Outrun Turbo by Tim Holt (El Paso)
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Outrun Turbo by Tim Holt (El Paso)
Hop in your Porche 959, pop down the roof, pop the clutch and head for the open road. Go from New York City to Los Angeles in the quickest amount of time. On the way, encounter police, road barriers and other drivers that do not have your feel for the open road. Sound good? Yeah, I thought so too, so I picked up U.S. Gold's latest: OUTRUN TURBO. The package says that "Driving's Biggest Game Just Got Bigger" and "More Car, More Road, More Action." I am a sucker for packaging. Just ask the club members that saw my review of "Roadwars" my all-time golden turkey award winner. I was duped by the pretty pictures. I was drawn in by the hope that maybe, just maybe, this version of Outrun would work on my ST, unlike it's brother, who never ran on my computer even after returning it to the mail order place three times. Sad to report, I must add Outrun Turbo to my list of ST Turkeys.
Well, I was happy to see that OutRun Turbo did in fact, run on my ST. However, I realized this game left something to be desired when I first started, unfamiliar with the controlling, and promptly ran over a crowd of spectators. Did this stop my car? No, I just kept going! (Mass murderer lose on the streets!) But I digress...let me get to the game, then I will get to carving the turkey.
The premise of Outrun Turbo is that you and your girlfriend are driving in a race from New York to Los Angeles. Along the way, you must negotiate road hazards and out run (hence the name) the police. You must also get through each stage in a certain amount of time. Usually, this amount of time is in seconds, so you can get from New York to Washington D.C. in 55 seconds. If only Amtrak could be so lucky. Getting to certain places allows you to add options to your car, such as the type of tire you want. You may even change cars at certain places. The first option you get is whether or not you want manual or automatic transmission. (I suggest you use the mouse to control your car, and get automatic transmission.) At every stage, the scenes change. For instance, if you get to Pittsburgh, it will be snowing. Get the idea? Okay, now, let's talk turkey:
Turkey Award #1: Outrun Turbo's car is difficult to control no matter what option, mouse or joystick, you chose. The space bar controls the "Turbo booster," moving the mouse left or right turns the car, left mouse button accelerates, right mouse button decelerates (and shifts if you chose the manual transmission). No matter what you do, the car simply cannot be controlled unless you stop the car, and the turbo cannot be turned off unless you run into something, flip over or stop your car.
Turkey Award #2: The amount of time given for each stage makes little or no sense. I could understand if the time decreased mathematically say 5 seconds for each stage, but it doesn't. Let me give you an example: From New York to Washington D.C., the driver is given 55 seconds. If you make it there BEFORE your time is up, you are given 40 seconds to make it from Washington to Pittsburgh. If you crash and have to start from the beginning in Washington, then you have 50 seconds. In other words, you are not given any reward for good driving! As a matter of fact, you are penalized for making it ahead of time. If you crash and have to start again, the time has little to do with anything. What do the instructions have to say? "Watch out for trees." WOW! How helpful.
Turkey Award #3: The scenes are hilarious! Towering mountains near Washington D.C. A blinding snowstorm in Pittsburgh is three snowflakes blowing across the screen! Skyscrapers look like sheets and are two dimensional. The "road hazards" can simply be run through as if they do not exist. Even the dreaded police cars can simply be run through. Go ahead, aim right for them! They simply will disappear after you run up to them. Barrels in the road? No problem, run right through them. They won't hurt your car. And who knows, the more road hazards you pop, your time may increase. Only if you run completely off the road will your car flip over in the famous "Outrun Flip."
Turkey Award #4: The instructions are terrible. Of course, they also happen to be in about 15 other languages, and might help you in any foreign language classes you are taking. Want to know the Italian word for Turbo? Of course, it's Turbo! The instructions help only for the first time you drive. After that, you are on your own. Kind of like life, huh? (Excuse me, I got profound for a second.)
Turkey Award #5: The music is really bad. After about two minutes of that mindless dribble, you feel like ripping the guts out of your monitor's speaker.
Okay, don't take my word for it. Go out and buy Turbo Outrun! Dump $40! I did! But remember the famous saying on the side of the box: "U.S. Gold have (that is their grammar mistake, not mine) created the 'Gold Standard' others can only seek to emulate." God, I hope not! If this is the type of program other try to emulate, we are in BIG BIG trouble!
[Ed. Note: In all fairness to U.S. Gold, the usage of "have" is correct in the U.K. when referring to a single company or other organization. U.S. Gold is actually based in Britain, so their use of "have" is not a mistake of grammer. Of course, this bit of trivia is absolutely of no importance whatsoever, so please disregard this editor's note and pretend you never saw it.]
Outrun Turbo $39.95
US Gold/Sega
