Simple, affordable racing fun
Outrun 2006 does an excellent job of delivering graphics, speed and a bit of fun.
The value for the money is awesome. Sega gives you the Outrun SP game as well as the missions, trials and other activities of Coast of Coast. This means that you have over thirty or so tracks and locales to race in. You get to personalize the experience via a flawed Showroom upgrade feature, and simple customizations at the beginning of creating a new profile.
The scenery is a touch grainy, but that’s to be expected with the speed at which you drive. Since it’s a Ferrari based game (complete with ‘Official’ label on the case), you are moving at an average speed of 160mph. When you hit semi-trucks they topple over. When you crash, you seem to do mega flips at twenty feet in the air and land perfectly back, in the right direction of the traffic. I couldn’t imagine the kind of trouble this game would have been if it was realistic.
You get a ton of modes to play in, including Coast to Coast, which is the ‘career mode’ of sorts, a few girlfriend pandering modes, and a normal time trial and quick race. The online experience adds much more dimension, as well as the ability to play older stages over again. The way many of the levels are laid out is interesting, if not puzzling, the entire presentation allows for some quick, portable fun without 2-D graphics.
GRAPHICS: 7/10 (It’s been over a year since PSP’s arrival; we aren’t seeing top quality graphics or games for the large part. PSP’s hardware is not effectively being used.)
SOUND: 4/10 (Cheesy soundtrack, have to purchase ‘tracks’ instead of a GTA style radio, which the programmers should have thought about)
CONTROLS: 8/10 (No real problem here at all – plays beautifully, doesn’t respond at some critical moments. Otherwise fast paced game)
DIFFICULTY: 4/10 (Aside from control reasons, should cater to a wide audience)
LOAD TIMES: LIGHT (Very decent load times; especially between stages in Coast to Coast mode.)
OVERALL: 7/10 (Bunch of great things to do, babying the girls gets irritating at times, some system issues (the Showroom upgrading system), great record-breaking price)