Developer: Bugbear
Publisher: Empire Interactive
Genre: Racing
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 12 Jul 05

User Rating
9.5 (6 votes)

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

There are so many great racing titles out on the consoles these days that it is becoming progressively harder to make a mark in this genre. Well today, we get to check out a game that really hasn't got as much hype as many other racing games on the market, which is not surprising since the bar has been risen up so high over the years. So now we have a game that slipped under the radar, by a developer that most of us have never heard of, can we expect gold in this game? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

When I started seeing more and more information come from the Flatout camp, I must say that the game began to look like it was going to be more and more of a competitor as the weeks passed. The game seemed like it knew what it was doing and had a clear-cut plan to become a great racing game. So does this translate into a great game?

What is nice about Flatout is that it does try to be different then other racing games on the market. Instead of having to try and avoid some of the roads obstacles, well in this game they encourage you to make a mess out of the place. You actually are given nitro boosts for all of the obstacles you do hit, so that's something different that this game has to offer. The game takes a very interesting approach to racing as well, and I would say it's not a full style arcade racer but it has a lot of arcade style tendencies.

The racing in the game is not what I consider to be perfect, but it definitely gets the job done. How you might ask? Well first off, being able to cause destruction in the game is a really neat feature, and the game also somewhat accurately simulates damage. So when you run into a wall, your car will look like it ran into a wall. The game just makes for so many different ways to go through a race that it will remind many of the Burnout series in a lot of ways, unfortunately though the controls are not as tight as Burnout 3 was.

The game has a quick start mode as well as a career mode. Of course the career mode is where you're going to have the majority of your racing action in. The career mode was surprisingly difficult right from the beginning and you can easily see that this ride is not going to be an easy one. The game has very smart driving AI, so you can't expect them to just put on their brakes and let you win the races. The game also allows you to upgrade your vehicle, and although this could have had quite a bit more depth, being able to tune up your vehicle was a nice touch anyways.

What I enjoyed probably the most in the game was the wide variety of mini games, which for me was just a perfect avenue to take for this game, because the racing can get a little monotonous at times. There is enough in the mini games that you will be able to spend plenty of time just playing around in there. And let me not forget to mention that the game uses some great rag doll physics for some of the mini games, which makes the mode even more entertaining to play.

Flatout also provides Xbox Live support, and although it's not really anything overly exciting, it does get the job done. The game leaves all of the cars unlocked for the Xbox Live support, but of course the host does have the options. Although there isn't a huge variety of options, the action online is really what this game was made for, and I found the games to play extremely smooth and were a lot of fun to play.

Overall Flatout is not the next Burnout, but it does provide some good solid fun. Although the game doesn't have all of the bells and whistles to be great, it has a solid foundation that makes for some really entertaining gameplay.

Graphics

Graphically, Flatout is nowhere near the detail or the quality that we found in the Burnout series, however this game does have some very nice qualities. First off, the damage system in Flatout was absolutely amazing, and the rag doll physics were solid as well. What the game lacked was in the variety aspect, as all of the tracks seemed rather repetitive and the car models do lack some detail.

Luckily the game doesn't have any frame rate issues, and runs very smoothly is the sense it knows exactly what it wants to do and does it throughout the game. Flatout was not a great looking racer but it was a solid one through and through.

Fun Factor

What Flatout did the best was to be flat out a fun game to play from start to finish. With the career mode, mini games, and the Xbox Live support there are so many things that you can do in this game that it's really hard not to have fun with this one. Sure the racing can get a little repetitive at times, but when that happens you have the mini games to fall back on, and vice versa. I just have to admit I wasn't expecting much from this game, but in the end Flatout was a ton of fun to play.

Overall

Flatout may not be better then Burnout 3. but it sure is a great game on its own merits. The game has a lot of its own little ideas that it throws out there that makes the game a ton of fun to play. Overall, Flatout is just a very enjoyable and light-hearted racing experience that will be welcome by many for a long time to come. My one hope is that we do get the privilege of seeing a Flatout 2!

Gameplay
8.0

Graphics
8.0

Fun Factor
9.0

Overall
8.0

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