Good game with few good ideas, nice graphics and physics. Very annoying at times. Overal above the average.
I'm not good in writing prolonged introductions so lets get down to the business.
OK. so we R in the menu. There are few game types to chose from: Carnage, Single Events, Multi and Carreer called here the Flatout mode. We buy a car (or rather a wreck (that we can tune up later)) and start the race. Hmm... some loading screens are stretched from the 4:3 aspect ratio to fit the screen... Ok, so the race begins. I don't particullary like the handlig of the car (of all of them actually) that doesn't give you enough control over what is going on with it. It often happens that you bump into things and other cars struggling to drive in a straight line. It can be really frustrating at times. On the other hand we don't drive F1 cars but wrecs from a city's dump (4 real;). Your competitors don't help. Their driving is very aggressive and they fight for every position. Truth, I can't relly tell what was the last game I played in which other drivers behaved so aggresively. I like it;] All what I have said before sums up to what is happening on the screen right after you start a race. Total mayhem. Oh my... how is it possible that PSP can run physics of so many objects on the screen? Every fence, pile of tires or wood and many other things can be destroyed. I'm impressed. When it comes to the visuals I won't get into details here. If you are reading this it means that you know what it looks like. In comparison to other driving games I would place it on the same shelf with Midnight Club so its pretty good. Apart from ordinary races we have many mini games such us Crash-up Derby and all sorts of driver-flying-out-of-the-wind-shield games;] Why the note is only "8". The answer is RESTART BUTTON. It is sooo annoying! Normally when you crash, which happens very often, you can restart your position on the track. Not in here though. You press the button repeatedly few times but nothing happens. What is going on? PSP let's you restart your position only when it thinks your position is so bad that you wouldn't be able to get back on the track without loosing too much time. In other words you cannot restart in a situation like when you crash, become airborn, swoop couple a times in the air and land outside the track facing the road. It is sick. What is more, when you do restart you most often end up four or five places behind everybody!
All in all the game is good and enjoyable but, at times, can be very frustrating. If you don't handle stress very well don't buy it. I hope that my review helped you in making your decision. Cheers