Flatout 3 chaos destruction walkthrough. Armageddon postponed until better times

FULL TITLE: FlatOut 3: Chaos and Destruction

DEVELOPER: Team6 Game Studios

PUBLISHER: strategy first

PLATFORM: PC

GENRE: Racing

Like snow on our heads, the announcement of the third part of the legendary FlatOut racing series hit us. What do not say, but it's nice when some kind of exit interesting game they say only a week before its release - you don’t have to torment yourself with long expectations. But the joy immediately gave way to a bad feeling, as soon as it became clear that the Bugbear studio, responsible for the previous parts of the franchise, was left out of work. The work on the triquel was handed over to developers from Team6 Game Studios, who have not created a single game in their long existence. worthy project and, sadly, did not become the game that could shake this well-established trend.

The newly minted heir to the series immediately upsets the player with the absence of any career mode, here even game currency no: new cars are given to you as a gift for successfully completed tasks. Instead, there are as many as nine different modes to choose from, available for both single player and online play. Classic Race, as before, is a ring race on various types of terrain with the participation of fifteen rivals.

It is this mode, like no other, that clearly demonstrates one of the most important shortcomings of the project - simply disgusting collision and control physics. It will take a long time to drive along the first proposed track in order to get the coveted first place, and the point here is not at all overly complicated - the car behaves extremely inadequately on the road, and an opponent who accidentally hits you can easily turn the car over one hundred and eighty degrees, even from a small touch.

All of the above completely kills the chance to get at least some pleasure from racing during FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction- basically game process causes only irritation. The player must constantly be in suspense in order to keep the naughty vehicle, and to hit the opponent’s car on the side or in the rear bumper, which in the previous parts brought a lot of joy, there is no desire anymore, because after the collision the car can behave extremely unpredictably and you have to start all over again. By the way, the number of competitors, as well as the number of laps, can be easily adjusted before each race.

In Stunt Man mode, as before, you need to perform various tricks in the air by the driver, after accelerating and throwing him higher. Usually the tasks come down to a simple hit of a man in the center of the target, but there are also exotic types of pampering: for example, local analogues of golf and pinball. These fun are the few things that the game can please, but they are still far from the madness offered in the sequel, especially since the cat cried missions in the local mode and you can complete them all in less than an hour.

After driving on local tracks has ruffled your nerves enough, and the driver’s ejection gets boring (believe me, you won’t have to wait long), you can take out your anger on the developers in the local counterparts of Destruction Derby - the Big Battle and Battle Arena modes. Each of them offers five arenas for creating a real karmagedon: machines ram each other at all times, trying to blow up as many opponents as possible and, accordingly, earn as many points as possible.

In fact, all this action looks routine, boring and monotonous, and the end of the battle (if you live to see it) can be compared to two boxers tired to death, languidly hugging so as not to fall into the ring. We simply accelerate and ram, accelerate and ram, and some cars are so tenacious that it takes five minutes each to football them. Well, the scoring system in FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction is not subject to any logic - in three minutes of clumsy driving, you can earn ten times more than in fifteen minutes of neat and thoughtful maneuvers.

In the Monstertrucks mode, we will be allowed to ride jeeps with giant wheels. The tasks here are simple and uncomplicated: crush a certain number of barrels / buses / cars in the allotted time. The procedure is rather boring, especially since all the tasks of this mode are performed on the same map. Distinguished only by the mission, in which you need to get to the sea mine and be the first to push it into a large hole. I am glad that the Formula 1 cars and the corresponding racing tracks appeared in the game.

The Speed ​​mode, for which the developers have added this class of cars, is done very well and will allow you to relax a little in between other types of competitions. The thing is that driving cars is quite easy and, oddly enough, you can even afford such a luxury as ramming rivals: unlike ordinary muscle and sports cars, these graceful horses do not fly off in a chaotic direction from the impact, but obediently obey your commands.

Also in the game there are separate competitions that take place exclusively at night. The tracks for these races have completely migrated from the Race mode, but there is no desire to scold the developers for such a hack: not only is visibility on night tracks not as good as in daylight, but we are also poured with very heavy rain, which, albeit slightly, but still affects handling.

There is almost nothing to please off-road lovers, the Offroad mode in FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction has only four tracks (two in one direction and two in the other). Tasks are an ordinary sprint race, but taking first place here is not the main task. The winner is the player who has scored the most points, which are awarded for jumping, drifting, destroying objects and ramming opponents.

The local soundtrack is rather boring and cannot be compared with the wonderful driving compositions from the previous parts. A dozen mediocre melodies quickly become boring and soon there is a strong desire to turn down the volume of the music to the “0” mark. The graphics are also missing stars from the sky: such a picture would look good only on the previous generation of consoles. Igrodely from the Netherlands tried to hide all the shortcomings behind a dense layer of blur and other post-effects.

