Sega Nerds

ATEI Show 2007 - Part 13 - OutRun2 SP SDX

Posted by Graham. Filed under Arcade, G, Review, Video. Tagged with Exhibition/ Show.

 

Ok folks here it is!  This is the last game I shall be reviewing from this years ATEI show!!  BUT this is not the last post for the show, no sir.  I do have one other topic to talk about next time.  I know it’s taken me ages to get these posts up, and I am sorry.  The main excuse I have now is that I’m crap. Accept it, I have.

So without further ado, I bring you OutRun 2SP.

Now you may have read in my previous articles on the ATEI show, that the Sega stand had the biggest crowd surrounding it out of any other company there (video game or other)  another thing they exceeded in was making noise.  As soon as you walked through the main doors to the exhibition (and up some steps) you could hear the loud sound of chatter and general noises that crowds make.  But you could also hear the sound of a womans voice on a microphone.  In case you haven’t guessed- that womans voice was issuing from the Sega area.  And without further guessing, the lady was helping to promote the OutRun 2 cabinet.  I’d like to think that even a blind man could have found his way to the Sega exhibition by following her dulcett tones.

Once you had actually arrived at the Sega stand though, the OutRun 2 cabinet really didn’t need any introduction.  Consisting of 1 fairly large screen, 4 very large screens, 4 rear-ends of different Ferraris, 8 driving seats, 8 steering wheels and a whole lot of plastic and metal.

To try and give you a better grasp of how large the cabinet is, on the opposite side they had the After Burner Climax stand, and backed up against the OutRun 2 cabinet were 4 After Burner cabinets, with extra room.  If that doesn’t help at all I can give you the exact measurements- Width: 8,250mm. Depth: 3,200mm. Height: 2,610mm.  And if that means nothing to you, well, take my word for it- the cabinet is pretty long.  And it’s not like the Sega Rally or Daytona cabinets, where they have several single cabinets linked together for multiplay.  This cabinet is just one big thing.

Well now, down to the game.

If you have played OutRun 2 before, either the original in the Arcade or the Xbox port, or the Coast to Coast game on the Xbox, PS2 and PSP, then you really should know what to expect.  The game is basically an updated version of OutRun 2- with new modes, new tracks (plus the return of some previous ones) and some new features, all of which improve on the game.

If you haven’t played the very original OutRun (on many, many platforms from the late 80’s/early 90’s) or OutRun 2 then I shall give you a quick run down of how the game plays out.  The original OutRun had you in the seat of a Ferrari, with a lovely lady next to you, enjoying the ride.  You race along roads at great speed, trying to get to the next checkpoint before the time runs out.  it was like many other racing games back then, but with a good twist- as you drew closer to the checkpoint, the track split in twain and the different routes led off onto a different ‘track’ - with a new backdrop and theme to it.  For example you could start off driving by a sandy beach and then take a right turn at the fork in the road and the track will change into a big open field with flowers in bloom.  Take a left at the fork and the track could go into a valley with mouatins around you.  Of course the graphics were very basic back then and everything was made up of 2d sprites, but that didn’t stop the game being a lot of fun and offered plenty of variety and comeback appeal. 

OutRun 2 continued the series offering the same unique style of play, but with beautiful 3d graphics and much more lavish environments to view.  It also offered a slightly different style of driving.  OutRun had the typical basic ‘try to stay on the track’ driving that came with 80’s 2d driving games.  OutRun 2, being made nearly 20 years later (give or take), needed something a bit different, what with games like Gran Turismo, Metropolis Street Racer, Sega Rally 2, Daytona etc… now available.  So Sega made it so the cars could drift round corners.  You can steer normally, but often you will find this to be slower and not nearly as enjoyable as forcing your car into a long drift around corner after corner, trying to negotiate traffic at the same time.  The other great thing about OutRun 2 was that in the arcade you could compete against other players and for the Xbox version they had Xbox Live play, so you could play against people around the world.

Well that’s basically the run down of the game, go fast, drift round corners and select a different route each time- while competing against other players.  It’s a lot of fun.

As I said, OutRun 2SP SDX (to give it’s full title) is essentially the same as plain old OutRun 2, but with some additional content and cabinet features.  The things that you should notice that are similar are, for one thing, the graphics.  I think they have just re-used the graphics engine from OutRun 2, which isn’t a bad thing at all- the graphics in OutRun 2 are fantastic and they still look great, better than many more recent titles you might find.  The controls of the vehicle are the same, the drifting feature is still there, which I personally love.   As is the great sense of speed and the traffic you have to negotiate past.  Some of the environments from OutRun 2 have returned, some are exactly the same tracks (it seems) and others just use the general theme of a track from OutRun 2 but have a different layout, which again isn’t a bad thing, as the environments are amazing.

