When the original Flat Out was announced just over a year ago, it was looked upon as a mediocre racing game with a gimmick that allowed the driver of the car to come crashing head first through the windshield whenever they were involved in a nasty accident. As it turned out once the game was released, Flat Out was an above average arcade style racer that had cars display accurate body destruction and some pretty insane crashes. The whole gimmick of flying through the windshield, known as crashout’s, seem to take the backseat to the actual game play once the community got their hands on it. Gamers were looking forward to a sequel and a year later Bugbear and Vivendi delivers it with all new tracks and all new stunts to hurl their driver through the windshield at, because gimmicky or not, it’s still fun to do. Throw in a great sound track from such artists as Rob Zombie, Papa Roach and Nickleback, a bunch of news cars and new game modes, and you have a sequel that should take the checkered flag.
Flat Out 2 sticks to the game plan of the original game by giving players loads of tracks to race on and numerous extra events to goof around with. Much like the first game, the game types are broken down into various modes. The main mode that will garner most of your playing time is the career mode. In this mode you race through three styles of racing that each contain three tiers; each tier containing anywhere from eight to fifteen tracks. As you complete the races in each tier, you will need to place within the top three to continue to each tier and unlock more tracks. As you win races, you will earn cash for your placing, of course the higher you place, the more you are rewarded. You will need to earn this cash if you plan on proceeding through the later tiers and the other racing styles. The three styles of racing are Derby, Race and Street, all of which you will need to purchase a car that is suitable for that style of racing. The number of different types of tracks that you’ll find through out the game isn’t incredibly high with only 5 types of tracks. The track types range from Forests, fields, cities, canals and deserts, there are numerous tracks to be played through in each category, although most are hacked up and amalgamated versions of the same style of track over and over.
The visuals of the game, attractive for the most part, vary from track to track. The field style tracks are pretty bland, washed in yellow and not too inspired at all. The forest tracks are pretty impressive as are the desert ones, but the city and canals leave something to be desired. One of the complaints of the first game was that there were no races at night, however this time around you get one track that takes place a night - just one. Many of the tracks take place at certain times during daylight hours and the ones at dusk are most impressive with the sun almost blinding you, but not quite. The cars, although some look quite odd in design, look great with reflections and precise body damage.
When you get rear ended, the back end will crumple up and bumpers fall off. Hoods and doors fly off when they get hit and fenders and body panels dent and flutter to the side when they take enough damage. Take too many hits and your engine will blow its top, catching your car on fire and you will be removed from the race, which also goes for the other racers. Each time you nail another car, you will be rewarded with how hard you hit them as well if you cause them to flip. You will also receive rewards for destroying objects scattered about the tracks, such as fences, gates, barriers and barrels. Each time you destroy an object or nail it with your car or find yourself airborne from a jump or ramp, your nitro boost meter will gain some juice to use when you need an extra kick.
Much like the first Flat Out, there are plenty of rides to choose from in each style of car. There are loads of Derby cars, Racing cars and Street cars, all of which can be upgraded by purchasing parts to improve certain aspects of them. Engines, exhaust, suspension, tires and so forth can be upgraded plenty of times, making your car better and better little steps at a time. Upgrading your car is an essential part of Flat Out 2, since when you start out, your low grade car will have you grumbling in frustration. The driving physics for some reason don’t seem to have the same feel as the original game did. Cars feel “weightless” and handle awfully around turns and curves until you can earn some upgrades to get the handling and suspension increased or enough to just go and purchase a better car. Power Slides and Nitro Cornering are techniques meant to allow you to zip around corners without losing control, but they take some getting used to. Pulling the hand brake for sharp turns will have you spinning out of control in no time flat if you hold it down for more than a tap and Nitro Cornering, which requires your to fire your nitro boost when going around a turn, is only useful in very wide turns since you are going exceptionally fast, although you do stick to the ground without flipping off the track easier.
When you feel like taking a break from the racing mode, there are plenty of other things you can find in Flat Out 2 to occupy your time with. The stunt modes from the original Flat Out such as the High Jump and Darts make their return along with the addition of some new stunts like Stone Skipping and Basket Ball. Although the stunts can take some getting used to, they are a hoot to play. Watching your driver go sailing through the air and plow through a giant board of cards, seeing which you can knock out is just something you find anywhere else. As fun as the stunts are to do, you will probably find yourself doing them about five or so times and then moving on to the next one. Other types of game play are the Derby, Events and Party modes.
Derby pits eight cars against each other in a smash up derby, where the last man standing wins. Events feature figure eight races, speed bowl races and speed way races that lets players go flat out and race without intrusions from foreign objects. Party Mode lets up to eight players play against each other in a series of stunt events that you can customize so that only the ones you want to play will be available and not have to play through those that don’t tickle your fancy. If you want even more game modes, there is also online multiplayer to take on players across the globe as well as a split screen Vs. mode where you and a friend can compete against each other without other cars to get in the way.
Flat Out 2 brings the same gameplay to the table the second time around, although it just doesn’t seem to have the same vibe as the original did. Once you get past the first tier or so you’ll start to enjoy the races more as your car won’t feel so wonky, but getting there will be a little frustrating. The game does feature some great graphics and a great sound track to keep the game in your console, but this may not be the sequel fans of the original were looking for. Sadly one thing gamers wanted in the sequel was a multiplayer Smash up Derby mode and for some reason Bug Bear didn’t include it for the second time around. Overall, if you can get past the poor handling for the first part of the game, most people will find that Flat Out 2 is a fun and enjoyable racer that has a ton of extras when you need some down time away from the track.