Getting through to someone in multiplayer is an almost impossible task: it feels like everyone around has died out and you are the only one playing this game. The maximum number of players that I have seen on the network is equal to two, and I will tell you honestly that there is nothing to do here with such an “extensive” team. A week after the release, the developers kindly provided the first patch, which really fixes some flaws in the balance and bugs. For example, the easy difficulty level is now really easy, and the sound of the motors racing cars no longer disappears after crashes.

The change of developer went to the game is clearly not good. I will say more, releasing a project of this quality with the word "FlatOut" in the title is a real disgusting on the part of Team6 in relation to the players. FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction is an attempt by a little-known studio to make as much money as possible from a famous franchise. Inconvenient controls, nightmarish physics and outdated graphics can only annoy the player. The project is clearly not worth your money and time, this is not the same FlatOut ...

FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction- arcade racing game, the third in a series of popular survival races, where cars of different stripes participate. The main task is not to lead the race, but to stay alive by the end of the race. You and the opponents will do their best to push each other off the track, send each other to a serious obstacle or create an insurmountable obstacle with the help of objects surrounding the track. As fans of the series have already gotten used to, in the third part there will be several different modes - a tournament, arcade races and much more, in particular, the developers did not get rid of their beloved mini-game mode, where you can play a kind of darts or bowling with a car driver flying out through the windshield in a collision.

Game features

• The modified graphics engine allows you to place up to several dozen interactive, destructible objects on each track;
• The fleet consists of 47 vehicles of various types and models. In some of the modes, it is possible to upgrade and improve the main components of the car according to your driving style;
• There are nine different game modes, including epic races, where the player has to go through all 62 tracks in order, participating in crazy survival races;
• The multiplayer mode has at its disposal 8 different types of races, the number of participants in which can reach up to 24.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous parts, this time the developers did not pay much attention to the realism of the physical model, but focused on the drive and adrenaline blasts that will accompany the player throughout every minute of the race. There will be everything here, dizzying flights, incredible stunts and many, many fights on the track, with the enemy and obstacles placed everywhere by track designers and created by your opponents. In most races, the last person will think about the place at the finish line. It will be a big difficulty here to get to the finish line in general, since everything in the game is against you, rivals, a recalcitrant track, a car that strives to break into another uncontrollable skid. Also, do not forget about the huge number of various obstacles and tricks created by your opponents to block your path or even take you out of the race.

Passing opportunities

In total, the game features 9 different modes, each of them has its own special zest, its own flavor, but they all have one thing in common - destruction elevated to the absolute. It doesn't matter whether you're racing in circuit racing or taking on an epic journey through all the tracks, fighting a crowd of opponents in the arena to the point of annihilation, or throwing an unfortunate driver through the windshield at an impromptu target, everything here is filled with the spirit of destruction, because it breaks and explodes, falls apart and almost everything shatters with a terrible roar, not excluding cars and parts of the tracks.

Flatout 3: Chaos & Destruction- unexpectedly announced new part excellent racing arcade series Flatout, wherein Team 6 Game Studios promised more and better. Heaps of tracks, modes, cars and thousands of destructible objects on the way. Plus innovations, such as night races, off-road racing and auto-battles on bigfoots. release date Flat out 3- December 13, 2011. Unfortunately, this game has very little in common with previous parts, not counting the name and design of the menu. And that's why:

Genre: Racing

Developer: Team 6 Game Studios

Publisher: strategy first

Chaos and destruction...

Last year's flat out for Wii from the Dutch studio Team 6, which specializes in the development of cheap and trash racing, still buried the once great racing series. Okay NFS, which each year already acquires two games in different planes, there is at least plenty to choose from. With one of the most beautiful races about accidents and destruction, it turned out much sadder.

publishing house strategy first assured that Flatout 3: Chaos & Destruction will be a direct continuation Flatout 2 2006. If you remember, the second part, like Ultimate Carnage, is one of the most beautiful and driving racing with excellent destructibility on the tracks, which to this day can only compete with Burnout.

Funeral series

It's a pity that the Finnish studio Bugbear Entertainment refused to take up work on the next part, because after getting acquainted with the new product it becomes obvious: the Dutch, to put it mildly, are not the best igrodely on the planet. The developers decided to cram this "threequel" to the maximum: keep 62 tracks in a dozen cramped and uncomfortable locations (by the way, 20 thousand destructible objects are really present on each!), 20 characters, 47 cars, nine modes single player and as many as eight multiplayer modes, supporting up to 16 people online. And, of course, the main "trick" of the series is not forgotten - all kinds of trick modes in which you need to throw the unfortunate driver through the windshield so that he beautifully crashes into any obstacle or burns out in a huge circus hoop.

For thrash lovers

All this in the game is present and puzzling. And why is all this necessary if the physics and graphics are at the level of five years ago, and even from the studio that invented non-playable arcade games. From appearance The game really gets tired after a few minutes. Toxic colors, prehistoric textures and eye-catching light - it's the end of the world! Not to mention the "childish" physical model, thanks to which the cars weigh almost nothing and even with light collisions they fly along the track like rubber balls.

