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July 25, 2005 | 1:25 PM PST
by: Test
To get straight to the point, Flatout really isn’t a good game. Now one may think, “Why, this game has flying bodies hurtling out of cars at excessively high speeds! Explosions and crashes in copious amounts! How can you say such blasphemous things?” It's not that Flatout is the demon child of Daikatana and E.T for the Atari 2600- developer Bugbear Entertainment and publisher Vivendi Universal have managed to produce a game that skillfully uses Xbox’s hardware to produce one of the more graphically noteworthy titles of the summer season. It's just that behind the shine lies a game that is semi-playable at it's worst, and decent at it's best.
Features:
Flatout is a standard racer that's a bit rough around the edges. You start off by choosing a car from a meager selection of six; they vary in specifications but the differences aren’t largely noticeable in game. Beyond this, there are the standard race types (time trial, career, etc), multiplayer (with Xbox Live/System Link support for up to 8 players) and Bonus mode, which contains twelve mini games in which to gloriously abuse your driver in.
Remember kids, wear your seatbelts.
Out of the twelve minigames, you’ll likely be spending most of your time playing the ‘Human Catapult’ six game set (The other six games, with three variations of two game types, Demolition and special racing courses, are nowhere near as fun). In these, you’re required to slam your car into a wall or off a ramp at high speeds to throw your driver into various targets. Thanks to Bugbear’s superb physics engine the 'Human Catapult' events are among the most enjoyable in the game; few greater pleasures exist than throwing your driver out a hundred feet straight up in the air, landing on the ground with a resounding thud or playing human darts watching your driver fly through the air like an arrow. With the cash you win from career and bonus modes, you can also head to the tuning shop to pick up parts to improve your car with. The interface is fairly rudimentary but the system adds a layer of depth to the game.
Features:
Flatout is a standard racer that's a bit rough around the edges. You start off by choosing a car from a meager selection of six; they vary in specifications but the differences aren’t largely noticeable in game. Beyond this, there are the standard race types (time trial, career, etc), multiplayer (with Xbox Live/System Link support for up to 8 players) and Bonus mode, which contains twelve mini games in which to gloriously abuse your driver in.
Remember kids, wear your seatbelts.
Out of the twelve minigames, you’ll likely be spending most of your time playing the ‘Human Catapult’ six game set (The other six games, with three variations of two game types, Demolition and special racing courses, are nowhere near as fun). In these, you’re required to slam your car into a wall or off a ramp at high speeds to throw your driver into various targets. Thanks to Bugbear’s superb physics engine the 'Human Catapult' events are among the most enjoyable in the game; few greater pleasures exist than throwing your driver out a hundred feet straight up in the air, landing on the ground with a resounding thud or playing human darts watching your driver fly through the air like an arrow. With the cash you win from career and bonus modes, you can also head to the tuning shop to pick up parts to improve your car with. The interface is fairly rudimentary but the system adds a layer of depth to the game.
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