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A different "spin" on racing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: July 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

While I am not a racing purist, I enjoy the playing most racing games on the Xbox and PS2 and, as of just over a week after this product launched, I am 56% of the way through this game.

FlatOut incorporates an interesting combination of arcade and simulator racing. Nitro boost and comical crashes combined with the over-the-top map designs will make this a hit with arcade racing enthusiasts. However, the vehicle dynamics and car performance might attract the true racing simulator fans. These racing purists may be put off by the fact that the "vehicle tuning" area is limited to only add-on parts rather than actual performance tuning of each individual part, but this does make it easier for the novice to play. On the other hand, purchasing lower class cars will provide a unique challenge as a horsepower underdog in any race can often be lapped. The single-player game is shorter than most and experienced racers can finish this game in a long weekend.

Elements that are unique to the FlatOut game include:
- The "rag doll physics" of your driver flying out of the vehicle upon high-speed impacts.
- Bonus games where you compete in demolition derbies, or measure how far/high you can throw your driver in the air after a crash. (NOTE: Some of these games are more "luck" than skill, since there's no way to accurately aim your driver.)
- Crashed into objects become debris on the road that can affect your vehicle path and gates that are "slammed open" by other cars can bounce back closed and hit your vehicle on certain tracks.
- The aforementioned drebis will stay on the track where you crashed into it and cause a hazzard for other vehicles and even you, as you return in subsequent laps.
- Secret shortcuts on some maps that will provide a strategic shortcut, or a deadly distraction.

With the many exciting features of this game, there also come some negatives. There's only one camera angle (3rd person, just above vehicle) which might frustrate players that prefer the in-car view or a higher angle to see over hills. Also, when you stray off track (either by poor driving or the "nudge" of another player), you must return near the point where you exited. This is often extremely frustrating since a high-speed crash, a ride on the wrong side of the guard rail or a hard hit from another vehicle can put you considerably off the path. In addition the "vehicle reset" feature not only brings you back at a dead stop, but also often resets your vehicle a considerable distance back on the track, even around corners you have already successfully navigated. Moreover, your car almost always returns behind "the pack" even if you were in first.

Finally, the unforgivable sin is that -although the game supports online multiplayer on Xbox Live- none of the bonus competitions (throwing your driver for distance, bowling, darts, etc.) are multiplayer. This, in my opinion, is a rediculous oversight on their part since the PS2 version includes this feature, and Xbox Live is a much more "multiplayer oriented" service. Plus, since the game is so short, the developers should have provided more online entertainment. And, since the bonus games are a refreshing change from your standard racing game, it would have been nice to have something more than "just another online racing game" on Xbox Live.

But, for the incredible amount of unique features in this game and the crazy antics of your lifeless body begin flung out and contorting as it hits various objects on the track make this game enjoyable and fun. This game is perfect when you have friends over and want to sit back and laugh than having a fierce Halo 2 competition.

Most Fun Racer for Xbox Live

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the funnest Xbox live racing game out there. This is the best racing game since Speed Devils on the Dreamcast. The physics are outstanding. The wrecks are awesome (and they're not cut scenes, you actually have to recover and get back in) and the graphics are great. (Warning for those who rent it: The first round of races are mildly fun but they get better quickly, including shortcuts, jumps, traps, and ice, etc.) This game has the best damage modeling I have seen on the xbox. When you crash, your car gets appropriately damaged, doors, hoods bumpers fly off. You can actually see your engine running in come cases, and it may catch on fire and smoke. Also all of the environments are destructable. Even the lakes splash right when you slide off into them. The controls are slightly different at first but you will see why once you get the strategy of the game, then you will see that they are perfect for what you need to do. My only wish for this game is that you could race with AI Drivers in multiplayer. Since this is not the case I decided to try it online. I rarely play on Xbox live, especially racers, but this one is awesome online, (or system link as long as you can get more than 3, or 4 people. You actually race and smash into real cars not ghosts. If you have xbox live try it out for twenty bucks. Currently there are not enough people playing it online.

