Racing with physical destruction and fun ejected driver ragdoll. Varied circuits with destructible obstacles, hilarious mini-games using the driver as projectile. A fun Burnout alternative with more physical chaos.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player7+
Description
Destruction-racing game in which every body panel, barrier, and piece of scenery can be smashed, and drivers are ejected from the cockpit during crashes. Published by Empire Interactive, released in 2005 in the United States and Europe. Features around forty varied circuits, 12 fully destructible vehicles, a Crash Arena mode, and ragdoll physics for the drivers.
FlatOut review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
The driver goes through the windscreen at the slightest head-on collision and lands as a limp puppet, rolling, bouncing and ending up across the track. That expelled body becomes the most animated element in the picture, and the side events turn it outright into the projectile you have to throw at a target.
Heavy rock turns in the background, but what sticks in the memory are the screams: the driver yells throughout his flight, and the sound recedes or approaches according to the trajectory, with a clean silence on landing. That voice treated as an instrument gives the crashes a comic timing music alone could never achieve.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Tearing into a destruction derby where bodywork shatters and the driver is flat-out ejected through the windscreen on crashes: here's a racer that bets everything on gleeful chaos. The snappy driving and the lunatic mini-games offer an instant release. Brutal, funny and unpredictable, an irresistible blend of speed and wreckage.
A destruction racer from Bugbear, FlatOut leans on snappy driving through destructible environments, spectacular collisions and the driver's ejection through the windshield in offbeat mini games. The sense of impact, the physics engine and the cathartic side stay enjoyable, especially in multiplayer. The decent but unremarkable production and an aggressive AI date it a little. A brutal arcade racer for fans of pile ups and carefree motorised destruction.
