A bigger, slightly better sequel that's more accessible and over-the-top but just as random in terms of its carnage. It'll drive you bonkers if you've no patience. [Aug 2006, p.56]
Amazing game with a lot of content, fun and carnage.
I am not a big fan of racing games, not at all, but the only exception for me, is FlatOut 2. The different game modes, the amount of stuff to do, the great variety in cars, it is just perfect.
In FlatOut 2, you can choose three modes to play. You can finish traditional races, in which you race for first place, you can choose derby mode (my personal favorite), in which you try to wreck other players or bots in a arena style battle, and lastly, you got a ton of minigames, in which you yeet out your ragdoll driver to make him perform certain tricks, smash him against a target, throw him as far as you can. It is just so much fun.
The game is simple, easy to understand and a little silly, but that is the whole charm of it. It plays great, the controls are responsive, and this is the only racing game in which I feel that I am in control.
The graphics still look impressive for the time. The detail in the cars, the damage that you took which is reflected on your car and the tire marks all look great. The framerate is smooth as ever and overall, there is nothing to complain about.
The sound effects of roaring engines, the crash sounds and the braking, all sounds great. The rocking music when playing derby mode is also amazing.
Like mentioned, the controls are fluent. The handling and grip is very good and for once, I felt like I was not driving on ice, but just a dirt road with some traction.
The mini games are hilarious. You need to throw your player as close to a certain target as possible for example, so you need to hit a road block in a certain way, with a certain speed to make it happen. The janky animations when your dude flies out of the window is just so silly and stupid, that it made me laugh many times.
This game will keep you entertained for many hours and for its price, it offers a lot of content and replay value.
FlatOut 2 is one of the games I always play on LAN Parties and it never stops being fun. The derby mode remains my all time favorite and traditionally, we end our play session by letting the game crash when we wrecked each other at the same time in the middle of the arena, with the Batmobile.
Definitely recommend this game.
The single-player Career won't take all that long to complete, but with a hugely entertaining multiplayer mode both on and offline, there's a good chance you'll continue playing for a while after.
The game’s multiplayer and online modes would make it the perfect game for a group of friends to gather and bash each other for a while. If you can overcome the difficulty level of the single player campaign, and think that the demolition derby and quirky stunt modes would be your cup of tea, do not hesitate to pick this title up.
With everything ultimately both bigger and better, with more destruction, and much more depth, Bugbear Entertainment are coming ever close to a winner. If the handling is tightened, and the rest of the game makes another healthy step forward, another sequel on the next generation of consoles could be the first certain winner.
Both more of the same and a little less. The challenges don’t hold their appeal for long and a lot of the problems from the first game have reappeared in this one, but anyone looking for a racing game that rewards you for knocking over fences and road signs will be hard pressed to find better.
This is THE worthy spiritual successor to Destruction Derby on PS1: Each track is filled with destructible content like chairs, tables, windows, parking cars, barrels, greenhouses and so on. Sometimes you can take a shortcut though a shop and drive everything from inside on to the streets. The handling is good for you, if you are fed up this exact high-tech racing and sports cars, but want to ride a broad old road cruiser through the cities, swamps, canyons and forests. And the heaps of game modes, from normal races, bowl races (stadium racing tracks where the first cars cross the road of the later ones), destruction mode to the specials, where you try to toss your driver out of the front window as far, high or precise as possible (aim on a dart board, bowling track or similar) is great.
The downsides are the high difficulty and the possible frustration that could derive out of that: Luckily you are allowed to repeat the tracks as often as possible even without loading screen punishing you for that. You will have to do it often, because in the beginning you car is slow, the opponents crash each other as often as they crash your car, and when you are first, but hit some broken road sign that you or an opponent put there last round, you might be last pretty fast. The good thing is, if you get used to being not always first, you earn also money by crashing opponents or road obstacles, so you can drive until you tuned your car that well, that you might win some race some day. Anyway, great, full and dirty crash game. Something very different from the, in comparison, rather clean, sleek and empty Burnout series.
3 words: the "ragdoll mini-games"! Some chips, a few beers and a friend is all you need to have the time of your life with this hilarious game mode. Drive your car fast to the launching point and press R1 to throw your driver through the front window and into a football goal, basketball hoop, darts board... it's so much (sadistic) fun. Imagine if the games Burnout and Pain had a lovechild and you'll get an idea how much fun this game mode actually is. Not all of the ragdoll mini-games are equally fun and i wish there were more than only 12.
Pretty much feel the same way about this version as I do the Xbox version. So if you want to see a more fuller review of this game, look at my Xbox review of this game. It's more of the same as the first one.
SummaryFeaturing an enhanced version of the original's physics engine with even faster driving track designs, FlatOut 2 also boasts numerous improvements, enhancements and additions to make the title the definitive FlatOut experience. Twice as many vehicles, a more sophisticated career mode, additional race environments, double the number of tr...