A Gaming Diary
PSP
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 12th
Just a quick race online to check out my port forwarding.
Seems to work, but leaping online after over a week without playing maybe wasn’t the best idea. I came third out of four people. Well, I was in third when the race ended. I was right near the finish line, too.
Oooooooooh, I’m riled.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 3rd
I’m rubbish.
I still can’t complete the 15-stage OutRun 2 continuous route on the PSP. Not even close.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 3rd
Just spent a good couple of hours with the Xbox version. Finished of the Novice and Intermediate Flagman missions with AAA rankings.
It’s just a superb game. How does someone go about making a game in which a learned skill feels so natural?
I earned enough OutRun miles to buy the OutRun class 328 GTS. The speedometer says it’s only abotu 20km/h faster than the standard version, but it feels an awful lot faster.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 2nd
I just ran out of time with my car actually sitting on the chequered line.
Why does this game treat me so badly when I love it so much?
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 1st
Leading easily until the very last corner of a five-stage race and then crashing and coming sixth is very, very annoying.
On any console, I imagine, but in this case on the PSP.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 31st
Got online with the PSP version earlier. Had a lot of waiting for people to finish a long race only to get kicked out before they did, but I did manage to get one race in. It was good fun and I very nearly won, but a crash between my main rival and me right at the end let the guy in third come through for a win. I felt a bit bad because everyone else was using novice cars and I was in my Testarossa, but I’m not sure what the etiquette is there.
And I’ve tried the Xbox version now.
The bad first… The new grainy look doesn’t agree with my LCD TV at all. Xbox stuff generally looks worse than anything else. The original OutRun 2 was an exception, but this new version looks pretty bad. Water Falls suffers most, looking like the singal’s coming from the other side of the English channel via a broken set-top ariel. Or something. Need perfect 360 compatibility now. I might even buy a rip-off slightly-enhanced 360 port, but this isn’t EA we’re dealing with.
Some of the sound’s a bit odd, too, especially the passing car noises.
Okay, that’s the bad. The good is everything else. it handles perfectly, it plays perfectly. On my first run down the SP easy route I beat my best PSP time by about ten seconds, using a less good car. And I’ve managed to unlock the 328 GTS, which is as lovely as it was in OutRun 2. I put it on for a quick five minute check befiore bed and ended up with forty five minutes of drive time under my belt.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 31st
Not only did I play it on the bus this morning, but I also played it at home before I left for work, which is pretty much unheard of.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 30th
ARGH!
So I’ve been playing more of this on the PSP and saving up my miles to buy the 328 GTS, because it was my very favourite car on OutRun 2 on the Xbox.
I finally get enough miles and run off to the showroom, choose the car and… a message pops up saying “Sorry, you must unlock this car on the PS2.”
Fuck’s sake.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 30th
Played it on the bus to work.
Yes, I played OutRun 2 on the bus to work.
I love how that sounds.
I played OutRun 2 on the bus to work.
I still can’t quite finish the easiest route on the SP stages, but it’s really starting to feel like it’s my fault, not the controls. Getting used to digital braking and accelerating has been the biggest challenge. I can’t ease off the gas to get round bends anymore and it’s really changed the way I’m having to play the game. Anyone who went all or nothing on the triggers in the Xbox game will probably find it easier to adjust.
But it’s so good. It is OutRun 2 in the palm of my hand. It’s not perfect, but it’s more than a handheld approximation of the real game. It is the real game.
It’s Magical Sound Shower played through a decent all-in-one stereo instead of an expensive separates system with gold-plated double-thick speaker wires. Or something.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 29th
Hooray! For probably the only time ever I’ve got the best score on one of the routes on the OutRun2 online leaderboard. On the PSP version, this is. Representing for the UK. Only Union Jack on the top scores screen.
Tried to play online, but there were no games and nobody joined when I created one.
Anyway, I’ve taken the steering sensitivity down a couple of notches, which has helped things massively. I’ve mainly been playing OutRun 2, rather than any challenges or SP, just to try and compare it to the version I already know and love.
Best PSP game ever? Well, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is stiff competition, but OutRun 2006 might just beat it. We’ll see.
