![]() It's a nice mix of track designs that keep you on your toes from race to race, though we're still wondering if we'll remember what any of these tracks look like a year from now. While one track may be rather open and inviting with huge turns and soft wooden fences to keep you on the track, the next might have you hopping on rooftops, through store windows and into the sides of buildings. One improvement in this area is that rather than relying on woods, more woods or a rural town setting, FlatOut 2 features tracks based in not only woodlands but full cities, fields, canals and more. FlatOut 2 does make some pretty good strides to fix this, though we still wouldn't call any of these raceways "classics". ![]() Sure, there were some pretty cool segments here and there, but just a year later it's hard to remember any specific tracks or sections from the game. One of the original FlatOut's main weaknesses was that its track design wasn't all that impressionable. The game may not be as fast or deep as some of its top-tiered competitors, but Bugbear has done a fine job at bottling chaos into a racer. With the number of things crashing down around you at essentially all times and your opponents constantly battling you and each other for placement, there's always something crazy and chaotic happening on-screen. This is easily FlatOut 2's greatest strength - the races are just pure fun. That doesn't mean that it's a total lottery drawing of whether or not you'll be able to win as skillful driving will almost always net you a finish in the top three, but it does mean that races never get boring. It's extremely common to find yourself (or any other car for that matter) move from last to first to last to first and so on before a race finally finishes. Cars will constantly smack into each other more and more as a race goes on. What this boils down to is that races become flat-out battles (pun not intended). This applies to each and every racer, so you'll constantly see one computer opponent trying to knock another one out. Everyone starts out calm and collected, but if you start pushing other racers around and attempting to knock them off the track, they'll turn around and do the same to you. The other really cool part about the other racers this time out is that they get vengeful. The result is that when you're in the fifth race of a cup and you're a point behind in the standings, you'll immediately recognize who you need to beat (or knock out) in order to stand on the highest step of the winner's podium. What does work, however, is that they always use the same vehicle for each class of car, making them easy to spot in the midst of a race. According to the splash screens during loads, each one is said to have a unique driving style and personality, though you don't really get a sense of this during any given race. They're fairly generic to be honest, but after a handful of races and looks at the leader board you'll come to know them all by name and curse them when they knock you out. Another nice improvement is that rather than racing against a field of nameless drivers, FlatOut 2 pits you against a group of seven other competitors out for blood. It's a great mix that makes the game feel much different than something like Burnout while still maintaining a nice feeling of chaotic competition. The game is certainly arcade-centric in almost every aspect of its design, but the game's handling does lean a tad towards the simulation side of racing in that you'll have to carefully manage how much gas you apply at any time. Rather than sliding all over the road like a Chihuahua on ice, the cars handle quite well and you always feel in control. a product of the e.u.One of the biggest improvements in FlatOut 2 is that vehicles handle a whole lot better than they did previously. GameSpy and the "Powered by GameSpy" design are trademarks of GameSpy Industries, Inc. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA Logo, GeForce and "The Way It's Meant to be Played" Logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. Empire, FlatOut and "E" are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Empire Interactive Europe Ltd. Game concept and development by Bugbear Entertainment Ltd. ![]()
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