One amusing gimmick can't compensate for an unfinished product

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

A novel concept is generally the first step taken by any developer with aims at creating a new franchise amidst the crowded market of today's gaming landscape. There's been a lot of ground covered over the last thirty years, but there's also plenty of room left for innovation, and if you're going to stand out on the shelves, you're going to need a hook. In Flatout, that hook is certainly not lacking, (it's the only game I can think of that features... no, downright flaunts... a fleet of fully-ejectable drivers) but it falls into the very first pitfall in its way. This game takes that unique twist which gives it an identity and attempts to use it as a bandage to salvage what would otherwise be an underdeveloped, unremarkable, entirely forgettable title. What's worse, that single little identifying gimmick has an incredibly short shelf life and only serves to irritate beyond the first hour or two of gameplay.

Actual gameplay is in dire need of some serious polishing, with minor bugs resulting in big-time dilemmas as the races grow more difficult. As I've already mentioned, the big story here is the engine's ability to eject a car's driver following a rough collision, which gains points for ingenuity, but loses them right back for implementation. Sure, it makes a revenge kill twice as rewarding when you can actually see the opposing driver suffering a grisly death after you've forced his car into a telephone pole, but the first time you hop a curb and watch your own lifeless driver hurl himself through the windshield, you'll start to curse the day you thought rag-doll physics were the least bit amusing. Of course, no real dire circumstances result from your driver slamming unprotected into the side of a barn at 82 MPH, as you'll respawn a few moments later, but the act of losing a few seconds every time it happens completely derails your own momentum and often takes you completely out of the race. Playing catch-up is the real game in Flatout.

The finer details of the title's engine are never fully explained in-game, as I had to consult more than one online guide before realizing that nitro boosts are awarded in the middle of a race, depending on how many obstacles you actually hit, and how large said obstacles actually are. Debris only seems to award these bonuses upon the very first time they're struck, but remain on the track throughout the race. This adds a touch of additional personality to the game, as almost every car is seeking out the big landmarks like a guided missle on lap one and the track is usually thoroughly trashed and tough to navigate by its conclusion.

Of course, it must've been a little bit too much to ask for the development team to leave well enough alone in this regard, and sure enough, there's a flaw or two. What's destructible in one track (and thus, the object of desire, as it carries with it a small nitro bonus) is frequently rock-solid in the next, resulting in (you guessed it) a brutal driver ejection and, usually, the loss of any lead you may have accumulated. As I'm sure you can imagine, this results in an uncontrollable flinch every time your car comes close to a fairly-sized obstacle, for fear it will result in death rather than rewards. Even more wonderful is the way small items such as a stray tire or a dislodged bumper, which frequently litter the track after lap two, react in wildly unpredictable fashion upon coming into contact with the front of your car. Sometimes they'll bounce harmlessly off to the side of the track, others they'll hang out on your grill for a while, killing your momentum, and occasionally they'll result in driving the nose of your car toward the sky, which always leads to a terrible, highlight reel wreck, complete with cartwheeling car and airborne driver. Considering how frequently these things appear, it's not a matter of if you'll hit them, but when, and how kind they'll be to your car.

The mini-games you'll unlock while progressing through the single player mode, which were featured significantly in the game's promotional bits (and were probably single-handedly responsible for my own purchase) really aren't even remotely as much fun as they appeared on TV, and are limited at best. They really highlighted the "HAHA LOOK WE'RE PLAYING DARTS WITH PEOPLE" aspect of the game in these ads, but neglected to mention the fact that you get three tosses per game, with no option to play a legitimate game of 301, cricket or anything even partially entertaining. It's a straightforward three tosses, with the highest scoring player named the victor. The same goes for bowling, the long jump the high jump, etcetera. They're like the mini-games of Super Monkey Ball 2, just significantly limited, drained of all the fun and difficult for new players to grasp.

