Distributed by
Empire

Price: £39.99 Players: 1, online 2-8 Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: Yes Downloadable content: No Flatout: Ultimate Carnage is the third in a series of games I hadn't entered into before. It looked like an entertaining pile of crash-bang-wallop and, to a large extent, it is, but there are some problems with it. First off, let's see what options you've got in racing your car which is what you buy this game to find out - after all, there's certainly not a story to be concerned with here. The first mode is the Flatout Mode. In this, you'll play out lots of races and replay them, if you so desire, so you can aim to come first, second or third, since that's the aim of this part of the game. However, like Burnout Revenge, you're doing the same racetracks again and again, only with slight tweaks in difference, which becomes increasingly repetitive and you'll turn away from that style of game before long, even though it is fantastic to crash into big things and see the debris twist and turn all around you. Differing from the norm, this mode also included the Derby's Last Man Standing game in which you must all drive at each other in a big parking lot, ramming aplenty until you're... yes, the last man standing. Well, the last car not completely FUBAR'd, anyway.

Then comes the Carnage Mode. There's a number of different games to play here, unlocking more as you go, starting with as a Carnage Race where you go round the same track crashing as much as possible and passing through the checkpoints in order to progress. 'High Jump' is where you get to send an unwilling volunteer head first, without a safety harness, into a target at the far end of the pitch or in a new form of 10-pin bowling. This is great fun with the ragdoll physics really putting your guy through the pain barrier. 'Beat the Bomb' means driving at speed along a track in order to pass through checkpoints before the clock runs out, otherwise it's boom-time! In other modes there are time-trials and bonus races to play out, plus Xbox Live options such as Deathmatch Derbies and Head-On race modes.

Flatout: Ultimate Carnage deserves 5/5 for graphics based alone on the explosions and flying debris effects, but then it's easy to see this title's claim that, as well as the real-world physics, the vehicles are made from over 40 deformable parts and there's over 8000 destructible objects on every track. That said, the gameplay suffers a bit in that your car feels like it's floating on air rather than having the right amount of substance. The sound, however, leaves a lot to be desired, consisting of the usual rasping engine sounds and a rock track of identical tunes, none of which leaves a lasting impression on one's aural tastebuds. Overall, this title does have a fair bit of fun to play through but there's no getting away that it will be dwarfed by the upcoming Burnout Paradise in September and although you'll spend a number of hours experiencing that "just one more go" factor - particularly since every little crash means more nitro power added to your booster to get you zooming ahead faster, it won't be enough to justify the full-price tag and the addition of a leaderboard where your score in each race is ranked separately amongst several thousand other anonymous username doesn't lift it out of that. However, it does remain a good filler until the next episode in that series comes along.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2007.