There's lots to enjoy if you can get past the punishing difficulty.

User Rating: 7.5 | FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage X360
Flatout Ultimate Carnage is basically Flatout 2 at the core. But Bugbear added new gameplay modes and vastly improved the visuals. For a relatively unknown developer, this is a very good game. There is tons of destruction and the mini-games are awesome. You'll have to get past the insane difficulty though.

At the main menu, you have the choice of Flatout Mode, Carnage Mode, Single Race, Xbox Live and Party Play. Flatout Mode is basically a career mode made up of cups and bonus events including derby's and special races. You can buy, sell, and upgrade cars to improve performance. This game is very tough, and you'll find that out very quickly.

The controls are extremely loose and will lead to frustration. You learn to get used to them, but you will often loose control of your ride often. Adding to this is insane Artificial Intelligence that will get ahead, and won't let you catch up. Luckily, you don't need to win every single race to advance, and you'll still earn money to upgrade your ride.

There is also Carnage Mode. Basically, it's a series of challenges consisting of beat the bomb, derbys, carnage races, and stunts. Just like Flatout Mode, the difficuly is punishing as some of the goals are insanely challenging to achieve. You're awarded bronze, silver, or gold depending on your performance and get rewarded points which open up more events.

What makes Flatout different is how chaotic the races are. There are tons of destructible pieces in the environment and you earn nitro by plowing into objects or other racers. It's extremely fun and satisfying to ram into other racers causing their driver to fly out the windshield. It also makes the game difficult. But if the races stress you out, the mini-games are a great way to relieve stress. You have 12 mini-games including basketball, soccer, bowling, royal flush, high jump, and others. All are equally awesome, but bowling is worth $20 on it's own.

The game has some stunning visuals including awesome lighting and water effects. Vehicle damge is detailed, and the environments and the objects in them look great. The frame-rate is smooth with no slow-down. Audio is decent with good sound effects and okay soundtrack.

Overall- There's a lot to enjoy here if you can deal with the difficulty. The game is beautiful, has lots of modes, and is fun to play. This game is not for casual gamers.

Visuals- 9.0
Audio- 7.5
Controls- 6.5
Gameplay- 7.5
Replay- 8.0
Multiplayer- 7.5
Downloadable Content- N/A

Overall- 7.5