What's the word on FlatOut? I popped over to Gamespot to see what they had to say about it and their review opened with "After last year's thoroughly disappointing Test Drive: Eve of Destruction, it seemed like the notion of the demolition racer had all but gassed out in this day and age." I'm seeking a second opinion.
It seems to be hovering in the 70-80% range on GameRankings.
Yeah, I think you can quit reading after that line. FlatOut is pretty weak, unless you get your jollies off seeing a ragdoll physics dude shooting through a windshield. Which is entertaining for about three, maybe four times.Originally Posted by Gamespot
-Tom
Flatout is super disappointing, and the racing is terrible. Oh, and the music sucks, too. Can't think of anything else that you need to know.
flatout sucks.
The only positive things I've heard about this game were the graphics, the damage modeling and the mini games where you have to throw your driver out of the windshield into a target. Oh, and inexplicably, the only multiplayer support for the PC version is LAN. Sad, too, because I've been looking forward to this game for a while. :(
Even more inexplicably, the ps2 version supports racing and demolitiond derby online, but with no voice comms, while the frigging Xbox version, which one would expect to have the best multiplayer out there, ONLY has racing. What the hell? Could they have been lazier? And the manual is a whopping 13 pages. Utterly useless. Everything about this title has left me feeling that it was lazy.
Hmmm. I don't think you guys are leaving much grey area, here.
So since I never picked up Trackmania, I should get Trackmania Sunshine instead, right?
Yes. I love that game. It's probably my favorite racing game of all-time.
Flatout has some fun racing, but compared to EOD it pales as a game. It's a shame to hear that they borked the multiplayer, I was keen to see how that panned out (we didn't get multi in the PAL release). Graphically, I think FO is much better but yeah, get EOD instead if you're looking for some redneck racing.
There's a *lot* of fun to be had with TMS, and given the relatively cheap price and masses of free addon tracks, it's a good deal (try the demo first if you're not sure).
Oh, and you haven't already, John, make sure you pick up "last year's thoroughly disappointing Test Drive: Eve of Destruction". It's a stellar driving game and one of the best I've ever played.
-Tom
So, Tom, I take it that the "meat" of EoD was the career mode? I played around with the quick action modes and while it was certainly OK, it didn't knock my socks off.
One of the best driving games ever - IF YOU LIKE THOROUGH DISAPPOINTMENT.
Yeah, the career mode was great. You wanted a couple of different types of cars in your garage for different races; basically one for speed and one for durability. The drive-around-town stuff was pointless, but the tournaments were great. During some of the harder tournaments, you had to manage damage. And it was always cool buying better cars and feeling how differently they handled.
Also, the multiplayer is spectacular, particularly the different kinds of races and the way you get a bunch of AI drivers in 2-player games. But quick action is fine for trying different kinds of races and racking up points to unlock the special cars and those various cheat modes.
Man, I'm gonna have to go play me some right now. "Thoroughly disappointing" my Arkansan ass! I don't see how someone can boot up a game of Detention with the marauding school bus and not instantly fall in love with Eve of Destruction.
-Tom
It's pretty easy, so long as they've played Burnout 3. ;)
Yeah, there's a used copy of Eve of Destruction at my local Gamestop that I've had my eye on for a while. I will pick up the PC Version of Trackmania this weekend, probably, if I can find it somewhere. Thanks for the advice, guys.
I saw a TM: Sunrise sitting at CompUSA, 30 bucks. Good choice.
I generally leave my racing games for the consoles, but this Trackmania business looks tempting, what with the user created tracks and whatnot. Is it enjoyable on a PC with just keyboard and mouse or would I need a wheel?
Definitely no wheel required - I've just migrated from the keyboard to my gamepad though, analogue control is marginally better but not essential to the game.
I agree completely on the comparison of the two.
Sadly here in NZ we only got the PS2 version of EOD, albeit at a cheap price. The XBox version was supposed to be released but evaporated at some point. I wanted to check out the XBox version in the hope it had cleaner graphics.. (not that there was anything especially bad about the PS2 version).
Getting tempted by TM though.
The two are nothing alike, short of the fact that they both have cars and crashing. The gameplay in EoD is vastly different than the insanely fast-paced racing of Burnout 3. I really like both games, but for different reasons.It's pretty easy, so long as they've played Burnout 3. ;)
I own both Burnout 3 and Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. I owned B3 for about a month before owning Eve. I had 5 or 6 friends who loved B3. Now that I own Eve, no one has touched, or even mentioned, B3, for about 4 months. One neat thing is that women enjoy playing multiplayer Eve, whereas none give a crap about B3.
One thing that FO gets right that EOD (and other racing games) gets wrong is this constant idea that putting the player at the back of the field for the start of the race everytime is a good thing. Wrong. At least in FO the cars start across the start line together, the worst you get is a bad hole shot for the first corner.
Where FO goes completely wrong is that in order to score boost, you basically have to hit things - as far as I can work out, there's no way to score boost by driving well or performing stunts that don't affect your speed, like BO3's driving into oncoming traffic or sliding.
"Don't you blaspheme in here! Don't you blaspheme in here!"
- Aretha Franklin
Agreed on this one. I've played so much EOD with a friend it's silly. Wonderfully awesome driving game.
Just in case it wasn't obvious, I was trying to tweak Chick about EOD, much as I do about Deus Ex, and he has irritatingly failed to take the bait. I haven't even PLAYED EOD.
I'm resurrecting this thread. Flatout 2 takes everything that was fun in Flatout 1-- which was a lot-- and improves it with even more racin' smashin' awesomeness. Recommended.
Plus, no StarForce in the US version!
Love the Flatout (1 & 2). Takes actual driving skill, not just full on gas-mashing. Yes, it's frustrating, but all the more satisfying to win. Also own two copies of EOD (one to keep, one to loan).
There's a Flatout 3 out now, but it's by a different developer that's mostly known for shovelware. I'm watching them play it on the Yogscast stream, and it looks terrible.
Last edited by Fugitive; 12-15-2011 at 12:42 PM. Reason: removed stream link, they're no longer playing
Speaking of thread necros, why the hell hasn't anyone ever picked up the trailer-trash racin' gauntlet that Monster Games threw down with EoD? Good lord that was like my favorite racing game (and the only one I played through) in 10 years.
Test Drive: Eve of Destruction? Lordy lord I love that game, almost wanna get a PS2 or Xbox just to play it.
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