KEY POINTS:
EA's Burnout series rules when it comes to car carnage but it doesn't have the genre entirely to itself.
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage from Bugbear Entertainment and Empire Interactive is not a Burnout imitation but an arcade racer all in its own right and it stands up on its own merits.
But life has moved on from plain arcade racers of old so don't assume it has some old school look. Flatout's graphics are incredibly good looking in their 360 glory.
In the end, let's be frank about why we like these games without being precious about stepping on politician's toes.
We like the carnage - the destruction, smashing other cars and having lots of wild burnouts and drags of our own.
On that score, Flatout is awesome fun and realistically savage when it comes to smash ups. Get this: there are 8000 objects to destroy per track.
The game involves three classes of car, each with their own tournaments starting with Derby - effectively demolition derby-style and old bangups of cars.
Events include insane concepts like hurtling down a bowling alley scattering all in its wake.
All up there are 48 cars, 12 different drivers, 39 tracks and six different environments.
There are also eight player battles on 360 Live, including races, derbies, deathmatch and a head-on race mode.
Best of all: there's a sense of humour that some hard-out racing games lack. So it's fun and there's heaps of variety.
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage
Rating: 12+
Available on: Xbox 360
MadGamer rating: 9 / 10
