OutRun Sega AGES 2500 Vol 13 (Arranged mode - middle route)
60Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 13: OutRun (SEGA AGES 2500シリーズ Vol.13 アウトラン) is the thirteenth entry in the Sega Ages 2500 series for the PlayStation 2. OutRun is an 'upgrade' of the 1986 arcade release of OutRun, presented entirely in 3D. If Outrun 2 and by extension Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast/SP could be thought of as the pinnacle of the OutRun series, then this game is definitely more like the cretinous, red-headed stepchild. I'm playing it here on PCSX2 1.5.0 (using a widescreen hack). For some reason there always seems to be a bit of slowdown right at the start of the game while the countdown commences when using PCSX2. It happens in every version of it I try.
What's not good about it then? The graphics are grainy and generally pretty poor quality looking with sparse trackside detail and the draw distance is pretty bad with some very noticeable draw-in (the car at least looks slightly better here thanks to the upscaling magic of PCSX2). As a literal 3D interpretation of the original 1986 game it does exactly what it says on the tin, but it feels very much like fuck all effort was put into actually trying to make it look good. For comparison, take a look at the amazing job Sumo Digital managed to do with Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast on the PS2. Also, this was at a point where Sega no longer had the Ferrari license, hence the car no longer being a Testarosa (I've seen some screenshots of this on the internet with a car that looks a bit more like an F40 than the one I'm using here - I'm not sure what the dealio is with that).
On the plus side though the game does run at 60fps and conveys a really good sense of speed. It also handles very faithfully to the original Outrun. As well as all the original game's 15 stages (with the option to play in either the Japanese or overseas arrangement), there's also an arranged mode that introduces a load of new stages. They're arranged in a diamond formation rather than the normal game's triangle style branching routes, which means you get more stages for you buck each play, but ultimately you end up on the same stage at the end each time and only have one ending. This is the arranged mode I'm playing in the video here.
As well as the original game's 3 classic OutRun tunes, also included are three new arranged versions of them, which are actually pretty good - I much prefer them to the cheese fest that were the Outrun 2 rearrangements of the tracks (and the unlockable Euro remixes).
So yeah, on the whole, this isn't really a brilliant game, but it's not a terrible one. It's definitely fun for a quick blast on from time-to-time and could definitely teach a few modern racers a thing or two about how to convey a really good sense of speed.
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