So I’ve never been super into the realistic racing games like Gran Turismo, but I do love me some arcade style racing games from time to time. Mario Kart and Hydro Thunder were my childhood, but later on, games like F-Zero, Split Second, and Twisted Metal showed me some of the more violent and fast-paced edges of the genre. So I was very excited to brush off those skills and learn a new game, especially as I await/cope for a Switch F-Zero entry. Flashout 3 is a split screen racing game with a variety of game modes and race types reminiscent of games like Wipeout or the Burnout series.

In terms of its aesthetic, I love the music and the synth-wave vibes, even if maps can occasionally look a bit bland in their selections. I mostly enjoy the environments nonetheless, although it’s very often that the lighting and the way the tracks are built, it can be VERY difficult to foresee turns or walls can just blend into the foreground. The concept is also very fun, a variety of deathrace-inspired game modes, with different vehicle types and basic weapons customization. Sadly, I couldn’t delve too deeply into those options, as I couldn’t figure out the requirements to unlock customization let alone interacting with the customization for vehicles especially.

Even on the lowest difficulty, the AI feels relentless at times with it’s rubber-banding, I felt like no matter how well I was playing, I was seconds away from being blasted out of top contending. And, because I kept losing, I felt like I made zero progress and well, I was not having fun. I couldn’t engage with the progression systems that may or may not be in the game because of two reasons: 1. the tutorialization is next to non-existent, and 2. the single player content was frustratingly difficult. I think for racing connoisseurs, your mileage my vary, but I kept wanting to enjoy my time with Flashout 3, yet ended on a sour note every single play session. It doesn’t help that some tracks feel soooo long with some having upwards of five laps. Even in Mario Kart, they have a similar thing with Baby Park, but it’s such a quick and simple loop that it makes sense. I would say that in comparison, this game is much more unforgiving in terms of wiping out ESPECIALLY since weapons are always on. So OK, you have 3 equips to take into each race, each assigned to its own button. Every skill has its own cooldown and overusing one overheats and locks you out of using it for a period of time. It does feel pretty satisfying laying into and wrecking your competition. But that’s also where the AI can be absolutely devastating in terms of dropping you from 1st to 6th in the matter of seconds. The skill expression in terms of maximizing your acceleration while using airbrakes to finesse your turns is really rewarding, but on the flip side some turns are very brutal, and I often found that, for myself, once I made a mistake, it was difficult to course correct and straighten out.

Similar to F-Zero, your vehicle does have a health bar, and bumping into walls or getting shot down will eventually cause you to explode which sets you pretty far back. Some stages have this verticality to them where you can rotate around a tubular track, which can give you some leeway to maneuver around enemies. Other tracks are much tighter and demand precision braking to navigate. I honestly wish some of the maps gave a bit more leniency, as the arcade feel of attacking enemies can feel at odds with the meticulous driving technique. Stages themselves do not really have hazards or crazy gimmicks outside of the occasional perspective changes and set piece changes. There is no online multiplayer, which was frustrating because even on the easiest difficulty, I was getting stonewalled by the AI. And like I said about how long circuits take, it can feel like quite the time sink to have to restart the whole thing just to get in the first few placings. It’s not like you can redo a single race of the four until you get the times you need and can move on. What especially irked me throughout my playthroughs was the lack of keyboard and mouse options; you can only play with keyboard. While I did start to find options that kinda worked for me, not being able to assign weapons to the mouse buttons feels like SUCH a wasted opportunity. I ended up having to move with the arrow keys while breaking with WASD. I did not end up testing the controller functions, but from what I saw, it looked pretty bog standard and functional.

I feel bad because I really wanted to explore some of the various vehicle loadouts and customization, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to unlock new content. I mean the obvious answer is likely completing every single player trial, which was just an absolute chore and a serious struggle, even on easy difficulty. I stand behind the fact that the AI rubber-banding is so overtuned to the point of ruining the game balance. I wish there was some sort of currency I could at least grind up so that my failed attempts don’t feel like a complete waste of my time. Because that it certainly fucking did. So I was stuck with machine guns and missiles, and while those can feel satisfying in a vacuum, the lack of proper mouse and keyboard controls made using these weapons to their maximum potential extremely janky.

All in all, I really wanted to like Flashout 3, but was met with utter frustration and was barely able to reach past the surface of its content. In terms of being a game for F-Zero fans, I think this is a possible title for that list, but without online multiplayer and with how frustrating the map designs are, I don’t think this is a surefire recommendation. I think some die-hard fans of the genre can master the controls and find some fun, as I did think there was a good amount of thought put into the controls and the handling. But ultimately, I think there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of quality of life improvements to really make it sing. The music is a standout, but man the visuals are a bit muddy, and the total package is a bit all over the place.

Flashout III was developed by Jujubee.

Available on Steam for $19.99.




A review copy was provided by the devs.

Hellfirebam has not awarded Flashout III the Indie Gamer Seal of Approval.