OutRun 2006 Review

Game: OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (PS2) - By Tetsuo

Sumo Digital's successful OutRun2 conversion for the Xbox was largely ignored as a shallow experience by most that played it in back in 2004 ("most" being the Project Bordom Racing 3 crowd, then). For the small following who knew better and wanted a bit of nostalgic fun, however, OutRun2 was an entertaining, unashamed videogame, which delivered the kind of experience you only usually get from a SEGA-produced title. OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (to give it its stupid full moniker) has thankfully, (although some could say curiously), arrived to a far less hostile reception this time around, and many have been keen to embrace this semi-sequel two years later.

C2C is essentially OutRun2 and the arcade-only SP edition thrown together - two games for one, if you will. SP comes complete with 15 new tracks, but the aim of the game remains the same: reach the end of your chosen route with the biggest score and in the most stylish way possible. The engaging drifting technique returns, but there is also now a slip-streaming technique to master, which slightly increases your top speed as you tail another racer. The drifting, as before, is the most rewarding aspect of the gameplay. Almost all players will get to grips with it after only a few minutes, but persistent play and practice is required when racing through some of the trickier corners, or attempting a perfect lap or even a complete run-through. Mastering the "Switch Drifting" technique is a thing of beauty, as it's possible to throw your Ferrari from one drift into another at break-neck speeds - pull it off and it feels just so abso-bloody-lutely perfect. Coupled with some of the most lovely, expansive backgrounds and smooth graphics you're likely to see, OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast is vibrant, fast and addictive and an almost tear-inducing effigy to one of the arcades' all-time greats. As a £30 home console videogame however, it struggles to hide its all-too-apparent arcade sensibilities.

In fact, OutRun 2006 tries too hard to pretend it's not an arcade game and unfortunately, this is where things start to get tedious. There is probably around forty or more hours of gameplay required to unlock ("unlocking", of course, being the inane and hateful plague of modern videogames) everything in the game, and for a title that can essentially be completed in a matter of minutes, it means there's an awful lot of filler. The Heart Attack and Time Attack modes are fun enough, but it's the main "Coast 2 Coast" mode that, after a while, becomes far more repetitive than it should be. Whether it's drifting within a certain area, bashing rival cars or driving into lame ghost characters along the track, Sumo attempts to mix-up and extend the game by throwing in various tasks, but it's rarely fun - more a chore. These kind of extras might be welcome in the arcade (where a session would typically last for just a few minutes), but for a console game, slip-streaming another rival car on every track for the four-millionth time to unlock another car colour quickly becomes soul-destroying. Ironically, it's C2C's insistence on replaying stage after stage in pursuit of rankings and player points which unfortunately (and most unnecessarily) highlights the limited appeal of the game engine. The pretty car-sliding is exposed as pre-determined and inflexible and on some of the latter stages it becomes apparent the drifting actually prevents the player from attaining high rankings due to a loss of speed. This is the game's biggest downfall, because although those who do bother to play excessively will be initially rewarded, they will eventually be left disillusioned at the short-comings of the game engine and its insistence on unlocking content through its OutRun Miles point system. It seems those who have been quick to praise OutRun 2006 may have put their control pad down quicker than they had you believe.

And it's a shame, because Coast 2 Coast is still a fantastic game and we need more like it. There are LAN and net play options for those who give a toss about online gaming, but I can't help thinking a standard 2-player split-screen mode could have been included instead. It has to be said that the PS2 version suffers from slowdown in several instances which disrupts the flow of the game somewhat, but real credit has to go to Sumo for what they've squeezed out of the hardware.

As a 15-minutes-at-a-time or Time Trial game, this is lots and lots of fun. It still effortlessly out-plays (runs?) the likes of Gran Turismo 4 or any current boring racing game you care to mention. OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, at its heart, is a great game, but it tries too hard to be something it's not and like many racing games today, confuses quantity for quality. It dilutes its own brilliance with fucking tedious challenges, a never-ending line of unlockable content and a restrictive game structure. It over-eggs an already lovely pudding.

Six out of ten