Preview: Flatout
October 15, 2006
Bugbear / PS2 PC Xbox / Teen
While others may enjoy them for other reasons, there is one simple reason why I enjoy Burnout and the ATV games; the crashes. these games provide glorious crunching of steel and bone enough to bring out the psychopath in all of us and the unimaginitively named Flatout aims to be their bastard love child. With many people’s game of the year to compete with you need something to set you apart and Flatout strives to do this, not through its racing but through its mini-games. Said mini games are portrayed in a stadium and make ample use of the fun and hilarious driver ejection feature as well as the good car and ragdoll physics engines. Sadly only one, the high jump, was availible in my demo disk but it was very easy to get hooked on the simple mayhem.
Imagine launching your car up a ramp and at the apex of its flight ejecting the helpless ragdoll driver in a shower of broken glass. Sending him up towards a hight marker before he is brought back to earth. Sometimes he hits the landing pad but usually he does not and slams into the pavement or into a net either way smashing his bones into smithereens. this is the high jump Flatout style.
Flatout also has a grittier demolition derby feel to it to appeal to dirt racing crowd, as will the otherwise unappealing soundtrack, but, as in Burnout, don’t expect too much from the racing. Control is, as expected, touchy and arcade like and the tracks are basic at best. Appeal of the game will have to come from the unique mini-games or else this will be left in the dust. We shall see when it crashes into stores mid-July. By
By Zack Rovinsky
