THE GOOD:Gameplay, controls, graphics, ejecting your driver, mini-games, AI, tracks, ability to drive anywhere.
THE BAD:
At the start you suck. Manual is far too short. Turns are difficult. Leaving the track is punished.
SUMMARY:
This is definitely the game that I have been waiting for. A racing game that is both fun but not like an arcade racer. In arcade racers it seems that literally no matter how far back you go you can always catch up and no matter how far ahead you get someone is always only a second behind you. In Flatout however they have the AI actually race which makes it more realistic I suppose. The controls are intuitive and the graphics are great. There is no greater joy available in racing games than ejecting your driver for a high jump and watching him fall back to the earth. The tracks are fun and competitive... keeping in mind that this is more dirt track racing than Burnout 3 racing.
That realism I pointed out previously... Yeah it means you really suck at the beginning of the game. Until you earn the cash to really build up your car you'll spend a lot of time losing. The 6 PAGE MANUAL doesn't help at all either. Seriously, why even print one at that point. The only problem with the controls is in the bigger turns it feels like your racing in a swamp. Something a bit too... boggy about the turns.
Now the only really mixed bag in the game is its ability to leave the track for short distances. You can drive anywhere on the massive boards that you want to (though there really isn't much point), and there are numerous short cuts. But if you leave the track for just a touch too long, you have to go back to where you left it. This is quite annoying when it seems that sometimes leaving the track is ok and other times you spend just 1 or 2 yards too long off track and have to go back.
This is getting long. Let me just say rent this game. If throwing a ragdoll out of your car at 100+mph isn't fun for you, then renting is all you should do. However, I'm planning on buying it as soon as my wife gives me my allowance.
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