Outrun 2's simple, but incredibly fun gameplay make it one of the top racers on Xbox.
OutRun 2 for Xbox is quite a bit different from most of the other racers on the Xbox, mainly due to the fact that it doesn't try to be realistic, or believable, for the most part. OutRun 2 is an "arcade racer," something almost completely lacking in the Xbox library. There's no incredibly realistic physics, roads, or speeds, for that matter. Instead, it adds only what is necessary to the arcade-y OutRun formula that will bring it to the "next step." That next-step is the very unique drift system that was put in that is relatively easy to learn, but hard to master.
How, and more importantly, when to use a drift is the most important part of racing, either against the clock, or against an opponent, in OutRun 2. In order to do a drift, all you really have to do is hit the brakes, turn the vehicle so it's almost spinning out, and then hit the accelerator. The drift is interesting, mainly for the fact that the speed stays almost consistent throughout the entire drift from the speed when you entered it, and you can adjust and control your car a whole lot better then you normally would in most other games. The drift can get you around any turn, no matter how tight it is, as long as you adjust the drift accordingly. The hard part to the drift is to try to get it right on the inside of the turn, and of course, trying to avoid traffic that could get in the way of the drift while doing it. This system is easily one-of-a-kind, and once you learn how to use it, it's very fun. I mean, who doesn't like drifting in racing games? Oh yes, don't think it's possible to really get through the game without learning the technique, because if you try the game without it, expect to see your ferrari flip in the air quite often.
Talkin' about flippin Ferrari's, there is no such thing as physical 'damage' to your vehicle, however, when you crash your car, the game isn't too forgiving of your mistake. You can go from 180+ mph into the wall, and when your car comes back to the middle of the track (and your girlfriend gets angry with you) , you have to start at 0 mph, and work yourself back up to the speed you were at before. To make it worse, there are parts of the routes that are quite unforgiving, and hitting any part of the grass can not only slow your car down substantially, but can also result in losing hearts for your girlfriend in heart attack mode, or many of the mission modes. However, most of the tracks are made for speed, being almost completely straight with curves easily passable with the drift, so there won't be too many "not fair" moments during gameplay.
The hearts I talked about are also a major, yet surprisingly fun part of the gameplay in almost every mode outside of normal Arcade and Xbox Live. Although I like the original Arcade gameplay better then the missions or heart attack modes, it does wear thin pretty quickly. So, Sega added the heart attack mode from the arcades, and a good 101 missions with a lot of unlockable goodies.
The heart attack mode is the original arcade gameplay with a different chick in the passenger side seat, telling you to do certain things when they come up, that are as simple as "pass as many cars as possible" and "drift as long as possible" to the more difficult "steal the hearts on the vehicles" and "drive on the colored zones only," which leads to you getting hearts, or "charming" her. Running into walls, cars, or driving on grass loses hearts of course. Once you've picked your routes and made it to the end destination, you get scored on how well you did with charming the girl, and you get into the normal name entry, and high score list.
The missions, however, is where the meat of the game really is. While the heart attack and normal arcade missions are fun, after quite a few plays, they get quite stale and tedious to keep playing over and over again. The mission mode helps this issue by giving you 101 missions to complete, which can unlock cars, music, and even the original 1986 OutRun arcade game. The missions are interesting, as they require you to charm your passenger in almost the same way as the heart attack mode, but the exercises are more dedicated, and involve you doing some bizarre things, that involve things as normal as elimation races, (last one to the next checkpoint is eliminated) to things like getting a perfect angle to take a picture of hearts. While some of the missions are easy, they get gradually a lot more difficult, but the missions aren't half-bad to play through, and the rewards are well worth it, if not just for the extra Ferraris to drive.
There are 12 licensed Ferarri vehicles, and 8 of them need to be unlocked to play with them, including the famous Enzo Ferrari. Each car has a slight difference in speed, handling and acceleration, but it doesn't change much in reality, as they are quite balanced throughout against one another. And of course, all of them are very detailed, and are quite beautiful to look at. You can change the color of the cars off of red, if you ever wish to, (don't know why you'd EVER want to) and things like reflections off of the environment, lights, and other normal things look great. The dimensions are a bit squished, for whatever reason, but other than that, they look great, and almost identical to their real-life counterpart.
Outside of the vehicles, the surrounding environment looks fantastic. The draw distance, when you can actually see far, is excellent, and the detail on the textures, especially the road, are at least up to par with what's available on the Xbox. The only gripe I really have is that it all looks very artificial. Granted, it is an arcade port of a game that's hardly meant to be realistic, but AM2 couldv'e at least put some roads that could do something more then be means to an end. You know, have it impossible to go down the roads, but still have them there for looks nontheless, especially in large metro areas. But, if you can look passed that little issue, and remember that this game is not supposed to mimic reality, this game will more then please your eyes.
Do you like old school arcade music from 1986? Would you like them slightly remixed to sound like it was made recently? Well, if that's the case, you're in the money, as this game takes the classic, iconic 3 songs from the original game, and pumps it up with more up-to-date beats. It also added some unlockable Euro remixes of the same music by the one-and-only Richard Jacques, and added some so-so exclusive music you'd be best off just ignoring. However, for people who'd rather not listen to it, tough luck. There's no custom soundtrack option, but then again, you never had any problems with EA's issue with the same problem, so you can live with it. The sound effects of the vehicles is standard racing game fare, while the voices for the women you have to drive around could be better, but are tolerable, anyways.
You'd better hope the women's voices are at least tolerable, as you'll be hearing them quite a bit. The arcade modes are almost always fun to play over and over again, and the 101 missions will definetely keep you busy. While getting the necessary A to complete the missions might not be too difficult, trying to get AAA in every mission is quite a daunting task, and will involve you to try to complete each mission many times over to get all 142 Ferrari or OutRun involved cards unlocked. And, as a big plus, OutRun 2 does not age near as quick as most racing games, due to it's charmingly addictive nature.
And in the end, the charming nature of OutRun 2 is all you need to get convinced to go out and buy the title for the measly $9.99 it sells for nowadays. Of course, OutRun 2 isn't for everybody. Gamers who are almost complete racing purists should stay away from the title, but almost anyone else will find something they like about this title. A little old school, nostalgic flavor is always a nice addition to anybody's Xbox library.
~ Dalton Zeal