OutRun2

The wait is nearly over - one of the most sensational coin-ops in years is now coming to your Xbox. Join us for the first online review of Sega's glorious OutRun2.

Version
Xbox

Developer
Sega-AM2 /
Sumo Digital

Publisher
SEGA (EU)
Microsoft (US)

Genre
Racing

By Adam Doree

The way in which Sega deliberately teased its fans about the possibility of a home conversion of OutRun2 since its arcade release mirrors the way the conversion itself proves tantalising. You'll do anything for it, slowly you get it, you want more, and god knows you love it. This conversion is jam packed with incentives, replay value and good, old-fashioned fun.

"A flawless conversion that oozes original, perceptive design."

Of course, the plan was always to release it on Xbox, at least thanks to certain champions of the coin-op at Sega Europe, plus a fair amount of direct persuasion from members of the European games media, ever since we all played the arcade version together for the first time a year ago. Sega Europe began pitching the Xbox project to Japan shortly afterwards, and identified Sumo Digital as the developer to carry out conversion duties. The previously unheard of outfit clearly impressed Sega, and now they have impressed us, with a technically flawless conversion and a console game that oozes original, perceptive design elements and classic style.

Underpinning OutRun2 is a remarkably accessible gameplay system that at the same time boasts very real depth, requiring a set of tangible skills to succeed, and a sheer masterclass performance to beat all the game has to offer. Arguably at the core of the gameplay is OutRun2's famous drifting mechanic, allowing players to navigate wonderfully unrealistic bends by tapping the break and steering into a powerslide. The fantastic courses are designed to fully exploit this function but it's not the only skill you'll need to master.

"The remarkably accessible gameplay system also boasts very real depth."

Old school racing skills are still essential - hitting the best racing lines often makes the need for drifting redundant. You usually stay locked at the speed you entered a drift in, and although you still have an otherworldly degree of control of your car while drifting, your chances of hitting traffic and rivals are still increased. Drifting is best saved for when you really need it, when you know you can get away with it, and when you know it's just going to look ace.

Exiting a powerslide by easing off the gas and employing some mild counter steering is often as important as knowing how to enter the drift in the first place. And meanwhile, in manual transmission, throwing the gears around adds considerable depth to the mechanic for advanced users, not to mention slightly better overall performance.

In terms of control, we're basically looking at something as perfect as it can be outside of an arcade cabinet. Xbox's analog stick is perfect for steering once you get the hang of it. As with most racers, just remember it's not about swinging it left and right, it's about arcing the stick into its smooth semicircle to mimic the level of control you have with an arcade wheel.

"Hitting the best racing lines often makes drifting redundant."

The urge to shave seconds off your arcade and mission times - by perfecting your lines and drifts, not bumping into a single bit of traffic, not touching a single blade of grass or even looking at brickwork - is perhaps the most overwhelming we've felt since those classic arcade racers with three tracks and two cars. And the same goes for mission mode. What's the point in only getting an A when you absolutely must get an AAA on all 101 missions? Somehow, life depends on it with OutRun2.

"Control is as perfect as it can be outside of an arcade cabinet."

The Dino 246 GTS and the 365 GTS Daytona - both for entry-level players - along with the F50 and 360 Spider, are available from the outset, but the rest need to be unlocked. Most players will feel more comfortable with some of the Intermediate choices, including the 288 GTO and the Testarossa, while the Professional level cars - F40 and Enzo Ferrari - will not perform as effectively for many outside the expert core. Naturally, all cars look the part.

The conversion would have fallen flat on its face if it didn't offer at least fifty times the material of the arcade machine, and Sumo have really outdone themselves to make your purchase as rewarding as possible.

"The Missions range from run-of-the-mill, to sheer genius."

It's all built upon Mission Mode, a collection of 101 racing based missions, which range from run-of-the-mill, to sheer genius. First, you've got your standard stuff borrowed from Project Gotham (and fortunately just as tightly designed), drifting through cone gates, hitting certain marked zones, and drifting for as long as possible. Despite appearing early on in the mission roster, Max Speed is one of the tougher tasks you'll face, requiring very good driving lines to reach a defined maximum speed along several sections of a course.

Naturally it gets better; Love Courier has you pick up hearts and drop them off in marked zones, almost like Crazy Taxi; Laser Breaker has you drive through lasers connecting vehicles to each other in traffic; Math Mayhem is interesting, simply because you need to note a string of sums as you drive through a course, before passing through the "correct number" at the end. Snap Happy is one of the most imaginative, with large hearts strategically positioned around a track, requiring you to powerslide round a bend and then press Y to snap a photo at the best possible angle.

