FlatOut : Ultimate Carnage

[ChrisF]

I'm with you on this one Jebus.

I have, eventually, managed to finish first a few times though. I think the key in this game is upgrading your car. But its pretty choresome having to do a race - pretty much knowing you wont win, just so you can get some money, so that you can upgrade your car and do it again!

I've been many a victim of battling for first place, hitting some random object so I spin out of control, and ending up last.

[Jebus]

I can't afford a new car and I have upgraded as much as I can on the cash available to me. No matter what I do, they pull away like they are 20 classes above me.

I don't particularly want to race the same two tracks (the first two in the game) 15 more times to get some cash. I bought this to counter-act the boredom from levelling up in Forza, but I find you need to do that in this game too! Sure the high jump etc are a nice distraction, but they don't make up a game.

I don't mind difficult or challenging games, I'm currently also playing through Ninja Gaiden Sigma on PS3, but this is just unfair, it offers no real reward to me for persevering for the 10th time. It just frustrates me! I finally get a nice smash on the car in front only to see it spin sideways in front of me and stick to me like glue...I can't escape without braking hard, then they all pass me from behind! I get a nice boost from crashing into him but because he's stuck to me it's all pointless.

[MikeF]

I haven't upgraded a single car yet and have managed to do the first 8 cups on the derby mode (not all gold, but mostly)

Just hammer the nitro when you have it and smash as many of the AI as you can to hinder there progress, seems to work for me anyway

[ChrisF]

Hitting fences seems to help with the nitro too - and doesn't slow you down.

[Jebus]

Just hammer the nitro when you have it and smash as many of the AI as you can to hinder there progress, seems to work for me anyway

That's exactly what I've been doing, it's not working for me at all. I've tried just "racing" and that doesn't work, I can't even catch the car in 2nd half the time.

[Goemon]

The game is far too difficult too early on and I can see a lot of people being put off.

Took me an hour or 2 just to win a race...And I was only able to do that by saving up enough money to buy a new car and replaying races! This is not the way a game should begin - you should be able to walk the first few derby events.

The difficulty of a game is such an important factor in drawing people in, and these guys have got it all wrong.

The game is pretty good but a lot of people won't be prepared to stick it out.

[EvilBoris]

I really enjoyed the game but 2 things have really put me off during my time with it. The insane difficulty which can be nigh on impossible that is exhaserbated by the handling, which suffers from SFR syndrome.

[Plisken]

agreed, this game wound me up so much i just headbutted the box in half. now i feel very stupid, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do. sigh.

most of the golds in carnage mode are ****ing impossible, rediculous ****, also i cannot stand the way 1 car gets wayyyy out in front in flatout mode then never makes a single mistake, whilst clipping the 1 small piece of debris (of which there's thousands) will send you flying backwards 360 all over the place. grrrrrr.

still that being said the online is superb and there is fun to be garnered, but why do developers forget we play games to have fun not to restart the same thing 100's of times.

[VR46]

Hitting fences seems to help with the nitro too - and doesn't slow you down.

[Missed those couple of posts from this morning]

Destroying scenery, hitting other cars and jumping high fills your nitro gauge. Used in the right places nitro really is the difference between winning and losing races, especially in the lower/slower classes.

[ExtremePabs]

I agree this game is just so frustrating it isnt fun anymore and if it isnt fun it isnt worth playing imho.

[MikeF]

If I am being honest I haven't found it that hard yet. Have completed every Derby class race and event with gold so I expect the difficulty to ramp up as I progress through the next 3 classes

Yet to venture online as no-one seems to join any of the games that I have hosted

[merf]

i guess all this highlights the difficulty of being a developer, I found this game incredibly easy to get on with especially in the easier classes and never suffered frustration, I also loved the handling model and found it to be perfect for this style of game.

on the other hand CM Dirt induced all sorts of controller rage in me, whilst others loved it.

these driving games, as they get more polarised, seem to be really dividing the masses.

[Yoshimax]

I've enjoyed all the decent recent racers - you just have to understand how to handle each.

FO is one of the freshest racers I've played in years - you don't need to finish 1st/2nd/3rd in ever race, it's not the same drivers who finish in those positions every time (due to the emergent stuff that can happen on track and the fact all cars are governed by the same rules) and it has one of the most stable engines I've seen.

You can actually apply tactics to taking out cars - For example if you're really leathering it and the car in front is noticeably not smashing into them (power slam or summit) will put them right out your way - you will never stick to the back. This happens as it would in real life where your speeds aren't greatly different (obv you're going slightly faster) and a quick touch of the brake to "release" them followed by some boost acceleration gets you straight back where you were if not ahead.

Boris comments seem derived from Carnage Mode which is indeed a bitch to score silver or above on (some events) but Flatout Mode I had no problems with up till a couple of races on the street class. Currently I only have about 2/3 TT's to do and I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole SP experience - moreso than either DIRT or Forza2 - And that's without even going into the online which is sublime in the extreme.

[Plisken]

you don't need to finish 1st/2nd/3rd in ever race, it's not the same drivers who finish in those positions every time

I agree to this in some extent but it certainly hasn't be true to me in street class. that ****ing Jack Benton fellow wins every race, every time. i had 4 2nd place victories and a 1st on the final track and it wasn't enough. I even hung back and tried to wreck him to so he'd get nil points but it just wasn't happening it's to hard to get decent collisions on the faster classes other than on the 1st lap when everyone is stuck together.

[Yoshimax]

That's the "couple of races on street class" I was referring to But he didn't clear them all - I took him out on one of them then he got poleaxed by 3rd place leaving him waaay down the pack with no points and me claiming 10 for 1st

T'is why I love it - I can imagine Burnout4 must feel like a sterile piece of **** after playing this.