bump
While Skunk3 is out recommending games, i'll plug one too. It's a game I've been playing a lot recently, but now that I have gold on every level I'll probably put it aside for a while again.
It's called Flatout: Ultimate Carnage
Basically, this is an improved version of the old Destruction Derby series. It's a race game, but one built around bashing and smashing cars and maps alike
What's so great about the game is the game mechanics. In the normal race mode you drive against 11 other cars, who gets to the finish first wins. But, not only is there a lot on the map that can be destroyed (you can even drive through entire shops
, but crashing into opponents is actually rewarded. Every time you score a hit you earn nitro, the bigger the smash the more nitro you gain. Then you activate the nitro to give your car a boost.
The balance is so that you can choose between being a really agressive drivers, using mostly boosts to move up the field, or being a HHC-like driver and just drive safely with a nice pace. Real pro's however will carefully pick their crashes (not crash when it might hold them up) and use the map's jumps to gain nitro that can be used to set even faster lap times. It works great.
Aside from that, there's an additional mode with all kind of mini-games. Not only are there traditional arena-style derby's (which too work great cause you hardly get dmg when you use the front to knock into someone, AND because there are power ups appearing in the arena, like extra mass, x2 score or repair), but there's also the well-known 8-way tracks, indycar loops, time trials and crazy minigames like darts, curling, stone skipping and more, where you launch your driver with a particular angle to fling him far away into a scoreboard. It's all perfectly thought-out, and it's also from 2008, so run-able on every comp, while still having decent enough graphics.
edit: vid is from flatout2, which is actually the same game, but with less content and not as good graphs.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/12360/Standard price is 19 euro
Bought it myself on sale for not more than 4 I'm sure