Flatout 4 review drivers#

Something more like previous FlatOut custodian Bugbear’s authentic, slower, and more tactical approach with its similarly destruction-centric racer Wreckfest, even if that game has been in Steam Early Access for going on 400 years now.

I would definitely prefer something with a better sense of weight, with collisions that feel real. They’re a bit shallow cars become virtual missiles, boosting and crunching through doomed opponents like paper.

Flatout 4 review drivers#

The AI drivers aren't quite clever enough to catch you up here.They can mount a reasonable resistance in FlatOut 4’s deathmatch and destruction derby games but I’m not a huge fan of the way they play out. They’re fairly easily outfoxed in things like Capture the Flag, too (driving high and fast on the near-vertical walls of the destruction bowls really messes with their minds). Other times I’d get out ahead and gallop away, winning by 10 seconds or more. On some occasions, after becoming embroiled in some bedlam on the start line, I’d often find myself struggling to catch the frontrunners despite putting in mistake-free laps (if you get turned around or trapped in a first corner pile-up, just restart the race). It’s not so much that it’s very aggressive (it is, but this is a destruction racer). These Sods Must Be CrazyFlatOut 4’s arcade handling model is a bit light but mostly adequate, though its AI is slightly less so. It didn’t take long at all until I was getting very bored of seeing the same track, either forwards or in reverse, every few races. The big problem with the tracks is that they’re quite limited (even with reverse versions) and they don’t really do a lot to distinguish themselves from each other. The tracks themselves are reasonably reminiscent of those found in the old games – debris-filled courses snaking through forests, factories, cluttered lumber yards, a dusty red desert, and frozen towns – but none are especially memorable. The racing itself is a bit less interesting overall. It’s good that FlatOut 4 packs a bespoke, same-screen multiplayer stunt mode because if any mode is going to claim even the temporary attention of groups of rowdy revheads and Rocket League lovers, it’ll be this one. Scoring exactly 25 points takes some serious tactics.You can either tackle these stunts solo, seeking to rule the online leaderboards, or hit them up in pass-the-controller couch multiplayer. I’m confused by the likes of long jump, however, which has a net at the end of the landing zone and thus a maximum distance that can be regularly reached and never beaten. I also really like the golf minigame (scoring a hole-in-one is truly satisfying, and so is nailing your driver’s landing and subsequent slide to reach the furthest greens). I particularly dig ‘Finnish Pins’, which demands both skill and strategy to achieve the correct score of exactly 25. These ragdoll physics games are dating a bit but they’re still good fun here, and the stadium is filled with 12 ridiculous, driver-tossing minigames like curling, beer pong, billiards, and more.

“It’s definitely the stunt arena where FlatOut 4 sticks closest to the series’ earlier spirit.