Ultimate Carnage will also allow players to compete online. You can participate in race, destruction derby, and stunt events over Xbox Live. While the game supports up to eight players for each event, almost every one I played in had only the four players that were required to start the match. Several times it took me upwards of fifteen minutes to even get that. While this isn't really the game's fault, it was still incredibly frustrating to find and start most matches.

Another frustrating aspect of online play is that players have to choose their cars before the event starts. There is no timer so some people will take over five minutes to select their vehicle. You are then forced to either wait them out or chance leaving, which can result in waiting another twenty minutes for the next match to fill and begin. These problems aside however, Ultimate Carnage is a blast to play online. If anything in this game will keep you coming back for more, it is definitely the online play. Playing against the game's often-cheap A.I. will certainly make you long for human opponents.

While this is one of the best last-generation updates yet on the Xbox 360, I can't help but feel a little cheated. With all of the upgrades in graphics, gameplay, and play modes, I don't understand why the core of this game remained FlatOut 2. If Bugbear had just changed some of the tracks, vehicles, and added some new ragdoll minigames, this could have easily been FlatOut 3. Although much has improved in this title, I still don't believe this game is a must buy. If you already own or have played FlatOut 2, I don't really think it is deserving of the asking price. If you haven't, however, I would definitely say that this game is fun and well worth checking out.

By Adam Brown
CCC Freelance Writer

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