OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast - Retro Reflections - TBT

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast by developer Sumo Digital and publisher Sega AM2—PSP Throwback Thursday review written by Hamza. 2006.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.

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Designed as a racer but advertised and marketed as a driving experience, the original OutRun won the hearts of contemporary gamers and became a perennial classic over time – even acquiring the status of an unofficial synecdoche for racing games. Flash-forward a few good years, some major technical and graphical advancement later, and you get OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast– one of the most beautiful racing/driving games ever made… and still hold up to this day.

Everything about the game is care-free and relaxing... that is until you get into the later stages of the races. The sound of the rushing sea that greets you in the menu system is too blissful for words. The Hawaiian-reminiscent atmosphere that permeates the game provokes a sonorous feeling, an absolutely unheard of thing in a racing game. The truly resplendent production of the game halted me from frustrating myself silly every time I lost a race or failed to reach the specified target. Speaking of which, one of the missions is called Heart Attack Mode, in which you have to keep your girlfriend happy by adhering to her bizarre demands that often border on Symphorophilia.

If you're wanting an example to convince you, well one of the many things she asks you to do is ram into as many vehicles as possible. The more vehicles you comically collide into, the more happy she becomes. Next she will ask you to drift. With that done, she will then ask you to dribble a gigantic beach ball with your car until the end comes in sight... or hit as many ghosts as possible... or keep overtaking a long line of convoy!

This is exactly why I sometimes love games that relish in their silliness. Typing of the Dead - another Sega masterpiece - is not only borderline absurd; but almost a masterpiece in what it aims to be, and a serious contender in my book for the most entertaining video game ever made. Coast 2 Coast takes the improbability of an arcade racer and gives it a charm all of its own.

Most racing games, especially the modern ones, let you control and finetune several technical and cosmetic aspects of your vehicle. That much is standard. But hardly any racer lets you pick your own passenger, choose which track to burn rubber on mid-race, and which one music to listen to in the background. OK fine, maybe the latter is a standard feature in many racing games, but none of them contain the insanely irresistible, perfect-for-long-drives Magical Sound Shower.

It's surprising how I made it this far into the review without even mentioning Ferrari anywhere. The OutRun series have always stood out from the rest due to their licensed, and sublime, use of Ferraris as the player's only mode of transport. The original OutRun did for Ferrari Testarossa what Goldfinger did for the Aston Martin DB5. Just as how 007 made the DB5 synonymous with espionage and gadgetry, OutRun created an icon out of the Testarossa, and the poster car for all that is exotic, scenic, and gorgeous. I swear I could look at a Testarossa in real life and just watch the world of Coast 2 Coast whizz by in the car's windows. Other vehicles that are included in the game, but not limited to; the aggressive Enzo, the vintage Dino 260 GTS, the stylish 250 GTO, and the perennial world-wide favourite, the F50.

In conclusion, Coast 2 Coast is a very attractive racing game and a splendid title on the handheld. While it certainly has its shortcomings, namely the questionable collision detection and occasional flicker and lag, the overall product is a thing of undeniable beauty.


Score: 9 / 10

Note: Screenshots from all platforms that were available at the time can be found here at Moby Games.

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Hood: Outlaws & Legends - XB1 Review

Hood: Outlaws & Legends by developer Sumo Digital and publisher Focus Home Interactive—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an interesting idea as it pits players versus players versus the environment in relatively briskly paced online matches. The game deserves credit for trying to do something unique, but there’s so many unpolished edges that hinder the overall experience.

The setting is one of my favorites, taking characters from Robin Hood lore and putting them in a gritty, engrossing setting. The premise to each match is to pit a four player team against another four player team. They are not only working against one another, but also coping with the AI controlled characters in the environment that are working against them too. The teams have the same goal – take the key from the sheriff, unlock the vault, steal the treasure and get it safely to an extraction point.

There are plenty of online competitive staples sprinkled in here. Most of the AI enemies are little more than fodder that in a one-on-one situation, seldom pose a serious threat (outside of the Sheriff, who will absolutely maul you if he gets too close). But they can summon reinforcement and cause changes in the environment that make the encounters that much more dangerous, and when sprinkled in amidst the player versus player carnage. There are respawn points that can be captured that give you strategic advantages when you die and have to jump back into the fray.

Structurally, there is a lot to like about Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The stages are interesting, with gates that can be dropped, a sense of verticality through various towers and staircases as their maps span a handful of different environments. Creeping through foliage, shooting at enemies out of windows and using ropes to scale stone walls are all interesting aspects to the stages that make them feel well designed and interesting to get to learn and explore.

There are four characters that can be chosen from as well, and each one serves a purpose that ties into the environments mentioned above. This is one of the areas where Hood: Outlaws & Legends feels like it has a ton of potential, but also has a tendency to fall a bit flat. Ideally a team will be constructed from each of the four characters / roles, since they each serve a distinctive purpose. There is the titular Robin Hood, who naturally attacks with bow and arrow and is terrible in melee combat. He is the scout of the team, often scaling towers and peeking out of windows to tag enemies and points of interest for the rest of the team and trying to combat enemies at a distance.

Next up we have Marianne who is all about the stealth. She can be absolutely lethal creeping through the shrubs and assassinating enemies who walk too close to her. She is often your best bet to get the key without combat, because she can pick the Sheriff’s pocket and is quick in reaching the vault to unlock it. However, she loses a lot of her efficacy when it comes time to actually fight in close quarters, similar to Robin. John is the big, bruising character he is often described as in many other stories. He is all about the close quarters combat. He is also able to raise some of the gates that the AI guards close, opening up shorter, more direct paths for teammates. He also comes in handy during the final part of each mission, when you need to crank a pully to extract the stolen treasure, as he can do that faster than anyone else. If these things make John feel like he’s more useful than the aforementioned two characters, that is because he is.

