FlatOut 2

"Fun game, but definitely not without a few flaws"

First off, I never played FlatOut, so I won't be making any comparisons to it in this review.

I bought this game about a year ago, I heard it was pretty fun and a HUGE improvement over the first FlatOut, and I've always loved games where you can crash up and such, so I thought I'd give it a try.

So, here's my impressions based on my many hours of gameplay so far:

Graphics- 9/10

The graphics on this game are, quite simply, pretty amazing. For one, I'm impressed with the fact that there is really no draw-in whatsoever on this game. Additionally, the cars all look GREAT, the environments you're in are very detailed, and I certainly love the addition of all the "destructible" elements in on every track. And, although I never use most of them, having several views from which to race are pretty nice too, since most games give you two or three max.

Controls- 8/10

Controls on this game are good. I like the fact that every vehicle handles uniquely. FWD vehicles tend to understeer, RWD vehicles tend to oversteer, and AWD vehicles stick to the track like glue. Steering is not always super precise, but overall it works pretty well, and it is really pretty realistic (hey, you can't expect a car to cut a sharp corner at 100 mph)

Sound- 7/10

This is a category where I'm torn.

On one hand, the sound effects on this game are great! Breaking glass, cars smashing together, all the great crash noises you want. I also like the fact that almost every car has a unique engine sound. Awesome. With some of the big V8 powered vehicles, you almost want to turn it up just for that!

However, the soundtrack for this game quite frankly sucks. I dunno who picked these songs out, but it's a mix of nobodys with bad songs, or bad songs from bands that I know, and it's a pretty limited soundtrack. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like there's only about 10 songs on the game. At this point, I have the music turned completely down so I don't have to listen to it during races. "Reinventing Your Exit" by Underoath, in particular, makes me want to club baby seals.

Additionally, there is at least one song, I believe by Motley Crue, that I have heard played during "stunt" events that is not played at any other time in the game, which is a little odd.

Gameplay- 7/10

I'll keep this brief, so it's not too long.

I've had this game for awhile and I've had it beaten for awhile, and I'll admit that I keep coming back to it now and then to play the races. Mostly because it is just fun to smash into everyone and see who you can blow up. It's hard to describe, but the game definitely has replayability, at least in the racing parts of the game. And you will learn to love the "reset" button.

I DO have a few gripes, however.
(1) Probably my SINGLE largest complaint about my game is the fact that you CAN NOT play individual races with any of YOUR vehicles! So if you have a car that you've purchased lots of upgrades for, you have to race in the series. That's your only option. You also can't change the number of laps on ANY of the races. I can't believe they didn't include something this simple, but it seems like a glaring oversight to me. And, you can only play certain vehicles (derby, race, street) in their respective classes, and you can't run the series from one class with a car from another class, so your selection of series to race in is pretty limited too.

(2) The AI opponents are just not competitive. Every race, in every series, you'll generally find yourself fighting for the lead with 2 or 3 of the same drivers, and the same 2 or 3 others are lagging hopelessly behind.

(3) The destructible environment, while fun to destroy, can REALLY hamper your performance later in a race. If I had a dollar for every time I've either been in the middle of a curve and hit an object which caused me to go straight, OR ran over something that made my car do a wheelie, OR ran over something that caused my car to inexplicably flip, I'd be a millionaire.

(4) The "Stunts" in the game were, in my opinion, made too hard to be fun to do. I played a couple of them, had mid-pack or worse performance, and have honestly not touched any of them since. I'm not sure what the appeal is...I can't really say it's challenging...most of the time, if you do well it seems like plain old dumb luck. It also seems like extra obstructions were thrown into the events for no reason.

(5) This isn't a complaint, so much as an odd glitch- you can watch two or three AI-controlled cars cross the finish line, and when the race results pop up, they will be in a totally different order. Not sure what that's all about.

Conclusion

Overall, I have not regretted getting this game one bit. Granted, it has some annoying oversights and glitches, but all things considered, this is a solid racing game with the extra fun of smashing up people you don't like thrown in. And you can choose from 6 different demolition derby events if you don't even feel like racing! So, if that sounds appealing to you, pick this game up.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/08

Game Release: FlatOut 2 (US, 08/01/06)