OutRun2
Posted December 5, 2004
"Warning: The vehicles within OutRun2 may not react in a realistic manner."
What?! As if 15-second drift turns would not let me maintain my speed around turns while actually maneuvering and passing other vehicles, but, in fact, send me into an uncontrollable roll? Or that when I crash into a wall, my car will not do numerous gymnastic flips and land with cat-like agility, but, in fact, explode into a giant fireball of death? I think reality owes me my money back.
So anyway, OutRun2 is the sequel to a game archaeologists date back to 1986. It's a welcome return to the world of arcade racing for Sega, and for me, too, since if you're like me you are more than a little tired of racing games with realistic physics reminding you that you are not, and never will be, a stunt driver.
The good news is that OutRun2 isn't so much a sequel as a love letter to the original. There have been changes, of course, but Sega has managed to make the game feel both new and familiar at the same time. The heart of the game is the same: players still drive a Ferrari with their girlfriend in the passenger seat and choose their path to victory.
Gameplay:
First, the cars: there are 12 different Ferraris to choose from (the Dino 246 GTO, the 365 GTS/4 Daytona, the F50, the 360 Spider, the 288 GTO, the Testarossa, the F355 Spider, the 328 GTS, the F40, the Enzo, the 250 GTO, and the 512 BB), with four initially available. Each car is rated differently according to acceleration, handling, and maximum speed. In practice, however, there's not a lot of justification for using the so-called "high-speed" (low acceleration) cars, as top speed differences are negligable.
Controls for the game are not particularly deep. There are over a dozen control schemes, but by default, right trigger accelerates and left trigger brakes. If you choose a manual transmission, X and A gear shift. And that's it. Where the game requires some refinement is in the drift turns, or "powerslides," that you must master to win. There is a surprising amount of control you can exercise while in these slides, which becomes apparent when you must navigate, for example, an S-curve while dodging other cars. These are actually a lot of fun and you gain some sense of accomplishment when you perform a particularly skilled one.
In arcade mode, the path you take at each split determines the course difficulty (left for easy, right for hard). There are 15 arcade courses, but instead of all of them looking roughly the same, as in the original, the tracks are now dramatically different from each other. You once again start out near the beach, but from there you have the option of driving through areas that (very) vaguely correspond to European and Mediterranean destinations. Drive north and you can admire ancient castles before ending up in a land full of windmills. Drive south and you'll head towards pyramids and columned ruins. Take a middle path and you'll pass through forests and an industrial city before finishing in front of a victory arch in a city of lights. It's this method of choosing your own path that makes the OutRun series, along with each race you run, unique.
Besides your basic race-to-the-finish arcade mode, there's also the standard time trial. The real addition, though, is "heart-attack mode," where you must follow your girlfriend's commands like the subservient man-slave you are. Doing well nets you your girlfriend's adoration as well as a ranking for each challenge. These range from basic things like "hit the cones" to "win the race despite weaving through a convoy of buses without hitting them" to "do math in your head and drive through the right answer." Seriously. Overall, though, these challenges are pretty enjoyable, not overly difficult, and add a lot of replayability to the game. Each time you complete a challege, you gain a card, which has the potential to unlock another vehicle, track (inluding some from Daytona USA), or song. Speaking of unlockables, you can even play the original OutRun by completing all paths through the arcade mode. If you don't want to bother with actually playing the game, everything can be unlocked with a code, as well.
Xbox Live is supported and nearly flawless, and you can play any mode that's available in the single-player game. You can also download and race against player ghosts. In addition, there's a (non-Live) "party mode," which lets players take turns trying to get the top score in whatever the competition happens to be. Unforgiveably, though, there is no split-screen mode. For simultaneous same-location play you must use the System Link. Apparently you can connect up to eight systems, but I wasn't able to test that feature.
Graphics:
The game looks good. Crisp textures and some neat effects, like driving through foggy weather or the way your lights automatically turn on when it gets dark. The cars all look great, and despite what the back of the case says (are these listings for Xbox games ever accurate?), the game supports 16:9 progressive mode. While widescreen support is great for most games, for me, it's now become practically a must-have for racing games.
Audio:
One of the neat things about the original game was the option to select which music you wanted and, well, that there was music at all (not all that common in racing games of the time). But let's face it, the original songs were never iconic in the way that themes from, say, Mega Man or Castlevania were. In OutRun2 there are 18 songs, with a handful initially available. These are either directly from the original game or inspired by it, I suppose, and a lot of them are remixes. They're not bad, but they're not particularly spectacular, either. And if you want to create your own soundtrack, too bad! You can't. It does support Dolby Digital, though.
Conclusion:
Sega has delivered a highly enjoyable game that easily outshines the original. This is a must buy for arcade racing fans. For everyone else, Recommended.
