By Sean Ewing

Sega’s ‘Outrun 2’ has a simple premise: People like to drive fast cars. Furthermore, they like to do so in exotic locales. Combine those two, and you get ‘Outrun 2’. You pick a Ferrari from a few different models, you start in Palm Beach, and you just drive as fast and as dangerously as you can. You race from checkpoint to checkpoint, driving through new routes, and exquisite new locales.

The arcade mode is fun, with plenty of routes, changing difficulties, plenty of cars and great music. Mission mode is a new feature in the game, and is where the real fun comes from. In this mode, you race along trying to complete challenges, like “Hit blue cones” or “Weave between cars for points.” Earn enough points and you complete the challenge; complete enough challenges and you clear the stage. Each stage cleared gives you new cars, music and courses.

In addition to that, each time you complete a new challenge, it’s unlocked for the engaging multiplayer mode. All you do is pick how many players you have, and the game will randomly generate a course of five challenges. Each player runs through the challenges, and whoever accumulates the most points wins. The only drawback about this mode is that it would be nice to be able to make your own courses. You are kind of stuck with whatever car and challenge the game provides. It’s fun, but you can’t help thinking how much better it would be with some customization.

Racing games tend to have pretty solid playlists. These days, it’s almost always rap with some light techno. Sega again throws convention to the wind and gives us remixes of the classic songs from ‘Outrun’, as well as new songs that have that special Sega touch. You unlock newer and better songs, to round out your playlist. However, once you unlock “Magical Sound Shower (Euro Remix),” expect that to be the only song you pick. On a good sound system it feels like you are driving 170 miles an hour down Miami Boulevard with Tito Puente riding shotgun.

Older racing fans may remember the original ‘Outrun’ for the Sega Master System and Genesis. If not, don’t worry, Sega was thoughtful enough to include the original game as an unlockable here, along with classic music from 1986. Unlocking them is no mean feat, but for fans, it’s worth the effort. For nonfans, the arcade mode is addictive enough to warrant playing it enough to earn the original.

The cars have a different enough feel to them to warrant careful inspection before each race. The game helpfully organizes them by difficulty to control, which helps an awful lot. ‘Outrun 2’s’ arcade mode features devious courses on the difficult path, and they require just the perfect touch going around turns.

Mission mode gets intensely difficult as you go, but there are always chances for you to get back in it, and each failed run is a learning experience. Still, as you complete all 101 missions, expect a lot of “learning experiences.” The rewards are worth the trouble though and add a ton of replay value to an already sterling game.

The game is graphically impressive, running at a smooth 60 frames per second without any slowdown. The cars are rendered wonderfully and the environments are breathtaking. The environments range from a beach in Miami, to ancient Aztec pyramids, to rolling plains complete with fog. Each one is vibrantly colored and beautifully textured.

One perplexing issue comes with the seven-second video that plays when you complete a stage. It seems to hiccup and skip pretty frequently. It really takes away far more than it adds. It’s only a small problem, but it’s sad to see something so unpolished when the rest of the game shows such love.

‘Outrun 2’ is a fantastic arcade racer that is stocked with replay value. There are 101 missions, but they never feel tedious. Each set of races brings new challenges that rarely feel arbitrary, and new rewards that are worth the effort.

Final Grade: A-

´Outrun 2´ never takes itself too seriously and is one hell of a fun racing game. (Image courtesy xboxgazette.com)