Instantly, it turns out this may have been a wise choice on Sega's part as well, with the game - and we can't stress this enough - looking every bit as beautiful and polished as it did in the arcades. As the Xbox shots to the right demonstrate (although it's something of a game journalist's cliché, screenshots really can't do this one justice - it practically begs to be seen in motion), the conversion from the arcade to the home has thrown up barely any technical hitches: each Ferrari is every bit as sleek and as rounded as in the arcade version, and having seen both versions running, the wondrous lighting is in place on Microsoft's box.
The weather, a particular highlight from the arcade game, has also been recreated with unerring perfection in the Xbox version, from the way rain is pulled and blown about by the digital wind, to how the sun bounces off turquoise lakes. Sumo Digital should be applauded for overseeing such a seamless technical transition. Perhaps most importantly for an OutRun game though, the speed at which the primary-coloured world flies past you is quite phenomenal - maintaining a flawless sixty frames per second with such a hefty amount of detail on screen is a highly impressive achievement, particularly when PALGN is used to watching the likes of Project Gotham Racing 2 struggle in comparison. So far, so good.
Alas, we have qualms. For if OutRun 2 is to enjoy the degree of commercial success we genuinely believe it deserves (especially in what is sure to be a jammed Christmas market), it'll need bags more content to bolster the game's quick-fix appeal in the arcades. After all, here is a game that wilfully bucks current market trends (that favour complexity and depth in racing games) and instead chooses to give the player an experience that is both accessible and instantaneously fun.
Ironically, it's exactly this instant, accessible style that made the first game such a rip-roaring success, though whether such a gameplay model will sit well with consumers in this Gran Turismo-obsessed age of elaborate damage models, vehicle modification, sensitive steering and steep learning curves is yet to be seen. Indeed, the car count (eight Ferraris are available, and we've been assured there'll be the odd unlockable vehicle or two), track count (fifteen) and the complete lack of any opportunity to modify your car (OK, you can change your car's colour) hardly inspires confidence that petrol-heads are going to be rushing out to pick up a copy, especially when many other titles offer scores or even hundreds of potential rides. We can only hope our concerns are misplaced.
To their credit, Sumo Digital have added some expansive extras to the home version to try and overcome the lastability problem. The single-player game is retained from the arcade, and offers the same formula that the first game gave us back in 1986: branching, A-to-B racetracks that become progressively trickier the further you drive. Also from the arcade is the rather nifty 'Heart Attack' mode, a Crazy Taxi-esque exercise which gives the player the chance to impress the blonde perched next to him in the passenger seat through particularly reckless driving, with drifting, overtaking and weaving between traffic racking up the lurve points.
Thankfully, Sumo were fully aware the game required a little more substance if it was to be elevated above the status of 'snazzy-looking rental', so 'Mission Mode' was introduced. Essentially, this is OutRun with it's Project Gotham Racing trousers on: think driving at cones, maintaining a lead, making your car drift for as long as is humanly possible (as a sidenote, drifting is one of the most satisfying aspects of driving in the arcade version of OutRun 2 - we've got our fingers crossed this translates well to the Xbox pad) and you get the idea. In all, Mission Mode boasts a respectable 101 challenges - not quite the same number offered by the frankly Brobdingnagian Project Gotham games, but respectable nonetheless for a game with it's roots firmly entrenched in the arcades of the mid-Eighties.
With Xbox Live thrown into the mix (not something we've seen running, but Sumo have recently managed to boost the number of competitors in the online races from four to eight), OutRun 2 suddenly starts to look like it could be an almost meaty, long-lasting experience, though it would have to go some to beat current PALGN Live favourite Project Gotham Racing. We'll know for sure in October whether OutRun 2 lives up to it's predecessor. Until then, based on what we've now seen, we'll look forward with a warm glow of optimism.
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