ae@technewsiit.com

 

TechNews | Tuesday, November lst, 2016

  

Biking Route 66 for the 90th Anniversary

Steven Milan Moreno
TECH N EWS WRITER

The 26th of this month marks 90
years since the inception of the famed “Mother
Road of America”: Route 66. The road itself
has been made famous over the years by song
and ﬁlm and has been travelled by many
people for its nostalgic theme and scenic
views. As many people know, Route 66 starts
in downtown Chicago, right in front of the Art
Institute. From here, the route travels south
through Illinois and Missouri before turning
and heading southwest. Along the way, the
route passes by some of the greatest natural
and man—made wonders the region offers to
tourists such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona,
The St. Louis Arch in Missouri, The Great
Plains in Oklahoma, and the glitz and glimmer
of Hollywood, California. The road continues
west, terminating by the Paciﬁc Ocean in Santa
Monica, California.

 

To mark the occasion of the
anniversary, many enthusiasts of the road
have taken the challenge of traversing between
Chicago and Santa Monica on Route 66 by a
method of transportation of their choosing.
The most popular choice for this long journey
has not been cars as many would assume,
but bikes. The reason for this is simple, you
can no longer drive Route 66. The route
itself was decommissioned back in 1985
and the roads that composed the route were
either used for other routes, destroyed, or
abandoned altogether. Because of this, many
ﬁnd it difﬁcult to drive on the route since it
is no longer on any map and has no signage
beyond the occasional historical marker. Many
have begun lobbying the US Congress and the
Department of Transportation to reinstate and
rebuild Route 66 to its former glory. For now,
however, the best choice for people who want
to drive the route is to follow the interstate or
highway that most closely matches the path of
the original route.

For bikers, the situation is somewhat
better. Bikes, with their small size and
durability, have a greater ability to follow the
original route, especially along those portions
of abandoned roadway which are now
crumbling into uneven gravel. The 2,451—mile
(3,945 kilometer) journey is no small feat, as
it takes months of training and preparation to
ensure the rider’s health and safety along the
way. The riders will face generally unpleasant
conditions which include trekking through
the Mojave Desert, climbing elevation in
both Arizona and New Mexico, and generally
isolated locations. This is all along the path
where resources or help are hard to come by.
Despite the risks and challenges, many still
make the journey, often travelling in large
groups and camping on the side of the road at
night to ensure the safety of all the riders.

The journey takes roughly over a
month to complete if done with no unnecessary
stops along the way, and many of the groups
that plan to reach the opposite end of the route

by the anniversary date have already departed
from either Chicago or Santa Monica. Along
the way, many cities will be celebrating their
links to the famed road, including celebrations
scheduled in Kingman, Arizona; Gallup New
Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; and Springﬁeld,
Illinois. Chicago will also be hosting several
celebrations across the city this month to
commemorate the route’s anniversary. The
bikers heading towards Chicago should be
traversing the state of Arizona or entering the
state of New Mexico at the time of this article’s
publication. Slower riders that left California
at a much earlier date should currently be in
either Oklahoma or Missouri. The bike riders
should begin arriving at the entrance of the
Art Institute of Chicago within the next few
weeks, with the majority arriving around
Thanksgiving weekend.

Photos by Steven Milan Moreno

Retro arcade game review. OutRun

David Sobel
COPY E DITOR

Ever feel the need to just play a game
that’s very behind the times and allows you
to drive at speeds that would make you sick?
Well, I would never put it in such a light, but
if you said no to either of those, there clearly
isn’t enough fun being had in your life. If you
said yes in any capacity, I’m going to go ahead
and suggest you play OutRun, an arcade—style
racing game released in 1986 for arcades and
later, the Sega Genesis in 1991. The game was
awarded 1987 Game of the Year at the Golden
Joystick Awards in 1988 and was the top selling
arcade game of 1986.

Gameplay

As it’s the most important, let’s talk
gameplay ﬁrst. The main goal of the game is
to drive as far as you can within the given time
limit while also driving as quickly as possible
and “outrunning” trafﬁc. The more distance
you cover, the higher your score, which will be
entered into the leaderboard upon receiving
a game over or completing the game. In
addition, there are two gear options, L and H,
which are slower and faster. L is the default
and, according to the game, has you driving
at a maximum speed of 110—120 Kmph (you
can change to Mph in “options”). Depending
on your controller setup, you switch to the H
gear by pressing the designated button, thus
allowing your car to travel closer to 200 Kmph,
which, while faster, is also signiﬁcantly harder
to turn with and brings up the issue of avoiding
trafﬁc. The main strategy to acing this game is
to time when you change gears and, of course,
to avoid any obstacles. If you do happen to
run into a car, a tree, or even a rock while in H
gear, be prepared to see your car lose the driver
and ﬂy into the distance. Now, being a video
game and having video game logic, you can
simply start driving again after being spun out,
putting you back in the game, but at the loss
of precious time. The player can extend time
by reaching checkpoints, denoted by the game
yelling “checkpoint!” In total, you will pass ﬁve
checkpoints, with a ﬁfth one being the ﬁnish
line of the game. There are many possible paths
that can be followed, allowing for a somewhat
different experience each time you play, with

a total of 15 levels available. If you don’t make
a checkpoint in time, it’s game over and you’ll
have to start the entire game over again. Now,
this is all well and good, but how are the
visuals?
Graphics

