FlatOut 2 is the pinnacle of car destruction games. This game is the reason why my arrow and Ctrl keys are worn: it is infinitely replayable. Crashing against opponents and sending them flying while doing flips never gets old. It's genuinely impressive to watch car parts, scenery objects and even people launched through their windshields all fly on screen at once, it's such an adrenaline rush!

FO2 also influences music tastes: I'm personally a metalhead partly thanks to it. Symphony of Destruction from Megadeth suddenly blasting on my low end laptop impressed my younger self, for sure! The soundtrack is so memorable that I was once driving my real life car, and as I passed a stretch of road close to where I live, I saw two cars that had crashed, their bumpers hanging, bent chassis and slanted wheels. I jokingly sung to myself "And I can feel you breathing, and it's keeping me awake!!!", lyrics from the song "Breathing" of the band Yellowcard. I was also sent through a rabbit hole of car crash videos on YouTube and real life derby event videos once, due to having played this game so extensively.

The cast of characters is memorable, despite their presentation being nothing more than a name and a mugshot. Not a single word is said by anyone, yet everyone has a distinct personality. They have their own quirks and driving techniques. Frank Malcov is basically the final boss in Derby matches, and Sofia Martinez is the speedster who avoids crashes. Jack Benton will also make your life harder. Ray Carter is the dumbass that's always in last place, occasionally getting stuck in scenery.

There's also cool stunts, which are minigames where we launch our driver character through the windshield, in order to hit something or fly somewhere. It's mostly a physics based concept. Some can get very challenging to get high scores in. Not the highlight of the game, but these are hilarious!

Highly recommended for anyone that enjoys driving in games, FlatOut 2 is extremely underrated, and unfairly so. It's definitely worth playing!

Its Flatout 2

Sofia Martinez belongs on a cross