FlatOut

3/5 -- conditionally enjoyable The game is a pure racer. No story, no visual customization, no nonsense. There is tuning, so it's not THAT bare bones. The races are "demolition derby style", although in fact it's just a Finnish national sport of rally cross with beat up cars. The tracks are dirt or mixed dirt+asphalt, always quite bumpy. They are usually littered with obstacles, ranging from simple cones to excavators. Collisions with those objects produce different results, but usually negative, although apparently it also gives you nitrous. The graphics look nice, it aged well. The handling is simple, but challenging. Destruction model is superb (not realistic, but very satisfying). The main downside of this game is that if you actually want to race and win, the game is too random. All the bumps and obstacles can easily destabilize your car. The AI is aggressive and reckless. The game is not designed for clean races, it is designed for smashing cars. And that, although a great fun, is a special kind of fun. You need to be in a mood for it. Or be a kid. Smashing cars is always fun when you're kid.

FlatOut is without a doubt one of the best arcade racing game ever made with it's fully destructible environments, impressive physics engine, amazing graphics and goofy bonus minigames. The game is so much fun, it's a real pleasure to race and see other cars smashing into each other with the pieces flying everywhere on the screen. The driving feels so satisfying (especially in the mud), the arcady handling of the cars is just perfect. If you're a fan of old school racing game, this one is a must !

I was a huge fan of the Burnout series, but still a hardcore gamer. When I first played a demo of FLATOUT, I was hooked. The game has great crash physics and seeing your body fly into the road is usually good for a chuckle or two. But this game is one of my favs because it's just a great arcade racer. Worth the download price!

I haven't had this much fun with a racing game in a very long time. The graphics can be really quite good, I'm running two Nvidia 7800GTs in SLI, smooth motion, lots of detail and tons of flying car shrapnel. The sound track is good, very appropriate for the on screen action. What I really like the most is the excellent feeling of connection with the car, most driving games be they simulator or all out arcade have a sense of disconnect with the car. I can cut apexes super tight with perfect timing and adjust through the corner. Don't get me wrong, it's no sim but a very good combination between arcade and sim. Double thumbs up. One last thing, I'm using an Xbox 360 wireless controller and the game has a build in sensitivity and deadzone adjustment, tweaking the controls to my preferences was easy and rewarding.

On normal handling, there is nothing special about this game. On professional this is an incredible racer. Great physics which see fences, signs, barrels and tires scattering around and under your car; excellent car deformation; and realistic handling. Flatout provides an exhilarating and fun challenge, and on professional handling, it IS a challenge. It's the sort of racing game where you'll instinctively be micro-adjusting your acceleration, braking and turning on every single turn; pressing and releasing multiple buttons many times in the space of a second. That's how you know you've got a quality physics system to work with. The effort isn't wasted on your playthrough either. There are five different types of race (track, town, sandpit, woodland and ice) and while the tracks do recycle and reverse a lot of areas and turns, they're immaculately put together. Combined with the physics and handling; where you'll have to be planning your driving for the next turn or chicane ahead of time, you'll find every new race a new challenge in having to calculate the best line as you try to powerslide seamlessly to the finish line before your aggressive AI competitors. There are bonus fun challenges for distraction, as well as an upgrades system based on your cash winnings, but it's all secondary to the incredibly weighty and realistic handling which will see you spinning-out, and flying through your windshield until you master it.