Test Drive Unlimited

very good
key review info
  • Game: Test Drive Unlimited
  • Platform: Playstation
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:
Little Red Riding Hood

It's hard to tell the difference nowadays between "the real driving simulator" and the arcade we love to play if we're in the mood for purposeless racing. In my personal gaming universe there are two titles that shine the most when it comes to racing games: Need for Speed and Gran Turismo. Test Drive joins the club, as it was one of the best racing games back in the days, but it has retired for a while, coming back with a punch thanks to the developer's efforts. Test Drive Unlimited is all about multiplayer, being the pioneer of a genre called MMOR (Massive Multiplayer Online Racing). What? Could this be "World of Carcraft"? It might as well be called that, but not for the PS2 version. Why? You'll soon find out.

Concept Test Drive Unlimited is the definition of the arcade racing game, oriented mostly on its multiplayer side. The game features 125 licensed cars and motorcycles, however those are only available for the Xbox 360 and the PC versions. On the PS2 you'll only be racing 62 of them, oh and no bikes included. That's kind of sad for the two-wheel vehicles aficionados, but I guess a couple of Dodges or Saleens will make us forget this. This title is clearly one of the most relaxed ones I've ever played when it comes to missions, objectives, tasks or...anything to do. Basically, you're sightseeing in the beautiful Oahu island from Hawaii. What's brilliant about this location is that it was done according to the satellite imagery of the location. Test Drive Unlimited will provide you with 1000 miles or roads and highways to race on or just...drive. Speaking of driving, this is a driving game, where races are not something you must do...or else. You could as well sightsee the entire island and relax while driving your cool Viper or Shelby GT Cobra.

Players will be able to drive on and off-road, but I recommend you to cut corners during races, since there are a couple of checkpoints to pass, and they are all on the track. However, if you're familiar to the race, you'll know exactly when to cut those corners, without missing the checkpoints. You'll be able to challenge racers as you please, because they're scattered all over the island, so you'll never run out of challenges. Certain events will have you pressing the triangle button as you pass by and you'll enter a car dealership or start a race. In case you've ever visited Hawaii (what are the odds?), you might be familiar with the environments, because all the buildings in this game are exact replicas of the real ones, except for a couple of military bases, but that's pretty obvious why.

Once you enter the main menu you'll be prompted to choose if you want to enable the online play or not. Choosing not to takes you to a menu where you can play a quiet single player game, without being able to confront other gamers online. It's pretty basic even from the start: you're a young man with plenty of cash to spend and you've just arrived in Oahu. Our character will have to purchase a house and a car, but those will have to fit his pretty generous budget. After that it's all about exploring the island and you'll reveal new locations as you go further and further on the map. Speaking of which, the player can see the car dealerships, car rental agencies, real estate agencies and shops on the map, and they're all marked as icons. There are multiple challenges to be faced while playing Test Drive Unlimited and they can be races versus the AI, time challenges, speed challenges, but the others, that were present on the PC and Xbox 360 version sadly lack here. There's no hitchiker or top model mission, there's even no courier mission, like there were on the 360. That's the price to pay when we're playing a fresh new title on a pretty old console. It would have been cool to take hitchhikers to the airport as fast as we can or pick up supermodels, but this is a PS2 game, so what would you expect? Each completed race or challenge brings you the much needed cash to create an auto-based empire. You'll have to expand once you start winning big, because you start off with a house that has a pretty small garage, hosting only 4 cars.

When the cash starts flowing in it's time to buy a couple of mansions with huge garages that host up to 10 cars. In those not included hitchhiker and top model missions you were rewarded with tokens, that allowed you to buy clothes, well in the PS2 version the attires are gone too, together with the whole token concept. What is all that money for? You'll usually spend it on cars, house, car upgrades and car rentals. Renting is something that you'll do in the beginning, but as times goes, you'll get to have your own cool ride, so there's no need to pay money for 20 minutes of driving someone else's hot ride. Many licenses have been bought for Test Drive Unlimited, so you'll be driving a Lamborghini, Audi, Dodge, Pagani, Aston Martin, Lotus, TVR, Jaguar, McLaren, Saleen and many many more.

