Mikey's Review

After having so much fun playing Colin McRae: DiRT I thought what the heck and went out and bought FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage, I must say I have been impressed. Before we start please be aware I had never even heard of the FlatOut series let alone played it so this review will definitely be from a non-flatout bias point of view.

Graphics

Although not quite up to the standard of the latest Next Gen titles FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage does not fall down in this area, actually is really excels at it. The 'human analogues' (full rag doll physics) and the cars (48 different ones) are what you would expect really, nothing special but not sucking either, but what really makes this game special, graphically, is the scenery detail (39 tracks in 6 different environments) and shear number of destroyable/moveable objects (8,000 per track!). It also may be worth mentioning that although the cars don't look superbly amazing, they DO deform like I have not seen in any other game (40 individual deformable parts!). This means you can dent, bash, knock of spoilers, even do 1/2 a race with only 3 wheels. It just adds another layer to the game to make you believe you are really driving in an insane manner.

I will give you a perfect example of this, I was playing last night on a dusty track and the mayhem was just mind blowing, I could hardly see through the dust and flying cars/parts, just kept the pedal to the metal! One time flipping in a full sideways 360, burning off the nitro while in mid air and landing on a crowd of 3 racing cars wrecking 2 of them! Major bonus points plus a huge grin on my face, fantastic!

Interface

To be brutally honest the interface is pretty much the same as Burnout 3 and I know I should not be making that comparison! Flatout is a more serious driving game, well.... it IS but it doesn't feel that serious, what I mean is that you DO actually have to race properly in Flatout, one mistake could cost you the entire race.

That said the interface is pretty slick really, tried and tested and works well. From the car selection/purchase and upgrade shops to the game selection screens its all pretty much the same. I particularly like the Carnage mode where you basically get to play the various modes for differing amounts of points, with which you can unlock new events. The layout and the way this works is really nice and simple and keeps you coming back for more.

Gameplay

There are 3 main sections of gameplay with this game, 1 of which will only be accessible with Xbox Live Gold membership. There is a basic career mode which is a cup selection that is tiered in the 3 car classes (Derby, Racing and Street) and there are 8 cup races in each one and various bonus games (timed racing and destruction derby). You combine this with winning credits from the races to purchase new cars and upgrade existing ones. It is pretty cool that you can take a standard pick up truck and change it into the worlds best racer, well... nearly!

The way credits are won actually deserves some explanation because I really like it. You have the standard win so much for coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd but on top of that you can gain extra credits by driving in an insane way. THIS I like, incentive to go nuts! You get extra credits by slamming into opponents, wrecking them, flipping them, airtime, scenery destruction and even making other drivers get catapulted through their windscreens. Brutal. So in theory its quite easy to get an equal number of bonus points as the points awarded for coming 1st!

The 2nd section of gameplay comes from the already mentioned carnage mode which is basically individual events you have to beat a particular time/score/place to get points which go towards unlocking new events. The events range from carnage races to destruction derby's and onto the stunts. There are quite a few of these events and should keep you going for hours and hours (and hours if you want gold in ALL of them). In essence though this section is just like the career mode, just in a more fun 'pick up and play' type way with very specific goals.

Online play comes last and is pretty fun, again its all the modes mentioned above but playing online, head to head with up to 8 others. It can be pretty fun and you won't wait around all day in the lobbies as with some other online games.

Incentives

The main incentives of this game for me was the 'one more try' factor. I rarely get this and I seemed to get it all the time with this game, often keeping me awake into the small hours, bashing the sofa in frustration as I miss out on gold by 5/100th's of a second. I found myself mostly playing the carnage mode, especially the stunts which let's be honest are some of the most hilarious things I have seen in any game. Just the very concept of playing darts with ejected drivers or curling... (thought's drift to the cow curling episode of South Park). Fantastic and funny, the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night! Let me talk you through one of the stunts so you can see what I am talking about.

Stone skipping is one of my faves (one of everyone's fave when they were kids right?). In this you have to drive your car flatout into a small swimming pool and just before you hit the water you press and hold down the A button, choosing an angle and launching your driver into the huge swimming pool ahead of you. Angle is critical as is speed and as you go hurtling through the air (using the analogue stick to keep on target) you rush back towards the pool. JUST before hitting the surface tap the A button again to 'skip' the driver, launching them back up into the air (timing is critical, the difference between a bad and a excellent skip). Repeat this until you run out of steam and you fall into the water properly. The distance is then recorded and you have to beat a certain amount for gold, silver or bronze.

Another incentive is the sharing ability of this game, even when in career mode. I live with 2 other lads and its very much a case of "You suck! Give me a go", at which time the controller is firmly thrown into their crotch area. It just has really nice 'snippets' of playability and this type of sharing is really fun, especially when a few beers are involved. Oh I must also add that party mode is quite fun, stunts only but lots of players (in sequence).

Conclusion for FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage

I was dubious about this game, I had never heard of it and it seemed to come out with no hype whatsoever but I am really glad I bought it (it was very cheap too!). It will give you hours and hours of fun and laughter and also quite a lot of adrenaline fuelled comedowns after staying in 1st position for the entire race, believe me I have finished these things shaking!

