The game’s concept is simple. Race your car as hard and as fast as you can, to win as many races as possible, to earn money for upgrades and unlock some enjoyable bonus features. The gamer goes on a circuit of many different sorts of races to get through three different racing levels. The bronze, silver and gold levels have races on asphalt roads, dirt roads, and even races on slippery snow and ice. (Those people who live in the north will understand what it is like to race in this type of environment.) As the racer places in different races, they earn money to buy upgrades for their cars, as well as opportunities to buy other vehicles to race with. The selection is not very large, but does give the gamer an ownership of what they are doing. The game is not extremely difficult to play, since once the gamer takes a trip or two through each of the tracks, they will understand what is needed to place in the top three. I found that any skill level of video game player will understand and accomplish victories in many of the tracks that are offered.

What is fun about this game are the bonus features that the gamer can unlock by finishing in the top three of each of the races at each level. This was an enjoyable feature of the game, that reminded me of short intermissions between the normal game play of quarter arcade games, where gamers can use the game’s functions and concept to take a break from the normal racing action. The concept of throwing your driver from the seat of their car, through their windshield and launching them to record how high they can go, or send them through a dartboard is a bit amusing. Some other bonus games were the long toss of the driver (think Carl Lewis and the long jump), and bowling (yes, think of your driver as the bowling ball). Another bonus game is the demolition derby … sheer brilliance. What red-blooded American who has been to the county fair has not wanted to be a part of pure mechanical mayhem. The derby feature was fun, with different arenas to drive in and smash up other cars. One thing that the creators seem to have missed on this was that I was not able to play the demolition derby online against human competitors. Oh man, to have a shot at some of my friends who decided to use my Schwinn ten-speed as a demolition dummy as a little kid.

The gamer will find that the graphics for the game are above average for a racing game. The tracks are well lined out, and the damage that the cars take in a race is fun and exciting. The obstacles that are placed as part of the demolition track are extremely well defined, and the action that they employ is lifelike. I did find the music track got a bit annoying after awhile. There did not seem to be real variety in music - and to game developers, guys, not all the people that play these games live to have a heavy metal soundtrack. Controls are extremely easy to master, even for those who were born without a gamepad in their hands. Triggers are throttle and reverse, while the thumbstick or thumbpad can be used to control the car’s direction.

FlatOut is a game everyone can enjoy for awhile. The game is rated T for teens, probably because your driver tends to get thrown from his (or her) car on many occasions. Unfortunately, the driver doesn’t learn from past mistakes and this happens so frequently that you’ll ask yourself, “Will they please just put on a seatbelt?” Another annoyance (though it is part of the game as a demolition race game) is that the computer drivers are crazy and would rather go through you then around you. It just seems to consistently happen at the worst time possible. The bonus games are enjoyable and can be tremendously competitive when playing with other friends. I did find it fun to do for awhile, but the excitement wore off as we figured out how to get high scores. The racing is good, and once again very similar to games of the past in that, no matter how beat up your car gets, it still runs like brand new. Definitely rent this game before you buy it; some might find it fun to play time and time again, others may not.