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Eurogamer Flat Out review

pilonv1

Member
http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=57068

You get a choice of Bronze or Bonus mode, the former racing on tracks against opponents, the latter killing your driver and attempting to blow up other people’s cars. That’s right: the chap driving your car won’t have much get up and go after you’ve chucked him through a windscreen and 100 metres down a track in a perverse take on Longjump (you also get Highjump, a Destruction Derby clone and Circle of Light, which amounts to racing on a figure of eight). The Longjump and Highjump challenges require driving really fast at a brick wall or ramp, then pressing the B button at the required point to eject the driver. The rag doll physics are suitably sick. There are at least another eight unlockable Bonus levels to get into as well, including Darts, Bowling and Super Roundabout. There’s plenty here to divert from the main event (six rag doll games, three destruction derbies and three dirt rings – phnaar – in total). Kill your chap especially well for high scores and cash to spend on trinkets for your car.

Xbox Live is supported as well, letting eight of you duke it out online. It just tops off an excellent package. Honestly, Flatout is a hairbreadth away from a 9, and legendary status. There’s just a tiny something lacking. Maybe it’s the way the handling feels just a little too light, or the way the EA-style blocks that pop up telling you who’s playing what music hint at what Bugbear would like Flatout to have been. But really, we’re picking holes. You won’t be disappointed by this at all, even if you’ve already shelled out for the likes of Burnout 3. It’s a different beast, and a highly commendable one. Thumbs up, say us.

Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm so happy long/high jump made it in, this will be awesome on Xbox Live. Hopefully it will wash the bad taste out that Burnout 3 left.

There are just too many damn good games coming out.
 

Rodriguez

Member
Damn straight, bitches.

Shame that there will be a region-lock. Now I have to wait until 2005 to get my hands on this sexy beast.
 

IgeL

Member
That's a bit too high a score for singleplayer imho. It's somewhat boring - needs more Burnout 3 (i.e. rewarding the player with cutscenes [would've been SO fitting in this game], new cars etc).

That said... Me and my buddies just a few days ago played an early preview code in 4 player splitscreen for 5 straight hours (Xbox, only a few tracks and a few cars, and only one Bonus event - so there's a lot more fun to be had in the final version). Had to stop because the time was 03:00 AM. The physics start getting cool when you're racing against humans. It's a big ol' festival of cuss words and friendship shattering. :D
 

Gek54

Junior Member
It does feature 60Mhz so you can play it on a NTSC tv. Nice damage but it seems wanting so far. Not the quality of Rally Trophey I was expecting.
 

Kiriku

SWEDISH PERFECTION
Saw a review of this game on a Swedish gaming site today. It got 2/5...seems like there was trouble with often getting stuck in something when racing. The problem appears because you're encouraged to demolish your opposition rather than just race normally. When crashing, parts will fall off making it easier to get stuck, along with other things along the way.
 

IgeL

Member
Kiriku said:
Saw a review of this game on a Swedish gaming site today. It got 2/5...seems like there was trouble with often getting stuck in something when racing. The problem appears because you're encouraged to demolish your opposition rather than just race normally. When crashing, parts will fall off making it easier to get stuck, along with other things along the way.
That's quite annoying in singleplayer but it's great in multi. Anyway, care to link to the review? :)
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Kiriku said:
Saw a review of this game on a Swedish gaming site today. It got 2/5...seems like there was trouble with often getting stuck in something when racing. The problem appears because you're encouraged to demolish your opposition rather than just race normally. When crashing, parts will fall off making it easier to get stuck, along with other things along the way.

Smells like another round in the good old Sweden vs. Finland match. I've noticed that some Swedish mags seem to rate all Finnish games way lower than the average. Especially N-Gage games rate waaaaay lower in Sweden than anywhere else. Ghost Recon got 1/5 in Super Play this summer iirc, whereas it got 4/5 in GameSpy and 8.3/10 in GameSpot. Oh well. What else is new.
 

Kiriku

SWEDISH PERFECTION
Chittagong said:
Smells like another round in the good old Sweden vs. Finland match. I've noticed that some Swedish mags seem to rate all Finnish games way lower than the average. Especially N-Gage games rate waaaaay lower in Sweden than anywhere else. Ghost Recon got 1/5 in Super Play this summer iirc, whereas it got 4/5 in GameSpy and 8.3/10 in GameSpot. Oh well. What else is new.

Haha, seriously? That's the first time I've heard of it. I do know that Max Payne 2 recieved very high scores though, and rightly so. :D
 

Shompola

Banned
Chittagong said:
Smells like another round in the good old Sweden vs. Finland match. I've noticed that some Swedish mags seem to rate all Finnish games way lower than the average. Especially N-Gage games rate waaaaay lower in Sweden than anywhere else. Ghost Recon got 1/5 in Super Play this summer iirc, whereas it got 4/5 in GameSpy and 8.3/10 in GameSpot. Oh well. What else is new.

that's because swedish magazines are ignorant bastards.
 

Forsete

Member
Project Midway said:
DAMN THOSE SMELLY SWEDES!! we fought for them in WWII, and this is the way they thank us??? grrr

Thank you for liberating us. You will never be forgotten.

PS: Flatout is fun.
 

IgeL

Member
Thanks Kiriku.

Finnish mag Pelit gave it 89. I'd probably give 7/10 for singleplayer and 9/10 for multiplayer.
 
That's great news. I'm waiting for a PC demo to convince myself. But this game >looks< like what I'd wish for Destruction Derby to look this generation in Reflection's hand.
 
Kill your chap especially well for high scores and cash to spend on trinkets for your car.


ahd%20top%20hat.jpeg

'ello mate! That sounds like a blinding bit of cheeky good fun. I may be off my trolley, but I'm going to give 'em a bell an' plunk down a quid or two.
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
The review doesn't tell me the one thing I've wanted to know since I saw the first clip... can you eject other drivers from their vehicles!?!?!?!
 

IgeL

Member
DarienA said:
The review doesn't tell me the one thing I've wanted to know since I saw the first clip... can you eject other drivers from their vehicles!?!?!?!
Yeah you can (or at least could in one of the preview versions, though it takes a "good hit" to make them fly). The problem is that it's not much fun - there's no fancy cutscene (à la Burnout 3), no extrasuperbonus money, and the camera angles make it hard to even see the flying guys (usually you just bump into them, and thus their cars are already behind you).

Such a shame.
 

IgeL

Member
FPS is solid in all versions. I don't know if it's 60 or 30, though. The PS2 visuals are damn good for the console.
 
wtf I heard Flatout doesnt have in-car or first person view, only 3rd person views from outside of the car. Is this true? if yes, -1 Flatout sales.
 
Project Midway said:
wtf I heard Flatout doesnt have in-car or first person view, only 3rd person views from outside of the car. Is this true? if yes, -1 Flatout sales.

Holy crap. If true, which seems impossible, this is the most idiotic game design I've ever heard of.

Yes, we need to see the lifeless body flung from the window (Since that seems to be the marketing emphasis instead of the awesome physics). But that's why they have camera angle switches in games.
 
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