In the cluster of racing games that have come out the past few years, Flat Out could be compared to the unusual and odd family member that every one has. While most racing games try to be flashy and showy with giant arrows, glitzy lights and scenery of enormous cities, Flat Out is quite the opposite in many regards. The tracks aren’t set in stylish cityscapes, there is a very limited amount of options you can upgrade on your car and what really stands out the most, Flat Out is just a blast to play. The major feature of Flat Out that was being advertised the most were the rag doll physics in which when you hit an object with enough force, the driver goes flying out the front windshield in a screaming, flailing, tangle of limbs. To let you use this feature more often, the designers included 6 mini games called Rag Doll Sports in which you can propel your body out of your car and towards an event. Some of these include a giant dartboard, bowling pins and my personal favorite, the high jump, where you drive up a ramp and launch your body out of the car to see how high you can get your body to go and then watch it slam into the ground.

Although many people will find these mini games a hoot to play at first, they do get monotonous after a short while. After the initial shock and laughs wear off, it is just the same thing over and over. There are also 3 derby pits that you can play smash up derby in, as well as 3 dirt bowls to race in. They add some more variety to the game, but with so few, they get old just as quick. Thankfully and surprisingly, the career mode of Flat Out is done surprisingly well and will keep your attention far longer than the mini games will. When you start the racing circuit, you will start with picking your driver and your car. From there you start on the bronze tier and need to finish each of the 12 tracks in third pace or higher to proceed to the silver tier and again the same to move on to the gold tier. When you place in the top three for each race, you will receive prize money based on the position you won. With that prize money, you can upgrade your car with a few modifications or buy a whole new car. Unlike many racing games where you can tweak just about everything imaginable, Flat Out gives you the option of only upgrading the essentials such as your engine, tires, brakes and such. Once you have your car picked and ready to go, it’s off to the races.

There are 6 types of tracks in Flat Out and they are all filled with their own hazards. The tracks range from a sandy construction site style track that has bull dozers and cranes in the track, to forest tracks that have logging equipment and piles of cut trees constantly in your way. Each track has objects and debris spread out through it such as stacks of tires, fences, barrels and just about anything else you can imagine. The physics really show, not only when you are flying through the windshield, but also when the objects on the track get hit. Everything acts realistically and unlike some games, hitting a sign won’t stop you dead in your tracks, you’ll knock it down and most likely leave it sprawled across the track for the others to drive over.

The tracks can be quite tricky to navigate at times since, as previously mentioned, it doesn’t have giant arrows telling you which way to go, but you do have a small map in the corner that you can keep an eye on. Most of the tracks feature shortcuts to give you the edge over the competition, but these can be hard to spot and sometimes what looks like a short cut, won’t be. Upgrades and shortcuts aren’t the only thing to help give you the advantage of your opponents. You also have a Nitrous boost that you can use to increase your speed for as long as you want until the meter runs out. To refill it, every time you cause damage to yourself or others, the nitrous tank will fill up a bit at a time. Since there is always an excess of objects on the track, having your tank fill up without even noticing happens quite often.

Flat Out serves up some incredible graphics that compliment the game play flawlessly. The cars, when taking damage, show it marvelously. Windows shatter, panels, hoods, bumpers, get dented and torn off and when they have been beaten up as much as they can take, flames and smoke will flow from the engine, although it won’t affect the performance of your car. The dirt and dust that kicks up from the peeling tires are done just as well as everything else in this game. The music that cranks while you race have an alternative and rock style banging, although there’s a pretty good chance that you have never heard of the bands that are belting out the tunes before. The roar of the engines, the screams of the drivers flying through the air, the smashing of objects all fit into this game perfectly.

With all the game types that you can find in Flat Out, it’s nice to see Bugbear go the extra mile and throw Xbox Live into the mix as well. Although the online action is racing only, it features up to eight players going head to head as well as the ability to have 4 players through split screen. If only they had added the option to play the derby pits over Live, it would have made this great game that much better. If you’re looking to check out a racing game that features some intense game play, gorgeous graphics, incredible physics, as well as some of the most entertaining mini games seen in a while, then Flat Out is definitely the way you’ll want to go.