It also plays into the final character, Tooke. He is another melee-based character, who can heal allies, carry the chest really fast and in general is capable of taking a licking similar to John. By all accounts, Tooke is seen as probably the most overpowered character in the game. While the ideal scenario is to see one of each character in a party, each contributing in their own way to the mission’s success – the problem is that this is seldom how it plays out unless you are up against another similarly constructed team. Early on, when I first started playing at launch, most teams were pretty well-balanced like this. However, as people started to gain familiarity with what characters were really the most useful, it was not unusual to see a team of three Tookes and a John up against teams of two Johns and two Tookes. The stealth components are then just cast away as everyone focused on brute forcing one another.

So there are some clear balance issues. These not only relate to the classes, but matchmaking too. It is not unusual to see two or three level ten or under characters with a level sixty-something that dominates the proceedings because they know their way around the maps or have some handy unlocked perks. That is always the risk with something like this – you want to have some nice progression in there, and Hood: Outlaws & Legends has that between character ability perks and oodles of cosmetics that can be unlocked for your characters. I love that kind of progression, though it can create imbalances when you have such disparate leveled characters tossed together. Conversely, I get it because if they are too narrow in their team-building, it might be challenging to get two full teams of four assembled in a timely fashion. To Hood: Outlaws & Legends’ credit, I was generally hopping into matches rather quickly.

I would say that Hood: Outlaws & Legends is at its best when you are communicating with actual friends and not just working silently with random pick-up groups. Also, with only four characters, a handful of maps and a single primary gameplay structure, things can grow a bit stale rather quickly, which may hurt the game’s longevity as well. Hopefully the developers have some more content coming sooner than later and they can figure out a way to steak the game balance, or I fear that Hood: Outlaws & Legends just won’t be played heavily in a few months or so.

Summary

By and large, I really enjoyed Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The game’s setting and structure are interesting and an expertly executed heist is very rewarding, especially when you get to unlock some new progression items for your characters during the early levels of gameplay. Unfortunately there are still plenty of rough edges, from questionable enemy AI, class imbalances and uneven matchmaking that combine with relatively shallow content that could give Hood: Outlaws & Legends a somewhat short shelf-life if the developers don’t address those concerns.

Score: 6.75 / 10

 

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Hood: Outlaws & Legends Releases Four New Narrative Trailers!

PARIS -- Dec. 3, 2020 -- Hood: Outlaws & Legends, the new multiplayer PvPvE heist game from Sumo Digital and Focus Home Interactive, is coming next year to PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. But today you can delve into the dark backstories behind the outlaws and legends you’ll be playing with four new narrative trailers!

Faced with a merciless, unchecked state, rebels and rogues now battle to claim their place among legends. In Hood: Outlaws & Legends, you’ll gather your team and attempt to steal treasure from an oppressive government in a dark, violent, medieval world. By extracting riches and collectibles during heists, you’ll uncover the forgotten backstories and secrets behind these legendary characters.

Stay tuned for more exciting Hood reveals as new exclusive content is unveiled at The Game Awards on December 10!

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is available to wishlist now on Steam. Visit www.hood-game.com for more information and register to receive newsletters by email.

Editor's Note: The following information is the original Press Release of Hood: Outlaws & Legends.

August 7, 2020 - Sumo Newcastle and Focus Home Interactive are pleased to announce Hood: Outlaws & Legends, a multiplayer PvPvE heist game coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2021. Gather your team of Outlaws and attempt to steal treasure from an oppressive government in a dark and violent, medieval world. Unveiled at PlayStation’s State of Play event, watch the game’s Reveal Trailer now for a first look at this gritty universe, including a quick gameplay sneak peek.

“It is always an exciting moment when you finally get to reveal the game you have been working on behind closed doors for so long,” said Owen O’Brien, Studio Director at Sumo Newcastle. “With Hood: Outlaws & Legends, our aim was to create a dark and brutal re-imagining of the Robin Hood legend, pitting myth and superstition against man-made power and corruption. The team here in Newcastle are all passionate gamers, and over the past 16 months we believe we have created a new and fresh twist on the PVPVE genre.”

John Bert, COO of Focus Home Interactive, says: 'From the first moment, we've been thrilled by the unique dark universe created by Sumo Newcastle. Hood's lore, setting and gritty re-imagining of these legendary outlaws bring something truly unique to the multiplayer heist genre. We can't wait to show more about the game in the coming months and unveil all the exciting ingredients that make it a blast to play with your online gang.'

Blood will be spilled. Riches will be stolen. Legends will be reborn.

Faced with a merciless, unchecked state, rebels and rogues from every corner battle to claim their place among legends. To win influence with an oppressed people, rival gangs now compete in daring heists to hit the wealthy where it hurts. Folk hero or gold-hungry outlaw, only the best will escape with hard-earned riches.

Outplay opponents in intense PvPvE multiplayer heists in a violent medieval world

Two teams of players compete to execute the perfect heist, in environments patrolled by deadly AI guards. Utilise the unique skills and mystical abilities of each character, moving in stealth to steal treasures unseen or dominating through loud and brutal combat.

We are all Outlaws… but some of us will become Legends.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends releases 2021 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

The game is available to wishlist on Steam today. Visit www.hood-game.com for more information and register to receive newsletters by email.

Article by: Susan N.

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LittleBigPlanet 3 - PS4 Review

I have always gotten along with Sackboy. He's cute. He's fun. He has great adventures. Still, as far as PlayStation mascots go, he seems to be losing a little bit of that 'something special' with each release. It does not help that diluted experiences like his Move-based adventure or racing game proved to be more distraction than truly entertaining, but while part of me really wanted to love LittleBigPlanet 3, I found myself just liking it instead.

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