction Derby games that contains one
of the most entertaining gaming environments to land on the XBox in a
long time. With fully destructible cars and some the most realistic
physics, Flatout will be a game that will have you racing for hours on
end. Check it out!
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