Yay! I've been waiting like.....nearly a month to review this game. Ahem. Anyway, OutRun2 then eh.... Having first played and become addicted to the original OutRun via its watered down port on the Commodore64, It has become one of those games (along with Tetris and Civilisation) that has never really left me. From the Megadrive version, to the GameBoy adaptation by way of the Shenmue 2 emulation that halted all progress I made on that epic tale's story, I have been playing it constantly for over 15 years. So then, it was with a mixture of pant-soaking excitement and knicker-dirtying trepidation that I shoved OutRun2 into my XBox. Phew! Suffice to say I no longer need to play Outrun anymore (though I can, because its an unlockable in this game, Brilliant!). OutRun2 has absolutely everything its predecessor did, and then a hefty chunk more. The basic, intuitive gameplay of the original is fully intact and unmolested; one simply drives as far and as fast as one can. Of course if that is too simple you can dip your toe into the challenge mode, though you may find yourself blinking and missing a few hours as the pure and surely illegal addiction steals your precious time away from you. The just-one-more-go level of these bite-size challenges is completely off the scale and your dependance on defeating them is rewarded with wee prizes ranging from pointless trivia to blissful music tracks to the original game itself. The Euro-Remix of Splash Wave is the greatest piece of music in any game. Driving in the game is, of course, as simple as it gets, one simply accelerates or brakes. Evolving imperceptibly from the original Outrun is the ability to powerslide. For such a relative advancement from the original game (relative to the rest of Outrun2's wonderful nostalgic intransigence) the ability to powerslide just feels so right, So Outrun! It would be easy, given the games explicit harking to the past, to break the gleeful nostalgia and produce a bog-standard racing game with even the slightest derivation from the original formula. AM2 have managed to evade this pitfall by literally drenching the game in the OutRun ethos, the title screen beams a beautiful blue, sunlit sky in your face while the trademark soothing waves patiently wait for you to push the start button. The brilliant, cheerful music of the original is there, revamped and joined by a trio of similarly happy, bright new tracks (which still dont quite match the originals). The speed of the original is maintained and enhanced, tearing through the various west-coast/european caricatures you'll be impressed by the sun flaring off the clouds, the reflective sheen of the Ferrari and the vibrancy and beauty of the locales. One particular thing that made me smile like a maniac, but which might upset some, is the way in which checkpoints are transitioned, approach a checkpoint and the sky will instantly change color and the new background will immediately rise into view. Pure nostalgia, and it made me smile. This also goes for the way when, if one crashes, one flips in the air and lands safely on one's tyres....YES! I cant talk about XBox Live as I dont have, i'm sure its very good though, so...yeah. Anyway, if you even remotely liked OutRun, you will like this, and should buy it. Sega need to be rewarded for bothering to release it over here, something I am not sure they were particularly inclined to do.
The original Outrun game was one I devoted many hours to. I was young when I played the game; arguably, it's a game that launched me into this fickle world of warring companies and sophisticated graphical effects. Imagin... Read Full Review
If there was ever a game that screamed "RENTAL!", OutRun 2 is it. This title's gameplay is so simplistic it makes Daytona look like Gran Turismo by comparison! Having said that, what OutRun2 lacks in depth and substanc... Read Full Review
