As graphics have gotten better, racing games have focused more and more on depicting spectacular crashes. FlatOut 2 may well prove the pinnacle of this trend, as in FlatOut 2, you're not just out to win races. Your goal is nothing less than the utter annihilation of the track and your seven fellow racers. Oh yeah, it's good to come in first place, too. This focus on anything-goes destruction helps keep the game fun even when the randomly spiking difficulty gets tedious.

FlatOut 2 offers a great selection of tracks and events, and all of these are nicely tied together in the challenging Career mode. Money from wins can be used to upgrade and purchase cars, and you'll earn even more for successfully demolishing your opponents during races. In addition to three car-classes worth of normal races, you'll also partake in last-man-standing demolition derbies and a variety of mini-game events, such as darts and bowling. The twist? Your hapless, ragdolling driver is ejected through the windshield to act as the dart, the bowling ball and so on. This would all be very brutal if a new life weren't a quick respawn away.

The widespread carnage is what sets FlatOut 2 apart, and it does a terrific job of selling the crashes. Car impacts are loud and violent, and never fail to be utterly satisfying. The car deformations are excellent, and it's hypnotic to watch debris from the crashes flip through the air in a realistic manner. It's also a great feeling to take out your rival at a key point in the race; it's just a pity that they respawn so quickly. Of course, you have the same privilege, and can reset your car onto the track with the press of a button.

Crash and Crash Again

You may end up doing that a lot, because FlatOut 2 has some pretty quirky handling. The game is best described as a D-pad tapper, because short, rapid taps of the D-pad are the best way to maneuver around corners and stay on the road. Despite featuring three distinct classes and a plethora of available upgrades, all of the cars drive pretty much the same. The steering feels very rigid and the cars are very prone to sliding out of control. Massive oversteer can make correcting a bad slide a challenging proposition, so sometimes you'll just have to give up and hit the respawn button, falling back a few places in the process.

Unfortunately, such mishaps can happen almost randomly because not only is the AI fairly aggressive, the physics themselves feel unpredictable. One time, I smashed right through a parked car, and all was fine. In a future race, I hit the same car and suffered a horrible spinout. Other times I've had single, tiny traffic cones raise up my front tires and hurt my speed; at other times I'd blast through them with no problem. Landing jumps is similarly hit or miss, and when you miss, you'll often get mad at the seeming unfairness of it.