Chances are most of you are all well aware of what OutRun is. For those who’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years though, here’s a rundown – OutRun was designed in 1986 by Yu Suzuki and his legendary AM-2 team, who would go on to create Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop and Shenmue. That list tells you all you need to know.

For years, the game ruled the arcades, even in the game world of Shenmue II, where Ryo Hazuki could hop into a machine and try to set a high score. Fast forward 20-something years and we’ve had a full 3D sequel as well as a handheld spinoff – and now the game’s coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN.

OutRun Online Arcade is not Project Gotham, nor is it Gran Turismo – in fact, it’s as far from what are now ‘traditional’ racing games as you can get. There’s no placement, no racing to be first – in fact, your opponents are actually the difficult, winding roads and the timer threatening to put your game to an end.

You must race through different stages; each linked together and based on different stylised locales, from a mountain road to a shore side drive. As you rush through, the clock constantly ticks away – and if it reaches zero, game over.

It’s that simple. You must choose which stage you’re heading to next by choosing left or right at the end of each stage, but that’s it. From there on in, it’s all about practice – practicing getting your drifting around the massive corners right, or practicing how to pass pesky cars without knocking them and slowing yourself down.

It’s a traditional arcade experience, geared at getting you addicted to bettering your time, shaving off a few seconds at a time thanks to advanced driving, propelling yourself up the leaderboards.

In addition to the standard offline OutRun, there’s a few online offerings too where you can race directly against others on Live or PSN. The online is solid when it works, but I experienced difficulty getting a match and then lag quite a bit using the online modes.

The controls are as tight as ever, following much the same scheme they always have on consoles, especially in OutRun 2 on the original Xbox. Once you know how to throw your car into a beautiful sideways drift, it becomes second nature, and that’s when the addictive nature of the game sets in. The music, as always, is fantastic, though lacking compared to the last entry in the series. This is understandable, though – they had to cut the size down somehow.

The game is serviceable graphically. It’s essentially the same last-gen game given some new bells and whistles and a smoother makeover, running at a solid 60 frames per second. Everything is as it was in the original arcade release of OutRun 2, which is a blessing.

Be warned that OutRun has nothing like the size, scale, scope or content on offer that a full retail title does. This is Project Gotham or Burnout in neither gameplay nor richness of content. What you do get, though, is a solid, arcade experience for a solid, arcade price. At full price this game wouldn’t be worth it – but at this, ideal point it becomes a must-buy.

The game has its flaws – missing content, some low resolution textures and blocky models on non-player cars, and the aforementioned missing music – but at a price like this, it’s one irresistible and arguably complete package.

– 9 / 10