Our verdict? Go buy this game while there is nothing new out! Obviously don't buy it instead of Bioshock or Mass Effect BUT this is a very, very good stopgap and you will not be disappointed!

Knifeh's Review

Being in the same boat as Mikey, I too had never heard of the Flatout series, what it was about or how good or bad the previous games were. However I am pleased to report that it is indeed an excellent example of an arcade style racing game, with a twist! (of orange?)

Gameplay

On first inspection on the game I found it needlessly frustrating and very hard to control the car as 11 other cars ran circles around - and mostly through me, as I bounced uncontrollably between cars like some demented pinball machine. After I won a few laps and obtained a bit of dough, I could customise the car in several different ways to improve performance i.e handling, acceleration, top speed etc etc. As the game progresses you unlock more tracks, and variations of tracks to pit your driving skills against. Eventually you will unlock better cars which you then can buy and if desired, sell your trusty ol' rust bucket to help fund the upgrades on the new car.

All tried and tested basic stuff from a variety of driving games already out there. Where this game exceeds that though is the carnage mode.

Carnage mode comprises of around 5 different types of games, from a destruction derby to catapulting your driver through the windscreen, through burning hoops, and landing "safely" into a swimming pool at the other end.... you heard me. All these different "mini games" for good fun as a single player, or as in our case, a turn based game pad crotch throwing marathon where you try and beat the person who played before you.

All this neatly wrapped into one bundle makes this a must if you have a penchant for chaos and destruction.

Graphics

Not the most impressive game to grace the consoles for sure, almost feeling 2nd gen in the terms of the 360, but don't let this put you off, the detail is immense in the cars crumpling and deforming, and the desctructability of the track, and everyone else on it!

Physics

One of the best things I enjoy about this game is that your driver can be catapulted out of the car if the crash is severe enough, and the fact you can do this in game against other drivers to gain bonus cash and points. This is just an amazing incentive to go flatout into sides of cars and watch as a shower of shrapnel fills the screen, with a chance of a body and hopefully an explosion or a tire careering of the car.

The rag doll effect comes into full use in the carnage mode where you have to use this to ability to throw your player into dart boards, basketball hoops and football nets using the stick to steer your character through the air,almost feeling sorry of the torment you're putting them through....almost...

Conclusion

Flatout: Ultimate Carnage is your staple diet for racing mayhem and full blown destruction on a grand scale! With up to 45 different cars, this game will keep you coming back for more!

My only main gripe I have with the game is it could do with a few more tracks as after a while they all get a little repetitive, regardless of the variations.

Trip's Review

When I first saw this game it looked like the cheap hooker cousin of the burnout series and I wasn't really interested, but after seeing Mikey play this quite a bit it looked like so much fun that I had to have a go, and I'm glad I did!

I simply couldn't believe the amount of stuff being knocked about the track by the cars racing it (over 8,000 according to the official website), the nice thing in the game is that it encourages you to do this, as you gain boost!

Gameplay

There are a few different modes to the game:

FlatOut mode

This is the main career mode, where you race to unlock the next competition, but also to get better cars and upgrade them as you earn credits. I was quite surprised at how much there was to this mode, with all the different upgrade options for the cars. There are nice touches where not all of the upgrades benefit the speed, but improve the durability and weight since you'll definitely be needing that extra weight for the destruction derby events.

I found that this mode started to drag a lot half way through the second section, since Lei Bing (one of the computer racers) is such a b*tch. She was so annoying that it became my mission to take her out instead of winning.

Carnage mode

This is where I spent most of my time, some of the funniest stunts you can imagine, involving lots of weird stunt missions, which are combination of a sports game sports and crashing your car, which leads you to launching yourself out of the window!

My favourite event is the darts, where you have to speed towards a giant dart board down a runway, launch yourself at an optimum angle, and then try to punch a hole through the board at a specified number. Crazy, and infuriating, but lots of fun.

The other types events in carnage mode weren't as fun, but still a laugh.

Multiplayer mode

To be honest I didn't spend much time here, I usually suck at driving games, and when racing against other people I get my ass handed to me. All I'll say is that it's in there, and it works well, better than the cop out of a multiplayer mode that was put into DiRT.

Graphics

The graphics aren't as good as say Colin McRae DiRT, but they're not too bad. When you consider the amount of derby being flung up without any slow down in the game you've got to be impressed.

Sounds

You get all of the standard car noises, from engines, to crashes to multi-car pile-ups that you'd expect, nothing special, but nothing bad.

The sound track of the game is your generic rock stuff from a load of band that you've never heard of before, but I soon became heavily disappointed when I found out that the PC version of FlatOut2 had an amazing sound track, with big name bands (Alkaline trio, Megadeth, Rob Zombie and Supergrass)!

It would have made the game so much better if they had decided to re-include these tracks alongside the trashy ones they put in.

Overall

A good fun arcade racing experience, and certainly not the simple Burnout knock off that you might expect. It's more of a Burnout meets Destruction derby, and go absolutely crazy (how often do you get to take a school bus into a destruction derby?).

Worth a pick up if you like your over the top arcade racing games.