In-game controls are tough to think about without wanting to curl up and cry for a spell. Whether you're driving the cheapest car on the lot or the most souped up monster available, turning is almost laughably bad. Your cars don't turn, so much as they rotate and slide. Whether you're on a filthy patch of snow or fresh asphalt on a sunny day, your car handles exactly the same. Likewise, no matter which vehicle you're sitting atop, every single computer driver on the track is faster off the line than you are. I didn't think I'd noticed any change when I poured all of my race-earnin's into a new engine, guaranteed to deliver faster acceleration right out of the box, and sure enough, when I was driving the fastest car available with ever possible enhancement applied, I was still being kicked off the line by the slowest car in the race. It's always nice to have a handicap, I guess.

The graphics are average for the current state of the Xbox, which basically means they're the best part of this package. They aren't completely fugly, but they're far from the most impressive thing I've ever seen. Some of the particle effects are fairly well done, especially during and after a nasty wreck, but you're usually so preoccupied by your car's hesitance to take a turn that you won't even notice. The speed effects of using up some of your stashed nitro is cool, but doesn't really hold a candle to what Burnout did before Flatout's release. The terrains and surrounding textures are imaginative, but very sparse, especially when you take away the standard break-away objects that litter the roadways and are shared by all courses. This isn't a game that's going to completely blow away your impressions of what a game can do, visually, and occasionally shows evidence of being hurried out the door in a state of incompletion.

Where Flatout's visuals are mediocre at best, the game's audio is a downright disaster. The revs, grinds and hums of the cars, engines and tires are far too loud by default, and again fail to distinguish one car from another. Is that my car struggling up the hill, or is another driver right up my ass, ready to make a pass? Don't look to the audio for the answer. While most racing games contain similarly lame, repetitive sound effects, there's just something about what Flatout brings to this table that's a little bit more irritating than its peers. That engine is a bit more piercingly shrill than the one I heard in Project Gotham, the tires much more vague, hollow and shy of personality than those I heard in the most recent Mario Kart.

Flatout isn't a finished product. It is, at best, a great concept stretched far too thin over a below-average mullet-themed racing title. It's barely worth a rental, and certainly not worth busting out at a party, for all to enjoy. The graphics are unrefined, the audio is the kind of garbage that forces fingers to race for mute buttons, the controls are completely ridiculous, and there's nothing around that's driving you to reach that next goal. If you enjoy crap, or are easily amused by floating human bodies, you've found the promised land, but if you're looking for a breath of fresh air in a crowded industry, your holy grail remains elusive.

Interesting Physics but Poor Graphics and Sound

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Flat Out is a racing game that rewards you for smashing into other cars. You're expected to run dirty. Minigames involve things like flinging your driver the longest distance.

You can be a guy or a girl, and you can choose from a variety of car options. Once you get into the races, what you usually notice first is the rag doll physics of the drivers - as they get flung from their cars. Most racing games focus on the cars - but in this one, you can achieve gory death for yourself or others by the lack-of-seatbelt ejection.

I appreciated the different worlds you run in - on regular race tracks, on off-road dirt through forests, on snowy trails, and so on. However, everything seemed very "muddy" to me - and often it was hard to see on the screen what was road and what was brown near-road-but-not-driveable. Maybe their aim was to have all obstacles camoflagued, but in practice it made it not fun to drive towards an open spot and smash into something there.

So in general I wasn't keen on the graphics. Normally I love deformable objects, including cars. However, these cars didn't look like they were "dented" realistically. It seemed more like a plasic object had melted strangely.

The sounds were even worse. I was quite not-fond of most of the songs played in the soundtrack, and the RRRRR RRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRR of the cars must've been generated on a sound machine.

I didn't find the driving part to be that bad, and I do enjoy racing games in general. However, since I do own several other racing games, I'm not sure why I would put one of those down to play this instead. I really don't think the "flying humans out of the car" aspect makes up for the many other problems inherent in this game. Maybe if they come out with a sequel that has the same physics but better graphics and sound, it will start to come up to speed.

