An orgy of vehicular aggression
In a similar vein to Burnout’s Crash Bonus system, FlatOut uses a Smash Bonus system. This awards incompetent drivers with cash for crashes, offering a few bucks for tyres displaced, barriers bent and that sort of thing. In itself, it’s not a particularly interesting feature, but it does play a crucial role in the generally pleasurable nature of the game. Even if you come last, missing out on substantial prize funds, you’ll still be given money for your rubbishness. This means that if you get stuck on a particular track, you can keep trying over and over without getting that anger-amplifying sense of ultra-frustration. Any effort is worthy of some reward and soon enough, you can up the spec of your vehicle which, with any luck, will help you through whichever track you’re stuck on.
The tracks are, by and large, rather short and, although unusual, are also fairly simplistic. The design of these is highly reminiscent of an old school karting game: with jumps, shortcuts and the typical mix of snow/sand/tarmac surfaces. The wider level structure also brings back memories of certain karting titles, with three level courses brought under different difficulty settings: Gold, Silver and Bronze. In fact, many of the nice touches that FlatOut offers remind us of such retro-styled racing.
A flying car which we never found
For many, this will be a negative point. It means that, despite the fairly pretty graphics (especially by PS2 standards), there is an overwhelming sensation of simplicity. At times, it feels like the car is actually stationary, with the track moving around it independently, and the occasionally weightless handling also feels rather childish. However, in the face of current racing game fashion, we see this as a potential selling point.
Karting games were once abundant and fairly consistent in quality, but now, with the notable exception of various ‘Cube offerings, this style of racing game seems to have died a rather quiet death. Of late, the Burnout and Need For Speed Underground school of design has become the generic benchmark. As such, FlatOut manages to sit in a nostalgia-lined gap in the market, offering simple, honest-to-goodness, lap-based dodgem-mentality racing in an easy to swallow package. Compared to its rivals, FlatOut may be rather sedate, but it’s also controlled and balanced, and is thusly quite impressive: albeit in a humble kind of way.