Let’s consider that in front of us is a
mostly simple game that involves some basic
strategic driving. Now consider that this is a
game on a 2D plane acting like it’s in 3D (read:
“ow, my eyes!”). So, what does this mean? Well
ﬁrst, it could mean pain to your eyes, but if

 

you get past that, this game has an amazing
aesthetic that just screams 80s. If that at least
puts some air in your boat or even ﬂoats your
boat like it does mine, you will probably enjoy
this game visually. That said, the 16—bit graphics
create an added level of challenge simply due
to the limitations of the times, so often you
will have trouble ﬁguring out just where you
are and when a turn is coming up (besides the
road signs). This is a problem of all games from
this time, however, but never the less it should
be kept in mind. Aside from being clearly from
its time, the visual feel of OutRun ranges from
sandy beaches and palm trees to mountainous
regions. Over time the sun sets as well, and as
you get closer to the end of the game you’ll get
to see a wonderful 16—bit sunset over head,
emphasizing the game’s relaxing nature and
striking a nice counterbalance to an otherwise
fast—paced game. Visuals alone are not enough
to get the feel of the game across, and as 80s as
the game itself 10 oks, the music is no exception.

Sound

OutRun has your standard array of
skidding tire, revving, bumping, and crashing
sounds that you would expect from a racing
game, doing its best to make you feel like
you’re in the driver's seat, and out of it if you
happen to crash. As for the soundtrack, well,
I do a radio show on WIIT called "Goodbye
70s," which indeed features music from the
80s, so I should get some biases out of the
way. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have an
obsession, so here is my take on the soundtrack

Photo courtesy SEGA

given my admitted bias. You have the choice
of four different background tracks, which
you can select before starting the game. The
tracks are “Passing Breeze,” “Magical Sound
Shower,” “Splash Wave,” and “Step On Beat.”
The ﬁrst track, “Passing Breeze,” has a very
calm, tropical sound, featuring melodic synth
alongside a pleasant drum beat, giving this
feeling of taking a pleasant cruise. “Magical
Sound Shower” is the most iconic track
from this game, and has more of an upbeat,
Caribbean style, featuring a chiptune steel
drum, giving a real sense of driving alongside
the beach. “Splash Wave” is my favorite track,
starting off strong with a fast—paced drum beat
and a well—placed “clap track,” progressing into
almost a breakbeat, which sounds amazing
on a 16—bit MIDI. That said, the track, despite
its fast beat, manages to have an on—edge yet
relaxing sound, making for an exciting and
pleasant cruise. The last track, “Step On
Beat,” is essentially a notably funkier “Passing

Breeze,” with a sound somewhat like Sonic
the Hedgehog 3’s save ﬁle select screen (for
those familiar with that game, which actually
came out later than OutRun). Alongside the
gameplay tracks is one titled “Last Wave,”
which plays upon receiving a game over
or completing the game and reaching the
leaderboard. Considering that there are only
ﬁve music tracks in the entire game, it was
important that they all be decent to good in
quality, which Sega accomplished. That said, I
have a little extra information for the reader.
Extras

Hit me with a magazine and call me
Nintendo Power, because I’m about to lay down
some cool extras that signiﬁcantly increase the
fun factor of OutRun. This will be a throwback
to those who remember games having cheat
codes built in. If you’re playing the Genesis
version, you can press A 11 times, B three
times, then C eight times to unlock a special
version of the “options” menu called “hyper
options,” which includes a stage select option
for playing any of the 15 stages whenever you
want, a higher difﬁculty option called “hyper”
(max speed is now 300 Kmph), and a “mode”
changing option. Mode is interesting because
it essentially sets whichever stage you’re on to
act like a speciﬁed stage when you reach the
end. For instance, if you change mode to “15”
and stage to “01,” then upon completion of
stage 01, you will reach the ﬁnish line of the
game. There isn’t a particularly great usage for
this, but it certainly adds another layer of fun
and experimentation, which I feel games tend
to lack now.
Closing comments

If I were to review this game as
compared to all others in existence at this
moment, it just would not stand up to any
degree aside from perhaps the gameplay and
music. So, taking this into account, I’m giving
this game a 4/5. If you’re wondering how to
play this game yourself, you can actually ﬁnd
the game at arcades even now. Other than that,
you’ll be able to acquire the game in some form
if you look hard enough. In the near future,
look forward to an eventual article reviewing
the OutRun ofﬁcial soundtrack (OST) vinyl
pressing from Data— Discs!