FlatOut 2

"A hefty improvement over the original"

Capitalizing on the success of last year's FlatOut, Empire acted quickly to release the sequel to the popular derby racer with the appropriately named FlatOut 2. It's a lot more of the same derby racing action, but now with fixes to most of the gripes I had with the original.

My main two complaints with the controls in the last game were that the racing felt real loose, and how you earned turbo was very unforgiving. The driving feels slightly better now, there are still times I see my vehicle losing control when it seemed like I shouldn't have, but it is a modest improvement from before. The turbo system is much better too, besides still earning turbo by crushing roadside objects and trading paint with opponents you also earn turbo by drifting and getting major air off of jumps. This all combines to make the racing a more pleasant experience than before.

Now, the racing itself seems more exciting - with more obstacles and alternate paths. The races don't have that blazing sense of speed like BurnOut does, but they are not too far behind. Just like before, you can tear up a lot of roadside scenery during races, and the objects will stay there for the duration of race and make it far more challenging to get by. I do wish they could have crammed more drivers on the track, as they still stuck with only eight on at the same time.

The main career mode is divided into three classes: Derby, Race, & Street. They all control the same for the most part. Just like the last game, you earn money for good performances and use it to upgrade parts, and purchase new vehicles. The career mode in FlatOut 2 is not as messy and feels more streamlined than its predecessor. The demolition derbies also got reworked for the better, and are now more fun than ever to play through.

One of the few things I really liked in the last game was the rag-doll mini-games that involve launching your driver out of your vehicle in objective based games like the High Jump, Bowling, and Darts. Now there are 12 mini-games with most of my old favorites returning, and new ones joining the fray. Some of my favorites of the new games are Curling and Basketball. These mini-games are fun and addicting. Trust me when I say you might find yourself playing these mini-games more than the racing itself.

Last year, I was ticked at the online play because it didn't have support for demolition derbies and the awesome mini-games. Developer Bugbear made sure not to make the same obvious omission twice, because both are now online with support for up to eight players simultaneously. With those modes now having online support along with the races, there is quite a bit of fun to be had online. There has been a steady, yet not so large amount of people playing this online. It seems anytime I can find several online sessions, but they take a while to fill up to the meager eight player max.

The graphics and audio haven't changed much in FlatOut 2. There is a nice variety of city and country scenery to race through which looks fairly decent for the most part, though not spectacular by any means. The vehicle models look mostly the same, and still sport some tremendous damage build-up as races progress. However, in this age of next-gen graphics with the Xbox 360, the visuals in this game are rapidly growing dated. The audio is hit and miss. The sound effects get the job done, but are nothing to rave about. The soundtrack has improved a bit with the likes of Rob Zombie, Nickelback, Megadeath, and Papa Roach gracing the play list. It is worth noting there is no custom soundtrack support, so if you don't like most of the rock and metal tunes, you'll probably want to mute the music right away.

Overall, I am very happy with this sequel. It addresses almost all the qualms I had with its predecessor. The controls still aren't quite perfect, but feel better than before, and now that the demolition derbies and mini-games are online expect a lot of extra playing time out of this. This is one of the best derby racers out on the Xbox, so if that is your type of racing game, than you cannot miss out on FlatOut 2.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06