FlatOut engine appreciation

[HangTime]

Just thought I would start a thread in praise of the FlatOut engines. For me, they have pretty much everything:

-Graphics look great
-Performance is great
-Physics are great (debris, stunts etc)
-Car handling is great (for arcade style) - it just feels fun without being glued to the road like you are in some rubbish (see NFS World).
-No obvious bugs that I have noticed

So in summation I would say these games have arguably the most well rounded engine I've come across, I am really struggling to find fault with it.

 

[HangTime]

mmm I'd have to say the graphics are acceptable but not good

Ok maybe 'great' was an exaggeration, but I'd certainly say they are good. The main thing is performance is excellent and it feels very smooth, in terms of Bling*fps it's probably one of the best engines I've seen, and the graphical style integrates well with the physics. In so many driving games, you see some silly little fence post made out of plastic/wood, about 1/1000th the size of your car, yet when you drive into it, you come to crunching halt. In the FO games, it's very rare you get stopped in your tracks by something you weren't expecting, because the visual style represents accurately the characteristics of objects in the world.

It's got water effects, it's got sunsets, it's got debris flying everywhere - yes there is maybe an aspect of oversimplifying the options for consoles but it still feels like a PC game when actually playing.