Flatout 2

By: CAPTAIN GORDON EDWARD
Review Date: Thursday, August 31, 2006

When I first started playing Flatout 2, of course I was reminded of Flatout, but oddly enough I associated it with a completely different game. Some might think that it is similar to the Burnout series, and that is a somewhat fair comparison, though what I attached it with was an older series called Destruction Derby. That game was another fun game for its time. While racing you are trying to smash into your opponents, and try and take them out of the race which makes it easier for you to move up in the rankings, and heck you even get extra points if you do.

For those unfamiliar with the Flatout series, it is a demolition derby race, but with an interactive environment. The game allows you to plow through objects like fences, stands, and a whole plethora of items. The game features many different tracks, circuits, and this makes it a major improvement over the last game. Now the tracks feel customized and streamline which gives the game a much-needed boost over the previous game.

The main goal of the game is to race your cars and get money. Once you get more money you can upgrade your cars or get more of them. Upgrading your cars, or getting better ones, will allow you to do better in races, which allows you to get more money. It is a little circle that I am sure that everyone is familiar with from playing other racing games. You start off with a rust bucket and slowly move up the system, but one thing that I did not like though is even after you had upgraded your vehicle it retained its poor handling. It seemed that any corner that I took was difficult, even at low speeds. This causes you to be fishtailing your vehicle constantly, which forces you to gear down.


The vehicles are very destructible and as you race through the tracks you will find that the environments are as well. Your vehicle slowly gets damaged with each and every crash, and bits of your car will fly off. It starts off with your hood being flung over your head, and can eventually lead to your wheels falling off, making it impossible to drive and make turns. When you destroy the environment, make jumps, or damage your opponent's vehicles, your nitro bar will increase. Using nitro allows your vehicle to speed past others with a blurring affect that gives you the feeling of immense acceleration. The nitro is a catch 22 feature though, as you are much more likely to crash, which negates the reason for using the nitro in the first place. This means that shortly timed bursts, generally in the direction of an opponent, are the best way to use your nitro.

In between races though you have the ability to go into the mini-games. The mini-games are fairly exciting, but very difficult as well. You can play games like soccer and bowling (of course there are many more), and in the end you choose the angle of which your driver is launched out, which is also guided by the speed of your vehicle. There are objects to avoid as well on most of the tracks, like on the bowling game there are giant bowling balls. In the high jump mini-game there are barrels put in your way to make you swerve. The goal of these mini-games is to launch the character in the driver seat at a set of other objects. You also have the ability to put a spin on the character once they leave the vehicle, and you can also give them a bit of a nudge to obtain a bit more height. I must admit that a few of the mini-games are too difficult to be fun, at least at first. If you have patience then eventually they will become fun to play.

Now if you are not into the mini-games, there is another option for you. It happens to be a full out demolition derby for your enjoyment, but it is not like the standard one you would see in an arena. This one limits you to make sure you continue to make contact with other drivers. If you do not make enough successful hits in a time period, your vehicle is disqualified. This keeps the action packed for the duration of the match. The problem with this contact timer though is it takes out some of the strategy out of the game, by no longer having the ability to just wait and drive away from the action. In the end it is welcomed because it keeps the action heavy. There was a little problem though with how quickly your vehicle breaks down in this mode, and you can often find yourself destroyed within a minute of the match starting.

Starting the game there is a "create a profile" option, where you enter your name. Then you get to create your character... which ends up with you only having an option of being male or female. I would have liked to see the option of more customization, perhaps making the rag doll a bit longer. Of course if that were factored into the physics it would cause the body system to not launch the character as far. I had hoped that they would have ignored that though, and allowed for more customization, other than your vehicle.

One thing I compliment with a bullet is the music. There are a lot of good tunes for the game to drive to, even though it did feel like something you might hear on Guitar Hero. That is not a bad thing, as Guitar Hero was a fantastic game. There are realistic sounds for driving into the railings, boxes, or what not. There were some sounds that were grinding my gears, though they sounded awesome the first time, but after a while it become a bit annoying. The main one that irritated me was the sound of your driver being thrown through the windshield, but more importantly when it slammed into something. This was more so an issue in the mini-games that you could play, because they are all about launching your character into things.

Graphically the game has a lot going for it, as each of the tracks look fantastic. Likewise this is also the same for the cartoony mini-game tracks, that even overlap onto each other, as most take place in the same epic stadium. The team has included things like bunches of grass to drive through, which on the grander scope of things is very interesting. Likewise the destructible environment looks great, which contorts around with a before and after when you smash through it. The objects also do not disappear as they remain on the track as debris, which can serious cause problems driving. One thing about the debris that I did not like is that certain pieces could cause you to flip your car just by driving over it.

In the end the game has a lot going for it, with only a few problems. The only major problem is the steering, where it did not respond as quickly as I had wished. Overall the game is a fine addition to the racing circuit, and I recommend most anyone pick up this game, because this summer has been quite dry for quality games like this. My favourite feature also happens to be a destruction derby that you can have, and I am glad that it was included. All and all, Captain Gordon gives this game a B.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com