I heard good stuff about this game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 36
Date: July 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have heard very good stuff about this cool game I might rent it on xbox I known this is going to be very fun I hope it is. sound 10 out of 10. sound traks 10 out of 10. gameplay 10 out of 10. overall i give it a 1000 out of 100.

Great with the Cheat

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 7
Date: September 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you like a competitive game, then this is the one for you. I'm GIVEALL, in a Bullet, then the Clown (Bonus Round), and 92,400 Dollars later, the Blade, and all the juice. Then it's the beginning of my career. There is even a strategy to this one. Out the gate, in the worst slot, and figure your way to the inside of the first corner past the rest of the Thrashers. Especially in the Gold. Tight tracks, side ways corners, with way to much motor. I like it.

Flatout flatout sucks!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Don't buy this game because you will forever wonder why you did so. This is the worst racing game I have ever played. The bonus games are crap and are all the same thing. If this was even a decent game there would be a reason to play the bonus games. But, there's not. Sure you get money, but with the best car in the game fully upgraded (why did I waste my time) you can't tell a difference in the race from a crap car. All the upgrades do is take your money and waste your time.

The actual racing is just as bad. Sometimes when you hit a cone you will keep right on going and even get extra in your boost guage. Other times I have gone flying off the track because of a single cone. I don't know why and at this point I really don't care because of how bad this game is.

The races beyond the very first ones are way too difficult. It is more luck than skill. In other words, there is almost no way to get first and you will only get in the top 3 if the other players take themselves out because their cars beat the best and fully upgraded car off the line and can turn corners in about half the time without losing speed. All you can do is watch them drive away and see more of your life wasted.

Oh and one last thing, the shortcuts suck. They are not shortcuts and usually end up taking longer because it is like threading a needle and with the handling that's like trying to thread a needle no hands. If you even stray a little from the exact route, you will be out of bounds and have to reset. If you hit anything, even going very slow, you will be thrown from your car and lose time. If you do manage to do it right you might still come out behind where you were. I have only found 3 races out of 75, or whatever it is, that actually have a shortcut that is worth taking. And by worth taking I mean doesn't lose you time and doesn't gain it either. Talk about a crap game. Please consider some other options to this game such as:

1) Nothing
2) Buy some food
3) Buy a plane ticket to beat up the people who made the game.

Bottom line: NOT FUN and really really NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY (even to rent). Don't borrow it either, it's a waste of time.

Worth exactly $10

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Flatout is a very average racing game with average cars and a below-average soundtrack. The car handling is spotty and the graphics aren't Burnout Revenge quality by a long shot but not too bad either. I think the developers made a mistake by only having crappy junk cars and the soundtrack is lame. But the minigames make this a solid $10 used game purchase. The games where you hurl the driver through the windshield at targets are fun and the damage to the cars is very good too. Don't pay too much for this game and you might not be too disappointed.

!!!!DONT LISTEN TO THEM!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Don't listen to the other reviews. I got the game a long long time ago, and I still love to play it. I do agree that some of the minigames could have some major improvement; but despite this, one minigame is very,very,fun to do. The high jump minigame is what I mainly do on this game. (besides races) Also the races the cars you're racing are accually not like a four year old is driving them. They try to run you off the road, smash you, stay directly in front of you, and pass you. It is a game that accually might have a possibility of beating you. Also when you crash you don't have some stupid damage bar, your car gets dented where it was hit. If you don't like games where you might lose, don't get this game. If you like games that are accually a challenge and fun, this is the game for you. I think this is the best racing game for the xbox council hands down!

What The Hell ! !

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This Game is stupid. They really need to tighten up the graphic a bet. I mean who the hell gets stuck in a fence after being launch 89 feet! of crach too an ivsible wall after being launch 100 feet. the races are frustrating. you have too get a really fast car. there's not that much cars. only one is the fastest. all the good stuff have to be unlocked. And the Bonus games are a total Agrrevasion. Except the High Launch Bonus. If you want this game. I suggest You Rent It! Or Save Your Money!

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