- Developer(s) Team6 Game Studios
- Publisher(s) Strategy First
- Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
- Release date(s)
Microsoft Windows
13 December 2011 - Genre(s) Racing
Developed by Netherlands-based Team 6 Game Studios, Flatout 3 has nothing in common with the high-quality, Bugbear-developed Flatout games of years past. The rustic charm of the original demolition racers, with their wonderfully damageable backwoods vehicles and inventive track layouts, has given way to a collection of coarsely rendered cars, trucks, and racing venues that look to have been compiled with pre-DirectX graphic technology from a decade ago.
How ugly is it? When I took my first spin in the appropriately named "Grinder" classic muscle car, it took exactly one corner before the surrounding scenery disintegrated into a pixelated mess of explosions, flashing lights (I think those were meant to be flames), and toothpick-shaped sparks. There are only a few driving views—bumper cam or vision-obscuring chase cams—so it was hard to do a proper sightseeing tour, but that was clearly a blessing in disguise. The fictional urban and countryside driving locations are nothing more than obstacle-choked (some destructible, most not) bottlenecks that are about as attractive and speed-enabling as your local landfill.
In an attempt to flesh out Flatout 3's gameplay depth, the developers inflated the single-player experience to include nine different disciplines—Race; Challenge; Off Road; Night Shift; Speed; Monster Trucks; Battle Arena; Big Battle; and Stunt Man. There is no proper career mode to follow and, as intriguing as some of these variants sound, none are likely to sustain your interest for more than a few minutes. That's partly due to the coarse graphics, but more because of the complete lack of any vehicle physics. Zero. Nada.
Pile Driver
This is especially evident in the circuit racing events where you'll be lucky to make it a hundred yards down the track before you're in the middle of an AI-created pileup. After extricating yourself, you'll soon discover that your high-performance vehicle is little more than a motorized pinball you're just hoping to nurse to the end. There's no discernable connection with the road (dirt or pavement) translatable to real world driving, so your only recourse is to boost ahead whenever prudent(strangely enough, boosts also help repair your damage) and try to manipulate your ride through the corners with unrealistic handbrake and throttle bursts. If you enjoy viewing replays, you're also out of luck -- there aren't any. I don't think Team 6 wants anyone studying its over-bloomed, rinky-dink graphics engine too closely.
It gets worse in the demolition derby bits, Battle Arena and Big Battle. So much so that you'll probably want to squeeze these slipshod backdrops from your visual cortex with some full-on squints as you maneuver your minimally responsive pinball away from—and into—your opponents before they bash your health meter down to zero. The Monster Truck mode is equally unfulfilling, despite the addition of specific tasks and goals.
Operating system:Windows® XP
Processor: Intel® 2 GHz dual core CPU
Memory: 2 GB
Video: Nvidia GeForce 8600+ / AMD Radeon HD X2600+
Internet:Broadband Internet Connection
DirectX®: DirectX® 9.0c
Hard disk space: 16 GB
Sound: DirectX® compatible Onboard Soundcard
Supported Input Devices: Keyboard, Joystick, XBox Controller, Gamepad, Microsoft Controller for Windows
Additional Notes: Also supports Razer Hydra.
Recommended:
Operating system:Windows® 7
Processor: Intel® Quadcore
Memory: 4 GB
Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 / AMD Radeon HD 6970
Internet:Broadband Internet Connection
DirectX®: DirectX® 9.0c
Hard disk space: 20 GB
Sound: DirectX® compatible Soundcard
Direct Link
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 1
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 2
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 3
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 4
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 5
- Download FlatOut 3 Part 6
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