Outrun 2 for the Xbox
Hopefully, the name Outrun should immediately be recognised by any reader of Retro Tat but, on the vague chance that it isn’t, the original was released into arcades during 1986 by developers Sega and, due to some hefty electronics under the hood coupled with a hydraulic cabinet, it wowed arcade gamers with it’s fast-paced action, a superb in-game soundtrack and quite frankly beautiful graphics. Outrun was a very learnable game, the simple objective was to race from the start line to one of five possible finishing points, the route taken being decided at junctions in the road; each leg of this road race had a different theme and the roads themselves were full of sharp bends and heavily populated with other traffic which really didn’t understand the concept of giving way! Outrun 2 took that ball and drove off with it to exciting new and rather gorgeous places. The overall feel of the game remains but a shiny 3D engine has taken over from the scaling sprites and the soundtrack has been remixed to match the new scenery.
A little dappled sunshine... hard to appreciate when sideways at 125MPH.
This isn’t a serious racing game by any stretch of the imagination but to my mind that’s a good thing; a lot of developers seem to have forgotten that the point of playing a game is to have fun and the majority of driving “simulations” that bend the rules of reality to breaking point when it suits them simply don’t manage to be anywhere near as enjoyable as Outrun 2. As with it’s predecessor, it’s learnable and becoming good requires some effort because, although players will spend their early races acclimatising to the controls and particularly how to take corners at truly ridiculous angles, the real skill comes from not only being able to drive the thing sideways at full tilt but knowing at which points the power slide shouldn’t be used; since the throttle is on the right shoulder button and that’s pressure sensitive, getting around the shallower bends by easing back just a little is far more economical on time than a tyre-shredding blast of sideways action.
To begin with there are four cars to choose from, two for novice drivers and two for intermediates, with the remaining four vehicles in the roster being unlockable; the unlocking system itself is based on Top Trumps style trading cards, most of which are dished out when challenges in the mission mode are completed. There are a hundred and forty two cards in all and the bulk of them are absolute tat, lots of Ferrari-branded bits and bobs such as the Silverstone alarm clock, gear lever paperweight, notebook computer and a couple of cuddly toys. Some unlocks are well worth the effort of gaining however and, along with the extra cars, there are several alternative soundtracks (the Euro remix of Magical Sound Shower being a personal favourite), two bonus tracks that become available in the various rival race modes and even the original coin-op Outrun itself, running under emulation.
As usual, a quick flurry of snow and Britain ground to a halt!
The designers have really thought about how to convert Outrun 2 for the home as well, the arcade version is a straight high-octane run from start to finish (with the option of playing in Heart Attack mode where, along with the driving, the girl in the passenger seat tells the driver what she wants) and whilst that’s hugely entertaining in short bursts with a large sit-down arcade cabinet and an audience to play to, it would rapidly have lost it’s shine if the Xbox version didn’t offer more. Which is where the mission mode comes into play, the regular Outrun 2 course is divided into stretches and various games are played over them ranging from simple time trials, manoeuvring through cone gates and opponent races to more unconventional tasks such as trying to line up photographs whilst drifting corners and committing groups of large hovering fruit to memory (no, I’m honestly not making this up) before driving through the correct cone gates to repeat the sequences. There are also party games where two to four players take turns to clock up the best times in mission mode games, link up options for some multi-player road rage and a series of rival race modes where the player hares around any unlocked course against up to seven computer-controlled opponents.
Possibly one of the prettiest moments in Outrun 2.
And the scenery is beautiful, in fact that doesn’t really do it justice; the car squeals its way through deserts, industrial complexes, snow-covered mountain roads or seaside towns and just everywhere looks like there should be a bus full of tourists parked up to exercise their cameras, even the spookily named Ghost Forest where Hugh Jackman in a long coat and wielding a stake wouldn’t have looked out of place. Probably the most picturesque moment in the entire game (which I’ve tried to capture above) is the Cloudy Highland stage where the player zooms over the crest of a hill to see a winding road cutting through a picturesque valley as it fades into view through the mist, an almost breathtaking moment the first time and maybe I should try getting a gig as a travel writer. Overall Outrun 2 is about driving like a total lunatic in a shiny high-performance car, impressing the girl in the passenger seat and enjoying the vistas; even those of us who aren’t usually inclined to that kind of thing can enjoy what is fundamentally a world holiday without the grind of sitting around in airport departure lounges or having to worry about travel insurance.
The scenery almost makes you want to park and go for a walk around. Almost.
The version of Outrun 2 played here was for the Xbox – the only other option is playing the arcade original.
