‘Flatout’ is a harshly over-looked racing franchise. Its closest brother in the genre would have to be the Burnout series, with both games featuring fast-paced and over-the-top arcade racing giving a similar yet completely different experience to the player. Essentially, Flatout has more of a redneck flare to it. But that’s its charm. As smooth and flashy as they look, Burnout’s high-end racing motorised beasts contribute little to diversity in your virtual garage, and any race-head knows it’s good to have range in transport. But hey, no matter what ride you’re in, since when have Burnout or Flatout been about just racing clean and getting to the chequered flag unscathed?

Unfamiliar with Flatout? Lamentably, that is understandable. Without the cause for deep explanation, Flatout has the charm of a stock car derby and just as much destruction. This isn’t a simulator – Flatout is pure arcade-inspired madness. The crux of any racing game is, of course, the racing. Flatout: UC involves you and 11 other characterized racers crashing and competing for the gold in a mix of urban and industrialized locations.

Thankfully, it isn’t always about getting to the end first– the series’ popular, albeit on a small scale (unfortunately!), ‘Ragdoll Stunts’ make a grand return and these mini-games force you to catapult your driver through the windscreen of your car and direct him to achieve different objectives and goals such as reaching a certain height in ‘High Jump’, evading defenders and a menacing goalie by scoring a goal in ‘Soccer’ and getting a perfect strike in ‘Bowling’, as well as 9 other hilarious stunts and variations. On top of this, you are treated to the very fun ‘Destruction Derby’ game modes. I don’t need to explain what that is to you, right? Needless to say these are very fun and Flatout is the perfect game for this kind of insane vehicular madness. It shouldn’t be legal, I tell you!

Off the bat, Flatout is ripe with things to do. Flatout Mode, the main career aspect of the game, sees you buying, upgrading and racing in 3 different car classes (Derby, Street and Race) and competing in various other mini-games such as said Ragdoll Stunts, Destruction Derby and preliminary Time Trial variations. Flatout Mode is fairly fleshed out and will take a lot of your racing effort to smash and win your way through it all. In addition, ‘Carnage Mode’ gives you all the game modes and sets you goals to undertake, making it very enjoyable to try and get gold medals in every event.

It goes without saying, the deciding factor for a racing is its controls and how the cars handle. Flatout’s motors are very weighty and you can endure a lot of laps because of the simplistic controls. Right trigger accelerates, left trigger brakes, B handbrakes and A gives you a healthy supplement of nitro boost. Like I said – simple. The handling of the cars can sometimes afflict with the collapsing scenery in the levels, and despite the destructiveness of the environment, it is hard to avoid frustration when you smash into the side of a building that stops you dead in your tracks. But still, this doesn’t break the game.

Oh, and on the subject of the track destructibility, ramming down various parts and objects in the game world is fantastic to look at. It’s really what sets Flatout a few miles ahead of some of its competition. Furthermore, the frame rate is consistently stable and there are only a selective few moments of severe slowdown during the absolute above-and-beyond crazier moments during heated races.

Level design is also top-notch, with subtle side-paths and secretive corners to out-run your enemy racers. There is a fair amount of variety in the tracks and a good amount of them too. They are all designed incredibly well and the power of the Xbox 360 allows the physical elements to come together with some incredible graphical highlights, such as the cars’ mapping and reflections coupled with some detailed textures throughout the tracks.

Online play (for 8 players max) is also included and is very palpable and accessible. At the time of writing, the game is currently only available in Europe and sees a US release date in September. Thankfully, us Brits, Frenchies, Spaniards and the like can share a localized internet affinity, so right now there is little lag online no matter where you are in Europe. Derbies, races and ragdoll stunt tournaments are fantastic fun and the fun levels skyrocket when you throw in some friends. The UI is easy to manage and the great selection of lavished tracks and outrageous cars to choose from add a lot of value to some great game modes.

Flatout: Ultimate Carnage is a greatly immersive and intense racing experience. The extensive and various modes add a great deal of longevity. If you’re a fan of out-of-control racing games you can enjoy with friends online, this is a worthy purchase and is a genuine blast to play. Because of this, I personally consider Flatout: UC a perfect summer game! Which has nothing to do with the fact there are no Yanks playing online at the moment either. Sort of.

Plenty of modes = plenty of fun

Career structure is a little slipshod

[Review originally posted on XboxElite.co.uk]