The Missions often take place on mirrored tracks, and these mirrored renditions can also be unlocked as full playable courses. Right now I think I know several of the mirrored courses better than their straightforward counterparts thanks to Mission Mode. As you'd expect, it adds more life to the game.

As in Heart Attack Mode, a branch of the original arcade options that's obviously more than welcome in the conversion, the hearts awarded affect your girlfriend's mood in the car, represented by her actual reactions but also by a face symbol in the bottom right of the screen. Ranks ranging from E show tears and anger all the way up to AAA, which is unquestionably intended to express an orgasm.

"There are OutRun2 players out there who are simply much better than you."

Get anything less then A on some missions and she'll start hitting you at the finish line. And the various end sequences packed into the game - in arcade mode as well as all-new unique Mission endings, portray a similarly female-trousered culture that you'd never have found in the original 1986 game. It's amusingly sexist but in the most acceptable way possible; how reassuring that such western influenced humour was borne out of the cosy Japanese precincts of good old AM2.

The game offers a very serious challenge; some of the Missions are very hard even early on in the game, and getting perfect rankings on every mission is a feat as tough as you'd find in PGR2 or GT4 Prologue.

But perhaps the best thing about the Mission Mode is the way that each task - well, most anyway as there are a few surely just for a laugh - is essential training and practise for a surprising number of skills needed to perform well in the core game itself, and most of all, on Xbox Live where you'll be facing some extremely hot talent. At the time of writing not many people have a copy of the game (not one they can play on Live anyway, and you know who you are, you swine) but if the online arcade ranking board is anything to go by, there are OutRun2 players out there who are simply much better than you, and your best mate Dave. Eight-player online racing in OutRun2 is fantastic and undoubtedly where the game's real longevity is based.

One of the most obvious aspects of OutRun2 to discuss is the graphics but I'll keep it brief. Since we posted our mega video coverage of the game, many users have come to realise something they didn't really notice before - in the most awesomely cheesy, slightly unreal way possible, this game looks amazing.

The technical standard is high; some of our screens will scream best draw distance since Mr Tickle; the reflective effects on the Ferrari bodywork, buildings, windows and the track itself are lovely; the texture work is blindingly deep and thorough; the lighting dynamic from wildly varied daylight settings look as sensational as you'd expect from an Xbox powered videogame. And it's all sixty frames a second of course.

But it's the original AM2 artistry of the tracks that make the game stand out as one of the most visually arresting racing games ever made. The fifteen arcade courses, plus the infamous bonus tracks, are based on some of the most distinctive locations in the world, from pyramids to Paris, an industrial complex, a spooky forest, snowy mountains, and indeed, Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race (aka Super GT) - two classic Sega arcade racers reworked into the conversion, and surely the ultimate unlockable bonus for fans of The Sega. The geometry of all the tracks, the detailed surroundings and the art style is just utterly alluring.

"The Euro Remixes are a superb addition to the game."

On the musical side, in addition to the original's legendary trio of tunes and OutRun2's four additional tracks, Xbox owners will be able to unlock fantastic remixes of Splash Wave, Magical Sound Shower and Passing Breeze courtesy of Richard Jacques, a London-based musician who's worked on several Sega titles over the years. These Euro Remixes are a superb addition to the game, and mercifully, you'll also get instrumental versions of some of OutRun2's vocal tracks, "Prototype" and "Guitar" remixes of some of OutRun2's non-vocal tracks, and also the original three 1986 tunes. The game doesn't support custom soundtracks, but really, who needs it with this brilliant line-up of addictive, classic Sega beats.

The overall presentation of the game is tip-top, thanks to a gorgeous arcade-inspired front end, Xbox Live auto sign in and a host of new characters, along with the arcade's original attract sequence and typical Sega attract-style tutorials. I am not sure why Sega opted to have the main attract sequence at anything less than 60fps though - and that goes for the arcade version's too which suffered the same inexplicable issue. They should have asked us - you know, all our OutRun2 videos run at 60fps...

"The original AM2 artistry offers one of the most visually arresting racing games ever."

There's no two-player split-screen and there are some occasional frame drops in multiplayer, though we haven't played the final consumer version online yet. But really there is little in the way of downsides to report, and the Daytona 2 and Scud Race bonus tracks and music remixes really are the icing on this stupendously tasty cake.

The overall feel and attitude of the game, encapsulated in the lovably rubbish voice actors, utterly catchy arcade music and unfathomably pretty 3D aesthetic is instantly identifiable as Classic Sega. But perhaps the real success for Sumo Digital and indeed Sega Europe is that the new additions are all true to that heritage; every last home addition feels like it came from the same warped Japanese minds that spawned the original and it just works beautifully.

