Turbo Outrun (ARC, 1989)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-9 Control-7 Challenge-8 Story-4
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Nice 80s atmosphere
Light RPG/career mode feature (choose between an engine/tyres (grip)/turbo upgrade between levels - only one level for each though sadly so your build always ends up the same)
New surface types (water, oil - if you use your turbo here it's lit on fire, sand, grovel, snow) and bumps on the road (these make you jump a little bit - good feedback when landing)
Obstacles like barrels and fence roadblocks that you can run through and break (only slows you down a bit)
While there aren't proper branching paths here the road does occasionally split in two
Turbo feature (has a 10+ second cooldown period after each use)
Rival car
Get chased by the police (they can't catch you though unlike in Road Rash for example)
Pretty impressive OST (OPM+Sega PCM)
Somewhat more complex backgrounds (inner city areas, some night time segments - oddly enough the ground and cars tend to still be as bright though)
More music variety during a playthrough
Good sense of speed for the time
Some nice scene transitions
An animated band plays between levels and during the ending
Difficulty options (four levels, coin worth option)
Basic weather effects (rain, sand/dust storm, falling snow) - quite pixelated and without transparency though
Automatic or manual transmission option
+/-
Level-based
No 2-player
Checkpoint system when continuing
Infinite continues?
No drifting mechanic
No damage mechanic for your or your rival's car
Locations are loosely based on various US states (the route starts on the US east coast and ends on its west coast)
Arcade style physics when hitting other cars (sometimes rather forgiving but at other times can cost you a continue)
After a level or two you can't really crash once or you lose a credit
Only one ending (you auto-beat your rival by clearing the last checkpoint - several more in the prequel and the animations were a bit more elaborate) - while it would've been a bummer to get a bad ending and not be able to rety that last segment they could've added one and made it easy to avoid
-
Trial & error (no course map nor assistant during gameplay (the arrow signs don't help much), have to memorize when to use the turbo due to the frequent tight turns and the fairly frequent hills with a tight turn right after them that you can't really see before entering them, no rearview mirror and sometimes when hit from behind you're thrown to the side which leads to a crash or a lot of speed lost)
Inconsistent hit detection (sometimes you can go right through a couple of obstacles without crashing, sometimes just touching the edge of the road makes your car spin)
Ditches the branching paths system of the prequel (makes each full run a lot longer - that said it's still only about 15 mins long if you play really well)
Can't choose your music here
The gameplay pauses for several seconds when you crash
The visuals aren't quite as clean as in the prequel overall
The music is somewhat low compared to the sfx
No crazy jumps (Enduro Racer had them)
Notes:
-Beat it on Normal only
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Nice 80s atmosphere
Light RPG/career mode feature (choose between an engine/tyres (grip)/turbo upgrade between levels - only one level for each though sadly so your build always ends up the same)
New surface types (water, oil - if you use your turbo here it's lit on fire, sand, grovel, snow) and bumps on the road (these make you jump a little bit - good feedback when landing)
Obstacles like barrels and fence roadblocks that you can run through and break (only slows you down a bit)
While there aren't proper branching paths here the road does occasionally split in two
Turbo feature (has a 10+ second cooldown period after each use)
Rival car
Get chased by the police (they can't catch you though unlike in Road Rash for example)
Pretty impressive OST (OPM+Sega PCM)
Somewhat more complex backgrounds (inner city areas, some night time segments - oddly enough the ground and cars tend to still be as bright though)
More music variety during a playthrough
Good sense of speed for the time
Some nice scene transitions
An animated band plays between levels and during the ending
Difficulty options (four levels, coin worth option)
Basic weather effects (rain, sand/dust storm, falling snow) - quite pixelated and without transparency though
Automatic or manual transmission option
+/-
Level-based
No 2-player
Checkpoint system when continuing
Infinite continues?
No drifting mechanic
No damage mechanic for your or your rival's car
Locations are loosely based on various US states (the route starts on the US east coast and ends on its west coast)
Arcade style physics when hitting other cars (sometimes rather forgiving but at other times can cost you a continue)
After a level or two you can't really crash once or you lose a credit
Only one ending (you auto-beat your rival by clearing the last checkpoint - several more in the prequel and the animations were a bit more elaborate) - while it would've been a bummer to get a bad ending and not be able to rety that last segment they could've added one and made it easy to avoid
-
Trial & error (no course map nor assistant during gameplay (the arrow signs don't help much), have to memorize when to use the turbo due to the frequent tight turns and the fairly frequent hills with a tight turn right after them that you can't really see before entering them, no rearview mirror and sometimes when hit from behind you're thrown to the side which leads to a crash or a lot of speed lost)
Inconsistent hit detection (sometimes you can go right through a couple of obstacles without crashing, sometimes just touching the edge of the road makes your car spin)
Ditches the branching paths system of the prequel (makes each full run a lot longer - that said it's still only about 15 mins long if you play really well)
Can't choose your music here
The gameplay pauses for several seconds when you crash
The visuals aren't quite as clean as in the prequel overall
The music is somewhat low compared to the sfx
No crazy jumps (Enduro Racer had them)
Notes:
-Beat it on Normal only