First Encounter

The original OutRun™ may forever live in the hearts of arcade racing fans. For me, half the fun of going to the local bowling alley wasn’t bowling; it was the arcade there. Within lived racing phenom OutRun. With a few friends and a handful of quarters you could spend an afternoon behind the shaking wheel of an OutRun cabinet as you shouted disparaging remarks to your buddies after powersliding by them. Good times, good times. Even now, it’s not uncommon to hit up your local arcade (if you have one) and see a few OutRun cabinets hooked up to each other.

Distracted by the view.

OutRun exemplified arcade racing. It was simple and elegant. There was no pretense about the game. You didn’t have to be a car-dork to appreciate it. The cars (while cool looking) were immaterial. I could have been racing lawnmowers for all I cared. It was the sense of speed, the track design, and the innate yet illogical need to pass that next checkpoint that made the game great.

Recently a trend toward the realistic and complex has gripped the racing genre. Titles like the RalliSport Challenge series, the upcoming Forza Motorsport™, and even the “arcadey” Project Gotham Racing® series all ground themselves in a recognizable reality—not that there’s anything wrong with that. Those are (and, in the case of Forza, I’m sure will be) great games. It’s just nice to see something on the other extreme. Enter OutRun™ 2, SEGA®’s gift to those that clamor for unbridled speed and the nostalgic fun of a more basic (but still very refined) racing game.

Vibrant, I tell you.

Vivid is the first word that came to mind as I booted upOutRun 2. After playing game after game featuring dreary worlds of grays and blues and blacks and browns, it was a surprising joy to find something that felt so vibrant. OutRun 2 splashes color around like it’s going out of style. The game just jumps out at you. It’s refreshing to remember that not all games need to look bleak and hopeless.

Of course, OutRun 2 has a variety of racing modes as well. First, you have OutRun mode, which has you and your girlfriend speeding through environments as varied as a bright blue watered coast to the dry expanse of the desert while trying to beat the competition to the finish line. You also have to watch the checkpoints. Like its arcade predecessor, you only have a certain amount of time to reach the next checkpoint. If you don’t make it, the race is over. Conversely, if you do make it you’ll be allotted more time to get to the next checkpoint. Also, many checkpoints let you choose between going left or right, further diversifying the experience.

Next is Heart Attack mode. The object here is to impress your girl by performing certain tasks, thus gaining hearts. This can include performing crazy drifts around corners for insane amounts of time, simply passing cars, or even sticking to a brightly colored part of the road. Each race is broken into several sections with each offering a different challenge. You’re also graded for each section, with an average of all your grades giving you a final score.

Powerslide to your heart’s content.

You can also get your race on in Time Attack mode. This, as the title indicates, pits you against the best times for the race. It’s great practice and good “hot seat” fun with your buddies. Racing directly against one another is always fun, but sometimes it’s nice to have the screen and road to yourself as you try to shatter your buddies’ best times.

OutRun 2 boasts a career mode of sorts as well. You can race your way through over one hundred missions, with each mission challenging you with a specific goal. This mode is a gift for all those one-hundred percent “complete-ists” out there, and it extends the replay value of this arcade gem as well.

Also, for those that do crave the head to head multiplayer experience, you need not fear. OutRun 2 offers online multiplayer via Xbox Live and all its familiar trappings. You’ll be able to race up to eight people online, and you’ll even have the option to upload and download “ghosts” to race against. Happy times for us competitive folk that can’t set up a time to race our buddies (curse you graveyard shift!). Look for downloadable content in the future as well.

OutRun 2 boasts vibrant graphics, slick dream cars, a variety of race modes, insane speed, and the ability to drift and powerslide to maximum advantage. Perhaps more importantly, it proves once again that a racing game doesn’t need to be geared towards the gearhead to be fun.

By Alex McLain