Game Overview
FlatOut may not appeal to many of you out there, why buy FlatOut when we can play Burnout? You may have a point but Burnout doesn't offer you the opportunity to plough through someone’s back garden destroying everything in sight, from tables and chairs to sheds and buildings. High speed carnage is guaranteed with FlatOut and the more you destroy the more you are rewarded which is a right bonus, because we can't drive to save out lives!

As you have probably guessed already, FlatOut is all about destruction, it's the new age Destruction Derby, with normal racing, figure 8 circuits and of course the famous and ever popular Destruction Derby. The career mode will see you buying a heap of junk for a car and racing through different cups to get yourself up the ladder and progressing through the game. As you continue you will earn money (through destroying things) and will be given the opportunity to buy a variety of different cars and also parts to make your car go that little bit quicker!

Something that will grind your gears about the racing in FlatOut is the difficulty, this isn't us being rubbish at the game it seems to be a comment made across the board. One slight slip up whilst you are leading the race (if you can get into the lead) and you'll be sitting 11th or 12th and have the mammoth task of trying to get to the front again, as races are only 3 laps long you'll really struggle, this will lead to you retrying races over and over till you get it right. Quite frustrating at times.

As you may or may not be aware, FlatOut possesses something quite unique when it comes to driving games and that is rag doll physics. Smash into something hard and fast (oo-er) enough and you'll send your driver tumbling through the air hitting everything in his path. Obviously the higher and further he goes, the more you are rewarded!

The career mode to us just gives you something else to do, for us the main and most enjoyable aspect of FlatOut Ultimate Carnage are the mini games available, which are great to play with your mates and a couple cases of lager! Long jump, high jump and Destruction Derbies etc, all of which make use of the hilarious rag doll physics in one way or another. High jump, you may think requires you to drive off a ramp and get the car as high as possible, you'd be wrong, instead you have to drive to a launch point and throw your driver out of the car as high as possible, judging the angle and speed. Your driver flies through the air and the person who throws his driver the highest, wins! Great Fun!!

Our Conclusions
Visually, compared to previous FlatOut titles it looks stunning and Ultimate Carnage is undoubtedly the best title in the series. There are a few things that do get a bit annoying like the difficulty of the game being stupidly hard at times but in general FlatOut Ultimate Carnage is a wise purchase and will provide a fair bit of entertainment.

Overall Score: 7/10

Thanks to Empire and Johnny Atom Productions.