Outrun review - Sega Megadrive

Make no bones about it, Super Monaco GP still rules okay as far as Megadrive driving games go. Outrun may have been more entertaining as a coin-op, but this conversion is marred by the fact that it's a doddle to complete. In EASY mode it took around ten minutes' play to finish it and NOMRAL mode proved to be no more difficult at all. Only with the higher skill levels did Outrun present any kind of challenge whatsoever, and I'll warrant that that won't last long either. I can't really be bothered to find out either, because Outrun is so dreadfully tedious to play. The handling of the Testarossa is very dodgy indeed. Touch the side objects at a relatively tiny velocity and you're spun over violently as if you've hit it at a hundred times that speed. I honestly find it sheer lunacy to recommend this game when some shops are selling it for over forty quid. Fans of the coin-op may enjoy this, but I reckon that most sane, sentient life forms should go for the superior Super Monaco GP or Electronic Arts' smart Road Rash for the best Megadrive road race games.

Outrun might be an old arcade classic, but compared with other Megadrive versions of more up-to-date coin-ops like Super Monaco GP and Super Hang-On, and even non-coin-op race game like Road Rash, it hasn't really got what it takes to be classed as a great race game. It's just not exciting enough - the sheer uncontrollable speed of Super Hang-On and the constant battle against other cards in Super Monaco GP made them both thrilling games to play. Outrun has neither of these factors, and when you discover that it's so easy you can finish it on your first go, it all becomes rather dull and pointless. Even on the highest difficulty setting it's still very simple to complete, and only a complete race game novice with the reactions of a crippled slug could find any real challenge. Yes, the graphics are nice, and yes, the sound is good, but sadly Outrun just isn't challenging enough or fast enough to make it anything other than average.

Comments by Scott H

The Genesis conversion of Outrun was a tad belated, and if one had owned the PC-Engine version as an import (not likely) it was only a marginal improvement. However, in comparison to the Master System game, it's practically arcade perfect. In fact, in comparison to any racer from this era it has some of the best graphics, most memorable music, and great replayability.

As the review mentions, there are five ending points for you to complete the race in. That does not mean you are limited to five tracks though. This game allows the player to adjust the difficulty and scenery after each section, and there are also five sections before you get to the final track and complete the race. What this means is that there are 15 total unique sections to race through that each take roughly (or at least) 30 seconds to complete.

The trick that makes this game not only unique, but exceptionally polished is the idea of scalable difficulty combined with the timer. If you choose a more difficult track (right) and find yourself spinning out from an impact one time too many, you may find that your remaining time is excessively short. So, for the next track simply choose the easier track (left) and attempt to make up some time in order to complete the race. This allows for replayability that simply is not matched by other games in the genre, and mastering all of the tracks is quite the challenge. Outrun for Megadrive should have been well over an 80%, as the updated Xbox games are generally rated today.