Some of the new features include, new tracks/environments.  A ‘live coverage’ screen- which shows the faces of different players as they are driving- it’s a nice little feature for the spectators of the races. And one of the main features is the new ‘dual controls’ system.  For the more observant of you, you should have notice me write how there are 4 modelled Ferraris to sit in, but with 8 seats and 8 steering wheels.  Well that wasn’t a mistake.

     

You should have noticed in the images and videos, that each car has two seats for players to sit in, with two steering wheels and two sets of pedals (accelerator, brake), so that two players can control the same vehicle.  Not at the same time, of course, that would be stupid (and impossible).  You select that you have two drivers when you first start playing and this changes how the game plays out (slightly).  One player starts out the driving and will continue to control the car until one of several things happen.  Either the player reaches a checkpoint or they crash the car.  Crashing is when you either knock an opponent vehicle, hit a wall or totally smash your Ferrari up (so it goes spinning in the air).  This new feature is a lot of fun and keeps the players on their toes, it is very frantic due to the speeds that the cars travel at.

     

If you have played Outrun 2, then you will know how great the music is (well great for a computer game) and also if you have played Outrun 2, you will know what the music is.  As far as I can tell there are no new tunes for ‘SP’, but I didn’t get a good enough look.  Still the music is great, so there are no complaints from me.  The ambient sounds from the cars and traffic on the courses, is great.  Nice loud engines, involving music add to the, already, great gameplay.

I had a couple of frustrating moments while playing the game.  But frustrating in a good way.  At one time I was playing in single player mode- racing on my own, just trying to beat the clock.  I was doing really well, until the last corner when I hit a wall, sending my car flying and slowing me right down.  I ran out of time about 3 (in game) feet away from the bloody finish line.  Man I was annoyed.

     

The next is a longer tale, (though not too long, don’t worry), the lovely booth babes told us all to wait and setup an 8 player tournament.  4 cars racing, but 8 drivers (as I explained above)  Although my friend, who I came to the show with me, only sat in the seat next to mine, and refused to play- which is cool, you can choose to either have one driver or two.  So i set it up as a solo driver.  Which, on a side note, made me look really bad - as the booth babes were commentating on the races, they did point out that my car was in solo mode, which made it look like I was being a selfish bastard, and had selected the solo play without letting the person next to me play.  But anyway, the race was very exciting.  I was in the lead for the majority of the race.  I did slip to 4th a couple of times, but was always able to get back to number 1.  On the last ‘track’ of the race, I was leading all the way through. It was great, we came to the last corner and I see someone sneaking up behind me.  But I took the corner well and maintained my lead.  However, we then had a final straight…

     

Now there is one ‘thing’ about playing in the multiplayer mode.  You are assigned your car automatically, just by sitting in a seat.  As I said, the driving seats are modelled to look like the rears of 4 different Ferraris, and in multiplayer mode the car you choose to sit in is represented in the game by the same vehicle (in single player you can choose your vehicle).  Of course, each different Ferrari has different stats, I was racing in the ‘Dino’ which has pretty good acceleration and turning, but has the slowest top speed of the 4 cars.  Naturally, due to ’sods law’, the car that was tailing me was the F50 which is (I believe) the fastest of the cars available.  So as soon as we hit the straight, the red F50 slowly but surely started overtaking.  My foot was right down, I was in top gear and my engine speed was maxed out, but there was no way I could overtake.  And so the F50 managed to beat me by, about, half a cars length.  I was annoyed I lost, but at the same time the race was so much fun, it was a joy to be part of.

     

     

Summary:

Outrun 2 SP (SDX) is a truly fine game.  It really is brilliant fun, in single player, co-op or multiplayer.  It was the highlight of the show for me.  Perhaps I was taken in by the massive cabinet and the two booth babes with loud microphones drawing the crowds in, but however you look at it, the game is great fun.

If you are a fan of Outrun, and in particular Outrun 2, you should definitely enjoy this.  One can only hope that Sega get smart and make this for the Xbox 360 - with full online play.  It could work well with the two drivers still, they could have two on one console (against others online) or possibly have all 8 using Xbox live but still use the co-op mode.  They can also extend the game further by allowing for more than 4 cars racing at a time…these are just ideas on my part, but I think many fans would agree with me.

The one thing you really need to remember about the game is that it is not a sequel to Outrun 2, it’s an updated version really.  The tracks are updated, new, (brilliant), features added, but it is essentially the same game. So don’t expect Outrun 3, expect a truly decent updated game.

Display Impression: 10.  Game Originality: 8.  Graphics: 9.  Sounds: 9.  Playability: 10.   Funfactor: 10.  Overall Experience: 10.

~G~ 

[Some images taken from Xboxyde.com - but the videos are all mine...hence the poor camera work]