FlatOut : Ultimate Carnage

[merf]

the handling is great on this, just opened up the city centre track (which goes thru a shopping centre) and a proper debris strewn race track.

perfect arcade handling with none of the assist stuff that is putting me off DiRT so much.

really reckon with all the racing modes, mini games and online this is a good strong 8-9 out of 10 game.

[cavalcade]

Well, after Forza 2 and DiRT what I clearly needed was another driving game. But after the startling revelation that Blockbusters give £26 credit for Motorstorm (idiots), and sell out Flatout for 34.99, the decision was made.

And I'm glad I did it.

I love arcade racers, and although this smells a bit like an HD upscale of an Xbox game at times (which is actually is I guess) the intro alone was sufficient to make me do a sex wee. Absolute, total mayhem.

Once you hit the main game - it continues in this form. Tracks are littered with crap that breaks apart, deforms, explodes and scatters itself across every surface. The AI is ruthless and spiteful and takes every opportunity to wipe you out - which is a good thing. The handling is a joy as well.

As mentioned before - the entire front end and feel.... and indeed game structure seems to be lifted wholesale from Burnout Revenge. It looks virtually identical, even the fonts are the same. But if you're going to rip off a driving game, rip off the best, I say....

It perhaps doesn't have Burnout's sheer heart thumping thrills. But it more than makes up for it in other ways. The sheer destructo-porn it puts on the screen is without peer. The first few corners of some races can look more like the track has been hit by an airstrike. I think a couple of times I might have actually squealed in delight. All this, and the framerate is rock steady.

I have to say of the three titles, I can't see Forza getting much of a look in for some time to come. Looking forward to taking this online, I hear reports it has a good community already which was always the case with Burnout Revenge 4.

[Spatial]

Having spent most of the afternoon with this the sticky cars and spinning out in single player is really starting to get on my nerves now. And the wide edges of the course where it's easy to get spin off into farm fields and then have to reset resulting in you going rapidly from first to seventh

But Destruction Derby mode online is a fair bit of carnage and a real laugh going some way to making up for it.

[cavalcade]

Having spent most of the afternoon with this the sticky cars and spinning out in single player is really starting to get on my nerves now. And the wide edges of the course where it's easy to get spin off into farm fields and then have to reset resulting in you going rapidly from first to seventh

I don't actually mind that so much. In a sense it's nice to have nasty game back again, after being cosseted by most recent arcade racers.

[Spatial]

I'm all for a bit of a challenge but receiving a nasty rear ender (phnar!) for the fiftieth time gets more than a tad frustrating, especially when you do it to them and it just attaches them to the front of your car and slows you down.

[VR46]

Holliss tip for the day; if you're struggling on a Time Trial event, reverse back fro m the start line as far as you wish then accelerate - means you cross the start line (and start the clock) at a fairly decent speed, can make a big difference, especially if the track starts with a long straight

[Nembot]

Holliss tip for the day; if you're struggling on a Time Trial event, reverse back fro m the start line as far as you wish then accelerate - means you cross the start line (and start the clock) at a fairly decent speed, can make a big difference, especially if the track starts with a long straight

Dodgy b`stard!!

I`m still loving this agme but it`s getting quite tough on FlatOut mode so I`m doing a bit of Carnage now for a rest.

I did manage to get the #1 time in the world on Figure of Eight 1 circuit, go me!

[merf]

odd as I've hardly got bashed out or spun round at all in the single player mode, and I've now completed to gold all the race series in the first class.

wonder if your personal style of driving affects this ?

really hope this title shifts some copies, looking at the number of registered scores on the first few tracks it doesn't look great for the launch weekend (even allowing for non-live x360 users) but hopefully this will pick up with word of mouth.

[HaHaUK]

Played this a bit today, and loving it. Only complaint I have: why the hell didn't they include a photo option, and why can't I save the replays?!

Had a great replay in one of the mini-games (the football one) with my brother, where he shot the guy out, dodged the wall of players and the nut-megged the keeper. Was hilariously cool.

[FreelancePolice]

its crying out for a stats page this game is

[nonny]

Whats the online hosting options like?

Have you guys managed a full hosted server yet (12 players)?

[merf]

note to all developers - please include a stats page in every game.

only a small point but i'd love to see stats on this and several other notable recent releases (crackdown being foremost).

driving games though do need one, its almost a crime to not tell you how far you've driven, boosted, number of crashes etc.

i'm going to knock .25 of my review score now leaving this as an 8.25 out of 10.

[nonny]

I just got my copy in the mail tonight, man that took 3 days to ship from the UK to here (Sydney) with Gameplay.

Initial impressions... love it. Only done the first 6 races and a few of the stunt modes but I like the handling, seems heavy at first but I guess the other car classes get better?

I see what people mean about sticking to cars but I find if you avoid rear-ending them and coming up and nudging them police-style they are less of a problem.

Good game anyway, love the course design and the sheer mayhem that ensues, its all very Burnout Revenge though. They pretty much stole the menu and loading screen templates.

[Spatial]

note to all developers - please include a stats page in every game.

This tbh

There are stats for the Online side though which is better than nothing.

Whats the online hosting options like?

Have you guys managed a full hosted server yet (12 players)?

I think it's only 8 players max.

Online saves this for me and I'm surprised how much thought has gone in to it. Everything from showing the region a player is in (predominantly UK at the moment as the US release isn't for another month) and if they have a headset. All small touches but stuff that every online portion of a game needs to have (but sadly doesn't).

And it's also a very stable game with very little lag.

My only bugbear with it is that it seems to ignore your search criteria for custom games and instead of setting up a ranked game for you of the type you want, it widens the settings and throws you in to any old thing.

Lots of modes to mess about with but online Derby is my fave - brilliant stuff and highly entertaining. So funny last night as one little git rammed me into the wall of a track with concrete flying everywhere and started unneccesarily cussing me out. Cue me slamming on the breaks, getting behind him, shouting "I'm coming for you bwoy!" in a redneck accent and then smashing him into a big firery ball of death.

Soooooo satisying.

And the best thing is that there are no squeeky voiced five year olds playing this yet, so best get on while the going is good

There needs to be an NTSC-uk head on meet for this soon.

[Bleeders]

Yeah, NTSC representatives were abit light at the weekend on this.