And the most annoying thing is that it was the nightmarish technical execution that ruined everything that theoretically could turn Flatout 3: Chaos & Destruction into a good, extended sequel. Not complete slag, of course, but you can play this only if you perceive the game as a cheap parody of the still first-class Flatout 2.

Appearance Flat Out 3 on PC vividly reminded me of the scene about the two "nerds" from the movie "Cards, Money, Two Smoking Barrels":

Same with Team6 (in recent times silently carving Wii crafts) - as if a few people left the office for a year or two, and returned with a release version, boxes full of DVDs, and a pile of printed covers. This, of course, is an invention, but let there be cheerful associations than mournful howls and lamentations.

Ruin, Philip Philipovich

In fact, nothing terrible happened. Family flat out feels great thanks to Steam, and as for the alleged third part, it will quickly drown in the gaming swamp. Team6 is lucky that now few will remember her opuses 8 years ago. I, as a well-deserved liquidator of junk that the Dutch and Xing Interactive spawned in the mid-2000s, can clearly see: they got exactly the same game as always.

No, it's not the same though. This is their best game ever. Better ATV Mudracer(10%) and Shanghai Street Racer(10%)! Better Taxi Racer London 2(16%) and Taxi Racer New York 2(16%)! Better Elite Helisquad Defender(nineteen%)! This is what should have been written in a press release, and not boring bait like “realistic damage model”. Here the creators had to strain all their abilities - I don’t know, the name flat out worked or Strategy First ... In general, Team6 stuffed into Flat Out 3 so many things that now, probably, will gain strength for a few more years. But she probably won't get another chance.

In every textbook for mediocre developers, the second commandment (after "Never make a game") should read: "Never take on a continuation of a well-known series." Team6 violated the first one a long time ago, but at the very least managed to cope with the second one, sitting quietly on their reservation. Who will take products with type names seriously Pizza Dude or Scooter War3z? With flat out otherwise - too much unnecessary and deadly for Chaos & Destruction attention. Therefore, five minutes is enough for this misunderstanding to expire. It is a pity that the review cannot be ended on such a glorious note, but I will try to poke a stick and wipe my feet for a while.

Where everything is just beginning for normal projects (modes, cars, characters, teams, etc.), for Flat Out 3 everything suddenly ends - there is no interesting entertainment here. Apparently, guessing that Bugbear's talent and imagination are not to compete with, the authors tried to take us with an assortment. You can find a lot of things in their game, from off-road races to tiny "formula" stages with cars almost glued to the pavement, from vague bigfoot missions (to knock down five burning buses - why?) to night duels in the rain (a unique invention! ). The usual career is a rambling set of races in different locations, Team6 doesn't know how to do it any other way. Classic Destruction Derby - already in two versions: a bunch of little for 16 participants and a bunch of little for 24 participants. Prize money? Tuning? Upgrades are free and at the touch of a button. The most dreary impression, in addition to the design of the menu and interface, leaves the “Stuntman” section, since the main occupation in it is aimed ejection at a target. His rules look especially perverted: a single attempt; you need to get strictly in the "bull's eye"; reconnaissance of the territory is not provided; the flight of the inflated carcass of the driver, the ball bouncing on the ground, can be controlled a little.

Of course, circuit racing and arena battles are always a win-win. Trails during Flat Out 3 really not bad, they have a huge amount of garbage and pyrotechnic traps at every turn (in the form of scrap metal stuffed with explosives and red barrels), there are cuts hidden behind seemingly solid obstacles. "Chaos & destruction" is full, but even under hypnosis Team6 would not be able to fit their close understanding of arcade racing to such a basis. If the team from year to year churns out clones of the level Glacier, offer her the development flat out (NFS, TDU, DiRT) - no matter what to do Tsereteli chief architect of Moscow.

It's not just fun to play, it's disgusting. The laws of physics do not apply here, cars tumble from any sneeze, exactly in " USSR Monster", and stick to each other as magnetized. A hodgepodge of hallucinogenic colors adored by Team6, covering up the ugliness of the models and the dull environment, incessant explosions in the spirit of cheap action movies, penny effects - there is enough confusion. What about the game?

As an answer, the multiplayer is especially indicative, quiet and running so much that you involuntarily think - was there anyone here (Steam-achievement "A taste of glory" - victory in the online race - was received by 0.4% of users)? Only once I managed to meet a living soul there (by the way, a Dutchman). For several minutes we sadly drove the two of us into a tag on the slopes of some hill and dispersed ...

Summary

True Grade Flat Out 3- 20 percent or, so be it, 21. Nevertheless, compared with Polish handicrafts for an hour, it has the beginnings of a reasonable one. But there is no escape from Team6's retribution. At least for the fact that she still has not died and dared to get out into a decent society.

P.S. Although the developers themselves are very optimistic, they intend to release DLC, and in one of the patches they were generally generous with free map"Moscow" - arena on the Kremlin embankment. Well in " Moscow carrier"It was not worse drawn ...