After some… rather varied results on our last outing, I thought today we’d concentrate on a specific part of OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast.

Specifically, I thought it was time we took a look at the next tier of Flagman’s objectives. These mostly encompass racing and related disciplines, but there are some interesting challenges along the way that aren’t quite what you might normally expect from an arcade racer…

Hit the jump to see how things went today… and if I lost my girlfriend!

One of the things I find quite interesting about the OutRun series in general is that although it has enduring popularity among fans of retro gaming, were it to have been made for the first time today in what can politely be referred to as “the current climate”, it would probably have been… subject to some criticism, shall we say.

Thing is, the whole “impress girls with fast cars” thing is very much a cultural artifact of the game’s original time of  release in the late ’80s, and since the gameplay of OutRun has remained so true to its original intentions with all its subsequent releases, it makes sense that the setting and atmosphere would, too.

I actually always rather enjoyed this aspect of OutRun, to be honest; it gave the whole experience a bit of personality that many other arcade racers lacked. And it remains unique and distinctive even today — modern-day titles that attempt to recapture the feel of OutRun (such as the excellent Slipstream) often eschew this aspect in favour of a somewhat “drier” approach; this isn’t to say they’re bad, by any means, but it is ignoring what was, to many, a fundamental part of the OutRun experience!

More about OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

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