
Excellent racing experience!

Having been a fan of the original FlatOut, I had been hoping to get my hands on the sequel as soon as I could. Unfortunately I was unable to locate it between three pawn shops and three video game retailers near my hometown. Then I found it on eBay.
My first good impression was the menus, and the soundtrack. There is some real choice music throughout this game. The menus also feature a car doing donuts in the background. That was a galactic improvement over the prior games menus.
Second was the diversity of the cars themselves. You are not limited to only old cars. Actually the first 3 to choose from are a newer compact, an old muscle car, and an older stepside pickup truck. I mostly like how you can be tactical with your choice of vehicle. Do I want the maneuverability of a small car, the speed of a muscle car, or the size and weight advantage of a truck? The trucks are harder to wreck, but the cars are harder to catch. makes for exciting gameplay.
Another interesting thing is how they gave your opponents different personalities. Two of them are pros, three don't really care about winning, and two totally suck. This also makes gameplay more interesting.
The tracks range from rural dirt roads and farmhouses (and driving through barns) to racing through drainage canals in urban settings to driving through shopping malls in the big city. Another major perk is getting to turn a supermarket parking lot into a demolition derby arena. On the subject of the tracks, there are even more interactive elements than in the first FlatOut. If you tear through a gas station, indiscriminately running over the gas pumps and oil barrels, they create huge balls of fire that temporarily blind the opponents behind you. If you go tearing through a building through the floor to ceiling windows, they shatter realistically, and all the furnishings in the building find new homes out on the street. This is another tactical move, as the debris stays where it lands until the end of the race. After the second lap, it is completely impossible to run one lap without hitting something. Debris ranges from road cones to combine harvesters, so watch out for the big stuff. Even the Blaster XL ('89 Bronco) cannot topple the combine. (But running into the crop duster makes it explode.)
Speaking of explosions, your car can, too. If hit enough, not only will your driver go flying through he windshield, your car will explode a la Grand Theft Auto.
As far as the ragdoll stunts, there are some of the old ones, and a lot of new ones. The long jump has been replaced by the Ski Jump, with a better takeoff ramp. The clown has been replaced by the Ring of Fire, where you have to vault your driver through as many rings as possible. Additions you would not expect include Field Goal, where you have to dodge your car around huge cardboard football players; Baseball, where your driver can be batted for a Home Run; and Soccer, where you have to avoid a rampaging cardboard goalie that looks like Bob's Big Boy.
Overall the game is very fun and relatively addicting. The mini games can get very frustrating until you get the hang of it. I would have to give it five stars.
One more thing. There are extra cars that I have yet to figure out how to unlock, but are unlockable via passcodes (i.e. Cheats). They include a school bus, an ice cream truck, a jet engine powered car, and the Flatmobile, which is a rather decent Batmobile knock-off.
Do i suggest this game? In short, Yes.
Review ID: 10000000010768710

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