"OutRun2 is the gaming equivalent of sex with the prom queen."

As an arcade conversion to console it's one of the best of all time. With a proper global set-up, Sega finally understands the real differences between the two markets inside out, and the no-fuss commitment of Sega Europe and Sumo to the project absolutely shines through.

And, as a racer in its own right, OutRun2 is the gaming equivalent of sex with the prom queen.

OutRun2 is released exclusively for Xbox on October 1st and in North America on October 25th.

[Click here for our related "media blowout" article]

Graphics	Sound	Gameplay	Depth	Presentation	OVERALL
9.7	9.2	9.0	9.2	10.0	9.2

THE VERDICT: It's impossible not to love OutRun2. It boasts accessibility, longevity, attitude and the kind of magic audio-visual factor most racers can only dream of, and yet the core of the game is so much simpler than elsewhere. I for one will be playing this for quick racing thrills for years to come, so if you ask me, it'll be the best forty notes you spend all year.

Video Coverage (See Latest Videos & Video FAQ Here)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
Description	Dur.	Size	Details
ARCADE MODE - FULL RACES
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Arcade Mode - Palm Beach > Alpine > Desert > Ghost Forest > Cape Way Music: Magical Sound Shower (OR2) (lowres version here: 30MB)	5.45m	95.2 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Arcade Mode - Palm Beach > Deep Lake > Castle Wall > Cloudy Highland > Tulip Garden Music: Passing Breeze (OR2) (lowres version here: 30MB)	5.47m	95.5 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Arcade Mode - Palm Beach > Alpine > Desert > Snow Mountain > Imperial Avenue Music: Splash Wave (OR2) (lowres version here: 31MB)	5.56m	98.0 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Arcade Mode - Palm Beach > Alpine > Coniferous Forest > Snow Mountain > Ancient Ruins Music: Shiny World (OR2) (lowres version here: 31MB)	5.53m	97.2 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Arcade Mode - Palm Beach > Deep Lake > Coniferous Forest > Industrial Complex > Metropolis Music: Magical Sound Shower (OR2) (lowres version here: 30MB)	5.44m	94.5 MB	WMV
BONUS TRACKS - FULL RACES
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Scud Race / Super GT - time trial Music: Magical Sound Shower (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 19MB)	3.44m	61.1 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) BEST! Bonus Track - Daytona USA 2 - time trial Music: Splash Wave (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 20MB)	3.51m	63.0 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) BEST! Bonus Track - Scud Race / Super GT - rival race Music: Magical Sound Shower (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 21MB)	4.05m	67.1 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Daytona USA 2 - rival race Music: Passing Breeze (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 21MB)	4.02m	66.2 MB	WMV
TITLE SCREEN & ATTRACT SEQUENCE
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Title screen and attract sequence (lowres version here: 6MB)	1.07m	17.2 MB	WMV
MORE BONUS TRACKS - FAILED RACES
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Scud Race / Super GT - failed race! Music: Magical Sound Shower (1986) (lowres version here: 18MB)	3.07m	50.8 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Daytona USA 2 - failed race! Music: Shiny World (OR2) (lowres version here: 21MB)	3.41m	60.3 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Scud Race / Super GT - failed race! Music: Magical Sound Shower (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 23MB)	3.58m	65.0 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Bonus Track - Daytona USA 2 - failed race! Music: Passing Breeze (1986) (lowres version here: 21MB)	3.42m	60.6 MB	WMV
MISSION MODE
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Mission Mode - Drifting! Music: Magical Sound Shower (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 7MB)	1.19m	20.6 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Mission Mode - Mirrored Track! Music: Passing Breeze (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 12MB)	2.18m	37.2 MB	WMV
OutRun2 (Xbox) - Hi-Res Vids Direct feed vids (720x576, 2Mbps, 60fps) Mission Mode - Don't be last! Music: Splash Wave (Euro Remix) (lowres version here: 19MB)	3.28m	56.7 MB	WMV
OLDER OUTRUN2 VIDEOS
OutRun2 - XBOX Several E3 2004 videos	var	var	WMV
OutRun2 - ARCADE 20 Hi-Res Shaky Cam Videos	var	var	WMV

New Game Sites:

Video Games:

Talk About Games:

Reviews by Platform:

Kikizo.com:

OutRun2

The wait is nearly over - one of the most sensational coin-ops in years is now coming to your Xbox. Join us for the first online review of Sega's glorious OutRun2.