I won't go overexplaining my experience with a game like I usually do, I just want to say this: There is nothing quite like powersliding your way past various locales and other cars at 280 km/h, all the while listening to some bumpin' tunes with your girlfriend in the passenger seat beside you in your expensive Ferrari. The ultimate appeal to the male fantasy, obviously.

But in all seriousness, in my opinion, OutRun 2 is one of the best arcade racers ever concieved. It's simple to pick up and enjoy, but difficult and satisfying to master. Picking your own routes based on difficulty and going for high scores helps make for a unique experience every time you go for a drive. When standard driving becomes too typical for you, move up to Heart Attack mode (my personal favorite mode), and every single route has its own set of missions to tackle as you drive down them. Do well, and more unusual "special requests" will show up. (Listen, when your gf says "Hit the cars!", you say "yes, my queen" and commit as much vehicular manslaughter as you can.)

The real appeal I sought from OutRun 2 was the mission mode. 101 missions with plenty of variations on the standard gameplay that you won't find anywhere else (not even in Coast 2 Coast). I only played through about 1/3 of this mode before I decided I'd had enough. That did give me a chance to try all the mission types (Snap Happy is an especially cool one), and I like the mode as a whole. Clearing entire series of missions actually rewards you with new tracks, cars, and music to choose from, and I'm a big fan of earning unlockables by proving your skills. (Coast 2 Coast lets you unlock whatever you choose, as long as you've racked up enough currency.)

So yeah. Play OutRun 2. Great game, but not quite perfected. That's Coast 2 Coast's claim to fame. I just wanted to play the original, and this isn't goodbye forever. I'll be back to drive another day.