The original OutRun is renowned for being one of the purest and most enjoyable arcade racers ever created. Since its first appearance in arcades it has left behind a legacy of gamers who are now in their twenty-something and still call for the good old days of racing games. In this day and age, when driving games can often become needlessly complicated with all the extra bells and whistles that many developers insist on adding in order to make their games stand out, arcade purists have long yearned for a driving experience that replicates the ease, simplicity and adrenaline-fuelled enjoyment of the classic OutRun. SEGA certainly had a lot to live up to when it came to developing an arcade and Xbox-exclusive sequel to this legendary game, so how well does the sequel, OutRun 2, stand up to other games of the same genre? And is it even worth comparing to the original classic?

Enough beating around the bush – it gives me great pleasure to say that OutRun 2 delivers on its promises with all the grace and elegance of the game’s smooth, trademark powerslides. True, it’s a simple arcade racer – but it never tries to be anything more. Not only that, but it manages to achieve its goals with such style, fluidity and finesse that you really can’t fault this game.

There are Xbox-exclusive Mission modes, but while these add (somewhat) to the length of the game, you’ll have the most enjoyment with a simple Arcade race across the course. You pick from a choice of beautifully rendered Ferraris and choose a route across the course as you race – you don’t pick a pre-determined path, but are given the liberty of choosing which path you will take as you race. While this kind of freedom is certainly welcome, your chosen route also changes the difficulty of the race – depending on which route you take, the game will get harder. It’s worth experimenting with all the available routes, as the beautiful and varied environments certainly are a sight you should take the time to see. The tunes, while decent and well-suited to the game, could have benefited

The controls are as simple as they come – triggers work as the pedals, left stick works to steer…that’s it. Simple and effective, I think you’ll find. However, there’s more to the control than just standard, average driving – tap the brake as you take a particularly treacherous corner and watch as you skilfully execute a wonderful powerslide, remaining at the same speed with your car almost horizontal to the camera. While it sounds like a minor thing, it’s brilliantly implemented and genuinely adds a great deal of exhilaration, adrenaline and excitement to the standard arcade racing fare. The actual experience of driving stands out above all over console-ported arcade racers (though this game is still much more suited to the steering wheel than the joypad) and if you’re after a game you can enjoy in ten-minute bursts and will rarely lose its appeal, this is the way to go.

The Live modes offer a standard race mode should you want a longer-lasting diversion than the arcade mode offers, but you should steer clear of this game if you’re after a gargantuan, deep racer of epic proportions. But I would think that’s fairly obvious.

This game doesn’t set out to be more than an arcade racer, yet expectations were still immensely high of this game (largely due to its predecessor). However, when SEGA AM2 meets our expectations and produces a game of this calibre, it’s fair to say that they’ve done true justice to the legacy the original left behind. A worthy purchase – though you may wish to consider investing in a steering wheel for maximum enjoyment…

James Hamilton