Outrun 2

My momma always told me: 'If you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all.'? Fortunately, I don't always follow her advice or I wouldn't be able to write up a review on OutRun 2. OK, seriously, do they expect people to buy this game? I could get the same arcade-like cardboard driving experience playing Pole Position II down at the local grocery store. I'll pause here and let you yell at me for a few seconds, all you fans of the Outrun franchise.

Now then, back to the review.

I know that OutRun 2 is not meant to be a realistic racer, it's a port of an arcade game. But the problem is it's a port of a very dated arcade game. The graphics are cartoony, the sound effects are more for nostalgia than any other sort of enjoyment and the game mechanics are infantile. There are a total of two buttons you use for the game. There's the gas and then there's the brake. You can drift, but this is accomplished only by breaking through a turn without using your gas. Once you're in the drift you can gas up again but this trigger juggling makes no sense and leaves you feeling like the game can't handle two button inputs at the same time.

If you are a huge fan of OutRun 2 and don't mind that the mechanics haven't really changed with the times, you'll love this game. You can just pick it up and play, heck my 3-year-old son just picked it up and played. Then again after a minute or two he declared the game 'silly'? and dropped the controller.

The game includes eight different fully licensed Ferraris to choose from and there are more than 15 branching tracks to race on. You can play in the Outrun Arcade which includes the classic timed outrun mode, the heart attack mode and time attack mode. In the Outrun challenge you can choose to try and complete tasks, run through single races or play against four others, taking turns to try and land the best time. The game does feature online play through Xbox Live, allowing up to eight players to go it head-to-head and this is where the game does best. Although I'm not a fan of the mechanics, graphics or audio, the online play manages to make the best of the situation in a nearly lag-free environment.

When compared to the bigger and better racers to hit the market recently, and certainly Burnout 3 tops that list, OutRun 2 just doesn't cut it. The gameplay is too much an arcade experience, and while it may be fun for some initially, I doubt anyone will keep this game in their collection long.