Review
Played on: PC & Xbox 360Released: 2007
During my time as a student, Finnish developer Bugbear Entertainment released two demolition derby inspired arcade racers. Titled FlatOut 1 & 2, these titles would start a franchise that would last up to recent years, albeit with various developers and quality. While the first game, released in 2004, was entertaining due to its insane physics engine with ragdoll effects, the simplistic structure and lack of content was obvious though.
Two years passed, a newly upgraded PC in 2006 and the second FlatOut released. This became an arcade racer I would dearly love, easily fitting into my top ten racers of all time. It brought back the chaos of car crashing madness I’d had with Destruction Derby 1 & 2 and the off-road, sideways, arcade driving of Sega Rally back in the 90’s.
FlatOut 2 had it all; a cool drifting arcade feel, incredible amounts of destructible racetracks, detailed car damage with lots of flying parts, car upgrades, varied race environments and a perfect length to its campaign. I even used play it with my old Logitech Driving Force Pro back then and have a ton of laughs, smashing into opponents, boosting into jumps and desperately keeping my car on the road. It was controlled chaos and amazing unpredictability, no race was the same.
The following year, 2007, Bugbear released a remaster of FlatOut 2, titled FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage. Basically, adding the latest technology in graphics with bump mapping, new water effects and updated textures. I originally bought it for my Xbox 360 the following year, but having played endless hours of FlatOut 2 I was a little burnt out. After all, Ultimate Carnage has the exact same campaign as FlatOut 2, with a separate events arena mode thrown in.
Fast forward to recent years, I came across Ultimate Carnage on Steam, I decided to give it a go again. After all, my cravings to replay FlatOut 2’s madness was at an all-time high and what better way excuse than finally diving into this remaster? In addition, with the PC version there's benefits the Xbox 360 hardware can't deliver, plus it's sadly not backwards compatible. Going from a 720p@30fps on Xbox 360 to 1440p@120fps is a real treat, in smoothness, sharpness and response!
During my time as a student, Finnish developer Bugbear Entertainment released two demolition derby inspired arcade racers. Titled FlatOut 1 & 2, these titles would start a franchise that would last up to recent years, albeit with various developers and quality. While the first game, released in 2004, was entertaining due to its insane physics engine with ragdoll effects, the simplistic structure and lack of content was obvious though.
Two years passed, a newly upgraded PC in 2006 and the second FlatOut released. This became an arcade racer I would dearly love, easily fitting into my top ten racers of all time. It brought back the chaos of car crashing madness I’d had with Destruction Derby 1 & 2 and the off-road, sideways, arcade driving of Sega Rally back in the 90’s.
FlatOut 2 had it all; a cool drifting arcade feel, incredible amounts of destructible racetracks, detailed car damage with lots of flying parts, car upgrades, varied race environments and a perfect length to its campaign. I even used play it with my old Logitech Driving Force Pro back then and have a ton of laughs, smashing into opponents, boosting into jumps and desperately keeping my car on the road. It was controlled chaos and amazing unpredictability, no race was the same.
The following year, 2007, Bugbear released a remaster of FlatOut 2, titled FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage. Basically, adding the latest technology in graphics with bump mapping, new water effects and updated textures. I originally bought it for my Xbox 360 the following year, but having played endless hours of FlatOut 2 I was a little burnt out. After all, Ultimate Carnage has the exact same campaign as FlatOut 2, with a separate events arena mode thrown in.
Fast forward to recent years, I came across Ultimate Carnage on Steam, I decided to give it a go again. After all, my cravings to replay FlatOut 2’s madness was at an all-time high and what better way excuse than finally diving into this remaster? In addition, with the PC version there's benefits the Xbox 360 hardware can't deliver, plus it's sadly not backwards compatible. Going from a 720p@30fps on Xbox 360 to 1440p@120fps is a real treat, in smoothness, sharpness and response!
Visually, it still holds its ground well, much thanks to the added effects in this Ultimate Carnage version. On the flipside it has a darker and mature style on the colour palette. However, it offers more advanced lighting, static time of day variations and colour schemes throughout. Plus, it doesn't have that overly pronounced bloom from Flatout 2 anymore.
What still impresses, is the insane amount of debris and objects that are destructible and cover the racetracks after a few laps. Even the cars can be smashed to absolute pieces, putting many modern racers to shame. Combined with the arcade physics that simulate soft suspension, in a heavy American muscle car fashion, while you bump across metal, stones and car parts on the road looks, feels so satisfying.
Control of the cars requires a bit a skill to manoeuvre, especially trying to get past all the other cars without being smashed to bits. It isn't a simulator, but it requires you to shift weight in a satisfying manner to slide around corners and understand how to turn in heavy cars. After some playtime you'll become good at pushing competitors off the road in satisfying accidents, seeing their drivers thrown like a ragdoll out the front window, as you grin and push ahead of the pack.
There’re quite a few car models to choose from, all fictional, allowing the developers to smash them exactly how they want. At first you only have access to rusty, matte looking, old bangers, then you progress the campaign and end up with the shiny and colourful bodywork of powerful race cars. Upgrades allow you to squeeze more power out of each model, tolerate more damage and boost more efficiently. This boost is powerful and incredibly handy to give you some fast speed and momentum to smash or pass other cars.
Races begin in typical American farmland locations, with wide racetracks that have incredible amounts of roadside buildings and objects to smash and destroy. From audience stands, gas stations and even an airfield where you can crash into the airplanes! Further environments are canyons, racing circuits and city racetracks. City racers reach a bit beyond what the game is best suited for in my opinion, but there's fun to be had here to. Like a crazy part where you crash through an entire mall! My love lies with the farm and woodland racetracks foremost, but the variety is very welcome.
Campaign will send you through leagues and championships where you gradually progress from the farmlands to proper race circuits and city highways, progressing car classes and getting your hands on increasingly faster powerful machines with your hard earned cash. There's also time trail events and destruction arenas. The latter brings back fond memories of the Destruction Derby games of the 90s, where the goal is to destroy as many opponents as possible.
Outside of the campaign, Ultimate Carnage adds extra content through a list of Olympic-like events featuring a stunt car with a massive booster jet engine. This mode takes part on a massive stadium and utilises the ragdoll effect of the driver being thrown out of the vehicle. Events include driving off a ski jump and throwing your driver as far as possible, or bowling with your driver or aiming the driver at a bullseye after launching him from a speeding car, to name some.
There aren't many racers like this around, with the exception of Bugbears fantastic Wreckfest, more on that in another review. I’d highly recommend giving this a go. Later FlatOut releases are made by other developers, low budget and bad quality, so avoid them.
Ultimate Carnage is a terrific way to enjoy what FlatOut 2 was all about in a prettier package. Available on Steam, complete with out of the box controller support, and on Xbox 360. Both versions support Xbox Live logins and have achievements too!
