OUTRUN for XBL is OUT!!

I'm saving my money for R... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

Keep saving... you might be able to buy a mansion or two.

 

Hey Cozby, next time I'm on I'll invite you to play.

 

this is a fair review by one of the top, if not the one on the very top of the leaderboards. who better to review this than a pro at this game (not leo! LOL /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif ):

taken from: http://outrun.freeforums.org/outrun-online-arcade-comes-out-tomorrow-t30.html
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this game's the bomb ! but i knew allready, as i also have OutRun 2 and OutRun 2006 coast to coast still laying here.

here's a mini review for the game

where to begin, because i expect everyone here allready have been in touch with this game one way or another. this game runs on the OutRun 2 SP tracks, and has 10 ferrari's, and online play for 6 players. when you have played OutRun 2006 coast to coast, you will remember the tracks, and also the car's, and the few songs that are left. these are the 3 famous outrun tracks splash wave, magical sound shower, and the passing breeze. other than these famous OutRun tracks, there's 4 other songs, 2 even with sung lyric's in it.

there has been some minor changes made to the game, both gameplay and graphics. i'll begin with the most important, the gameplay:

for newcomer's to OutRun, they will be pleased to hear they have finetweaked the controll's, and made the steering feel even more smooth. all you have to do is go to controller options and set the "sensetivity" setting to it's lowest setting, and it's done. while you are there, go to controller configuration, and set that to the E setting, so green (A) is downshift, and red (B) is upshift. this makes the shift drift a lot easyer. just roll your thumb over the (A) and then (B) button and your car slides around the courner with ease. (a detailed explenation about the shifting drift and braking drift can be found on my website http://home.casema.nl/ronaldkattevilder . just go to the review from OutRun 2006 coast to coast. )

the graphics have also been given a tweak and some finetuing. the textures are as sharp as a knife, reflections from the surrounding on your car is done better, the lighting effects like lens flare, low hanging clowds, and in the casino town the wet floor reflections, all these things just look better here than on previous home versons from OutRun 2006 coast to coast. also some missing animations and graphics have been inlcuded. they are: if you finish OutRun mode route A, the vulcano in the background blows smoke, on the ending route C there are falling flower pettals and flying white dove's when you slide your car to a halt, on ending stage D the rocket fly's away when you blast cross the finish line, and on ending stage E there's falling coullored confetti when you cross the finish line. i know, not much of a big deal, but for the fans of the game and the purists, now everything is in there. so, is it all just good news and a feather up the *ss for sumo digital and sega ? nope, to bad it's not. here goes:

online, there's a glitch when you host a race, and set the collisions on, and catch up off, the second player can slide his car in the first player's side. if he touches 1P's side long enough, he gets a speed boost, so far, that 1P can't even get into 2P's slipstream ! this should have been found out while playtesting. also online, both my nephews have seen the roads and roadside dissappearing, making playing unpossible. they had to leave to the lobby, and wait for the next race to find things back to normal. so far, i haven't seen this, but i must be honest and mentione i was the host all night long. so, online is really fun, but not totally bugg free.

offline there are no such problems. here it's just the fact that to make the game only 800 MS points, they have had to cut courners to keep file size down. so no OutRun 2 tracks, 5 missing ferrari's witch where in coast to coast, and a lot of remixes and the turbo outrun music's gone as well. so if you aren't a die hard OutRun fan, i can imagine the single player mode can get a bit repetetive after a while. not for me, because i just love to shave second's from my time, and get higher scores on the OutRun modus is really fun (the less you crash, and the more you slipstream, the more points. oh, and being fast also helps boost your score). for me, this game has "one more go" written all over it.

so in short the score's. but keep in mind, i like this game, it's my opinion, it's not a fact. you can, and may dissagree

GRAPHICS:8.5. if this was released a few years back, it could have been higher, but the graphics have aged. not that bad, but the people at the start/finish and close to the road are still cardboard cutout's, while project gotham racing 3 and 4 has 3D publick. i know it's because the game's a arcade port, and the arcade version is a normal xbox board with more memory. the reason i still give the score more than avarge is that the high resolution (almost no jaggie's !), the improved effect's, no pop up, and no frame drop's on 60 fps just still looks good enough for me. i still was surprised how well the graphics have aged. this is by far the best looking xbox live arcade downloadable game. not so strange, as almost all of these games are puzzlers, with just a few 3D games.