What?! As if 15-second drift turns would not let me maintain my speed around turns while actually maneuvering and passing other vehicles, but, in fact, send me into an uncontrollable roll? Or that when I crash into a wall, my car will not do numerous gymnastic flips and land with cat-like agility, but, in fact, explode into a giant fireball of death? I think reality owes me my money back.
So anyway, OutRun2 is the sequel to a game archaeologists date back to 1986. It's a welcome return to the world of arcade racing for Sega, and for me, too, since if you're like me you are more than a little tired of racing games with realistic physics reminding you that you are not, and never will be, a stunt driver.
The good news is that OutRun2 isn't so much a sequel as a love letter to the original. There have been changes, of course, but Sega has managed to make the game feel both new and familiar at the same time. The heart of the game is the same: players still drive a Ferrari with their girlfriend in the passenger seat and choose their path to victory.
Gameplay:
First, the cars: there are 12 different Ferraris to choose from (the Dino 246 GTO, the 365 GTS/4 Daytona, the F50, the 360 Spider, the 288 GTO, the Testarossa, the F355 Spider, the 328 GTS, the F40, the Enzo, the 250 GTO, and the 512 BB), with four initially available. Each car is rated differently according to acceleration, handling, and maximum speed. In practice, however, there's not a lot of justification for using the so-called "high-speed" (low acceleration) cars, as top speed differences are negligable.
Controls for the game are not particularly deep. There are over a dozen control schemes, but by default, right trigger accelerates and left trigger brakes. If you choose a manual transmission, X and A gear shift. And that's it. Where the game requires some refinement is in the drift turns, or "powerslides," that you must master to win. There is a surprising amount of control you can exercise while in these slides, which becomes apparent when you must navigate, for example, an S-curve while dodging other cars. These are actually a lot of fun and you gain some sense of accomplishment when you perform a particularly skilled one.
In arcade mode, the path you take at each split determines the course difficulty (left for easy, right for hard). There are 15 arcade courses, but instead of all of them looking roughly the same, as in the original, the tracks are now dramatically different from each other. You once again start out near the beach, but from there you have the option of driving through areas that (very) vaguely correspond to European and Mediterranean destinations. Drive north and you can admire ancient castles before ending up in a land full of windmills. Drive south and you'll head towards pyramids and columned ruins. Take a middle path and you'll pass through forests and an industrial city before finishing in front of a victory arch in a city of lights. It's this method of choosing your own path that makes the OutRun series, along with each race you run, unique.
Besides your basic race-to-the-finish arcade mode, there's also the standard time trial. The real addition, though, is "heart-attack mode," where you must follow your girlfriend's commands like the subservient man-slave you are. Doing well nets you your girlfriend's adoration as well as a ranking for each challenge. These range from basic things like "hit the cones" to "win the race despite weaving through a convoy of buses without hitting them" to "do math in your head and drive through the right answer." Seriously. Overall, though, these challenges are pretty enjoyable, not overly difficult, and add a lot of replayability to the game. Each time you complete a challege, you gain a card, which has the potential to unlock another vehicle, track (inluding some from Daytona USA), or song. Speaking of unlockables, you can even play the original OutRun by completing all paths through the arcade mode. If you don't want to bother with actually playing the game, everything can be unlocked with a code, as well.
Xbox Live is supported and nearly flawless, and you can play any mode that's available in the single-player game. You can also download and race against player ghosts. In addition, there's a (non-Live) "party mode," which lets players take turns trying to get the top score in whatever the competition happens to be. Unforgiveably, though, there is no split-screen mode. For simultaneous same-location play you must use the System Link. Apparently you can connect up to eight systems, but I wasn't able to test that feature.
Graphics:
The game looks good. Crisp textures and some neat effects, like driving through foggy weather or the way your lights automatically turn on when it gets dark. The cars all look great, and despite what the back of the case says (are these listings for Xbox games ever accurate?), the game supports 16:9 progressive mode. While widescreen support is great for most games, for me, it's now become practically a must-have for racing games.
Audio:
One of the neat things about the original game was the option to select which music you wanted and, well, that there was music at all (not all that common in racing games of the time). But let's face it, the original songs were never iconic in the way that themes from, say, Mega Man or Castlevania were. In OutRun2 there are 18 songs, with a handful initially available. These are either directly from the original game or inspired by it, I suppose, and a lot of them are remixes. They're not bad, but they're not particularly spectacular, either. And if you want to create your own soundtrack, too bad! You can't. It does support Dolby Digital, though.
Conclusion:
Sega has delivered a highly enjoyable game that easily outshines the original. This is a must buy for arcade racing fans. For everyone else, Recommended.