FlatOut 2

The game is speedy, thrilling and has a lot of variety in terms of car gameplay and race tracks. Also, if you're looking for console session in form of split-screen local multiplayer, you can download a free mod to this game from Steam that makes the ps2 and Xbox experience come directly to your modern PC monitor.

Please read (6/10) A massive improvement over the first game, and surprisingly one of the most fun racing games I’ve played in a while. I came into FlatOut 2 with absolutely no nostalgia for the series. I’d never played these games growing up, so I’m judging it entirely on how it feels to play today. After giving FlatOut 1 a 4/10, I honestly wasn’t expecting FlatOut 2 to win me over as much as it has. The biggest improvement for me is the handling. The cars actually feel fun to drive now. There’s still plenty of chaos and unpredictability, but it feels intentional rather than frustrating. Crashing into other cars, smashing through objects and launching people through the windscreen never really gets old. There’s also a much better sense of variety. Different cars actually feel different, the tracks are much more enjoyable, and there are loads of different events to keep things moving. The destruction is still a huge part of the game, but it doesn’t feel like the entire game is relying on one gimmick. What I particularly like is how pick-up-and-play it is. There’s no huge amount of stuff getting in the way—you can basically load the game up, choose what you want to do and start causing absolute carnage. I’ve even found myself enjoying it more by increasing the number of races and just letting the chaos unfold. It also has that perfect arcade-racing feeling where you can be having a completely normal race one second and then suddenly someone gets launched through the air, a pile-up happens in front of you and the whole race turns into absolute madness. My only real criticism is that I’m still not completely convinced there’s enough variety in the cars and content to keep me interested indefinitely. I’m someone who likes a lot of variety, so that’s something I’ll have to see as I play further. But compared with FlatOut 1, this is a completely different experience for me. FlatOut 1 felt like a game I was trying to appreciate because I could see what it was trying to do. FlatOut 2 feels like a game I’m actually having fun playing, I only had too play for a few hours to see the difference. I sadly downloaded another game and got hooked on that hence the current low play time HOWEVER I will be returning... No nostalgia, no childhood memories influencing my opinion—just genuinely good arcade racing. FlatOut 2 has surprised me.

I very much recommend this game but it has some cons for me: - Bad handling and I play with an XBOX series X controller. It's like the car is barely responsive. Like the wheels don't turn all the way EDIT: after upgrading the handling and even purchasing the weight reduction upgrade it feels slightly better, but it still feels like the wheels don't turn all the way. - The races don't feel satisfying because the cars feel slow and the handling doesn't help either. EDIT: Derby class cars felt a bit slow. Race and street class cars are much faster. - - Also, I know the appeal of this game is supposed to be crashing into other cars and destroying them, but I barely hit other cars. The only cars I usually fully destroy are Sofia Martinez small car (in derby class) and Katie Jackson (in street class). - The music is good but the playlist is not big so it gets repetitive. Maybe the solution could be to install a mod that expands the music playlist. - BUG: When in Steam overlay the controls still affect the game like you press ENTER in steam overlay it presses ENTER in the game as well. Also, when I play with a controller, and I tab out or go to Steam overlay the vehicle doesn't go. For some reason, only when I press Y or B it can start going. Update: Sometimes it even doesn't let me drive and I have to move forward with the keyboard and continue with controller... buggy asf. - BUG: Sometimes the race starts with you looking backwards and there's no way to fix that other than exiting the race and going back in a few times.