SOUND: 6. i had to think long and hard, but more than a 6 is just not justifiable. the few songs are fun for fan's, but even the most die hard fan will go crazy after a whole evening/night OutRun with just one version of the 3 famous OutRun tracks, and 4 other songs. you will hear them over and over, and at the end, no matter how you love them, you grow tired of them (i know i did, and i am such a fan that i even recreate 2 of the songs on my keyboard, and you can listen to it on youtube. just search for musicmaniac1965). and if you get really good at the game, the engine note also starts to sound like a whining baby, as it's engine note gets monotone on almost the same RPM. to bad they stripped the turbo outrun songs, and the remixes of all of the songs.

PLAYABILLITY: 10. remember, this is a arcade game, so don't tell me forza 2 has better and more realistic controlls, because i KNOW.... this is just a fun arcade racer, with easy to learn controll's. easy to learn, and eventually also easy to master. this game has more depth than some sites may tell you. i proved this to my nephews by winning all of the online races, even after explaining the room how i get round courners. so there's more to the game as some might see. and this game supports the wheel. just keep the settings how you like, but you can still shift using the flappy peddals. the feeling is easilly just as smooth as it's arcade breatheren. if you're not into arcade racers, you are reading the wrong review and you should not even bother downloading the demo.

LASTABILLITY: 7. for me, it could have been higher, but i can't go round the fact that this game is short. the heart attack mode adds some lasting appeal, and if you love time trials, youre also in for a treat, but still, you have seen it all in just one evening play. i don't mind that much, but i still hope for some extra DLC where they might give us the missing ferrari's, the OutRun 2 tracks, and the rest of the music from coast to coast. maybe for another 400 MS points ? i'd buy that instantanious.

TOTAL SCORE: 8. again, it's because i have to take in account that not everyone might be just as happy with the game as i am. for myself, i could bump up the score by a full point, but i must be fair, and keep it in the middle, the game is not avarge, but for some, also not perfect. i can live with that, and meet somewhere in the middle. the online gameplay add's time to the replay value, and if you played the arcade version, youll be glad you don't need to throw in quarters every go. so there you have it. a exelent game with just a few flaw's, great looks (especially for it's age), but a little shortlived to keep everyone's attention.

while handing out the score's, i also have been taking account to the asking price. if it where 1600 points, the score would have been much lower, as the game has to little to offer to make such a price worthwhile. but for a measilly 800 points you get a game that is great online, supports the force feedback wheel with smooth and tight controlls (but no real force feedback), and offer the arcade game in your home.
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greetz,

musicmaniac1965

 

Yeah, I admit that my initial criticism was a bit harsh. Still, if you have C2C or O2 and don't want to join in the fun of online play, don't buy Outrun Online Arcade.

Still missing the Force Feedback though!

 

I am currently ranked 8th on the outrun mode goal a leaderboard - 1312670 -288GTO MT

AVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm top of the ps3 leader boards for outrun mode goal A, only to see that F40 has owned the 360 leaderboards..

 

great review... still not worth 800ms pts.

 

Yeah but you would pay 800pts for Akira to have a 6p that is 14 frames though right? ;p

 

9 frame full circular SDE, 1600ms points!

 

I'm with feck I'd pay 2000ms pts for a 46P special high with -3 to -6 on block. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

How about SPoD is unblockable??

 

....and 100 pts damage.
The good old days... maybe not.

 

back on subject...

I chked out the Outrun Demo... playing with analog stick sux.
Is anyone playing with a wheel? Is it a better experience. I loved Outrun in the arcade and would like to play some multiplayer... but it would be too frustrating for me this way.

I stopped playing Dirt because I don't have a wheel too... is the standard 360 driving wheel worth the investment?

 

I play with analog and it works fine for me, it just takes time to get used to is all. They also have a sensitivity option where you can turn it up to have tighter controls. I highly recommend it to any fellow Outrunners!

 

Set the sensitivity in Outrun Online to zero, and use button config E for better handling with manual transmission.

 

I had put the sensitivity down to its lowest setting after reading the review above. I'll try config E tho. Is anyone here playing Outrun with a wheel?

 

It was in Vf2

 

Wasn't it a throw in VF2?

 

yes. SPoD and Wolf's giant swing were 100pt throws in VF2.