FlatOut 2 is a racing game that offers something for everybody. Single race, stunt or derby modes will best suit the dabbler. Just pick a mode, a track, a vehicle, and get to racing, death-defying, and destroying your way to victory. There is nothing to unlock, to buy, to sell or to upgrade. Some prefer to earn their keep, though, so for the arcade-racing purist there is a full career mode complete with the aforementioned unlocking and shopping as well as classes, cups, tournaments and special events. FlatOut 2’s modes can also be taken to multiplayer games via party-play (local), Internet (where a healthy group of people can still be found playing), or LAN. No matter your poison, FlatOut 2 is always all about the mayhem with its destructible environments, brutal crashes, tons of debris, and AI-controlled drivers that are not afraid to get their hands dirty.

I’m not a racing enthusiast by any stretch, but I can get down. I enjoy Forza, PGR, a bit of DIRT and a whole lot of Trackmania. I’ve even embarrassed myself by trying to play SimBin’s games. So when I saw the FlatOut games begin to drop in price on Steam, I decided it was time I gave the games a look.

I should preface by saying that I played using keyboard controls, though my Xbox 360 gamepad worked just fine when I tried it.

I began at the beginning with the original FlatOut. While fun, it definitely felt like a game from 2004 (mostly with regard to its physics), but I recognized that there was something to it. Not satisfied, I tried Ultimate Carnage, the most recent installment in the FlatOut series which was reportedly the victim on a shoddy port. This game was also fun, and the physics had come a long way in three years. While I didn’t experience prohibitive performance issues myself, I didn’t let that stop me from trying FlatOut 2. This is the “Baby Bear” of the bunch; FlatOut 2 is just right. It doesn’t have as much of the shine that Ultimate Carnage does, but it still looks great, the physics feel good, and the performance is markedly better. On top of that, it’s half the price. FlatOut 2 is the one to get, folks.

FlatOut 2 is available on Steam for $9.99.

Created, developed and published by X-Out of Dark Castle Software, Gravitron 2 is a classically styled arcade shoot’em up where gravity and inertia are both your best friend and greatest foe.

For reasons which the developer could not explain, adware was detected within the original Gravitron. The source code was reportedly lost in a hard drive crash, so it was not available for the problem to be pinpointed and possibly fixed. As a result, X-Out ceased distribution of the game but later made it available again due to demand with the caveat that adware had been detected. These adware detections were, in all likelihood, false-positives. My own scans showed no infected files (using SpyBot S&D and ClamWin) and I have played it on a number of my own computers with no issues. I don’t hold anything against the developer or his games; as far as I’m concerned, the original Gravitron is safe.

Gravitron 2 gameplay is said to be inspired by retro games of yore such as Thrust and Oids, and rightly so. Manning a small lander equipped with thrusters, activated energy shields and a laser cannon, each stage starts just after your ship breaks atmo’, at which point you’ll immediately begin plummeting to the ground below. By engaging your thrusters and spinning your ship around you’ll be tasked with taking out turrets, dodging laser beams, descending into pits, navigating caverns and even rescuing the occasional scientist, all while on your mission to destroy the reactor(s) in each stage. If you’re going for a high score, you’ll want to do this as quickly as possible; a bonus score begins ticking down from the moment the level starts. Once all reactors are destroyed, you’ll only have so much time to haul ass back into space and on to your next objective. You’ll also have to keep an eye on your health and fuel gauges; you can refill each of these by rescuing scientists and hovering or landing next to fuel depots sprinkled throughout each level.

Achievement Unlocked!

Since I think that I’ve given adequate warning of the possibility (and improbability) of adware existing in the original Gravitron, I’ll point you to it. As I said, I’ve scanned it myself and no flags were raised. It’s free from the developer’s web page. Gravitron 2 is a clear evolution from this game, though, and should definitely be looked at despite its predecessor being free.

A free demo for Gravitron 2 is available from the developer’s website. Though the full game may be available elsewhere, I’m going to suggest you purchase it through Steam for the benefit of achievements as well as automatic updates for whatever free expansions X-Out may release in the future. It will cost you only $4.99.

[Update 11/21/08]: I just read a post on the Steam forums from X-Out. He says that there will be a map pack released just before Christmas, and the level editor will be released shortly after.

This is a list of all of the cheap games we’ve featured in the blog. Every game is under $10 — many are even free! Here they are in order of price (low to high):

Gameplay-wise, it’s a hoot. Essentially you are racing against ghosts of three set times on each track (these are preset for each level). You beat the times for Bronze, Silver, or Gold and get the respective medal. [PK: A bonus set of medals are unlocked later based on the author's best time.] There are a few different types of tracks which pose different approaches, and difficulties vary the gameplay further. Multiplayer is also available in which you can race your friends on even more tracks, some which are not available in solo play.

Race – Just as it sounds: get the best time. This is a Sprint (from a starting point to an endpoint).
Endurance – Race, but with a looping track. Get the best total time in a Circuit-style.
Obstacle – The tracks will have quite a few obstacles, as the name implies. These vary from pillars to simply tracks trying to make racing difficult.
Acrobatic – Tracks with jumps, ramps, and sideways racing.
Speed – As the name implies, all about speed here. The tracks are especially built for high-octane racing and quick reflexes.

The game includes a replay editor (which you can also use to export to video as well), a track creator, and a car painter. The editing is extremely powerful. The track creator alone has dozens of pieces to lay down, not to mention elevation can be controlled. The options are wide-reaching and in the right hands they would undoubtedly be extremely powerful. The car painter has enough depth to it for some pretty crazy designs, and with some work the car is there for your creativity. A solid community exists behind the series who share tracks and custom paint jobs. There are some amazing works out there.

This is just a rough cut of the intro of a short Acrobatic track and a replay of the same track.

These pictures and the video don’t do this game justice whatsoever. It looks absolutely stunning. For being a free game it is extremely well made and I commend the developers for their work. You truly feel like you are the one burning rubber in that Indy car, tearing through the air towards the finish.

Have a good one!

You can find Trackmania Nations Forever on Steam or for the direct link, check it out here!