Please notice that so far I've been explaining to you what's lacking from this version if you compare it to the ones designed for the PC and 360. The list doesn't end here and you'll be crying for manual transmission, Maserati, Ferrari or a decent avatar selection, that implies shopping for clothes. Do you want old grandpa test driver to tell you a story? Once upon a beta testing, there were 1500 people playing the latest Test Drive game. The 30 most active users got to be NPCs in the PS2 version of the game, so you'll be racing against some John Doe, that lives next to you and did well while beta testing this title. All 30 of them got high social statuses and loads of cash for their virtual counterpart, because they're important men and have high powered cars.

Gameplay It all comes down to the car, forget the driver, forget the house, forget anything else. So much details was put into the car design and its behavior that it would be a shame to focus on the driver's clothing or the way his house looks like. Before buying your ideal ride, you can toy around with its windows or doors and analyze every millimeter of it. Once you get over the transaction part, you'll be on the streets and ready to roll. If the behind-the-car camera doesn't suit your driving style there's always a first person driving mode. Cash is not the only thing you want to achieve while playing Test Drive Unlimited, because you'll also get points for the drifts you perform anywhere on the map. They are useful when entering the online competitions and you'll get to see yourself in the hall of fame if you're really good. The drifts are nothing when compared to those done in Need for Speed, but still, they're a neat trick to do.

In the beginning of the game a tutorial will show you the way around, teaching you basic stuff, like how to use the GPS, how to enter races and it's all done with the help of a friendly voice that will give you tips. The AI isn't much in Test Drive Unlimited, because each opponent is more focused on "his" race, rather than the competition with the other racers. However, you'll almost human mistakes from the other cars (too many of them) and they'll hit the walls, slide, miss curves, but never ram into you. Instead, the other cars involved in the traffic are very keen on ramming into your beautiful vehicle, specially if they're coming your way at high speed. Don't worry, you'll hear their horns as soon as they spot you...or not. If a normal Lamborghini isn't enough, you'll have the chance to tune it a little bit, a very little to be precise. I was disappointed by the few options regarding the car customization, because only minor upgrades are available, usually stuff that you notice right away if you have a look at the car. The producers preferred to offer us small paint jobs that can't even be compared with NFS's cool hood themes and modifications.

Seeing that everlasting arrow on the screen that shows you the way to the next challenge and finding out that there's no damage concept whatsoever made me realize that this is truly an arcade racing title. Imagine that: you drive at full speed and bump into cars, they fly in the air and the speed remains constant. That's a major flaw as I don't know many arcade games that offer such an unrealistic driving experience. Gran Turismo would be turning in its PS3 grave with shame, but the damage isn't present there too. Oh wait...in Gran Turismo we can damage our tires, but still, better than no damage at all. What's most, fuel never runs out, the car's never dirty, you can go on and on with the same vehicle. In case you were wondering, your crib is hour headquarters and the place that your characters uses to chill out, watch some TV, have a beer and stuff. Once you enter the house and park the car, you can see news, statistics that show the cups you've won so far and check out the cars in your garage. After you're done with being lazy, it's time to select the "drive out" option and start racing again.

The map you'll use in order no to get lost on those 1000 miles is pretty user-friendly, filled with details and it actually zooms out in a pretty nice way. I could compare it to the cool zoom-out that lifted the camera way above the earth in Shadow of the Colossus. Maybe I haven't paid enough attention to other games and they pre-race options, but Test Drive Unlimited offered me a pretty pleasant surprise: you can go on video preview of the track, before racing. Ok, ok I know that you could test-race the F1 tracks in all of the games, but this is something different and extremely useful. In this title, the distance concept can be truly felt to its max, because if the on-screen indicator says that there are 3 miles left to the checkpoint, you'll feel those three miles, like you were the one driving. That's probably the only realistic feature of the latest installment in the Test Drive series. Now we've come to car physics part, which is pretty ok, unless you take into consideration the collisions with other vehicles or objects. The vehicle handling is also well-done and we have a pretty long experience with analog stick driving, so there's no point in using the D-pad anymore, that's been assigned other functions.

Video Having played God of War 2 a couple of days ago (and still playing it) I feel like a warrior, but once I started playing Test Drive Unlimited, I became a true romantic. Beautiful sunsets and beautiful cars can create a superb atmosphere if coupled with a stunning Hawaiian scenery. That's why I said that you can only stroll around the island without racing, as there's plenty of neat stuff to see, sandy beaches, beautiful mountains and of course lots of superb cars. The rides look exactly like their real counterparts and I really have the right to say that having playing most of the games that include Ferraris, Lamborghinis or Ford cars. If you change the view to a firs person one, you'll feel like in the car's cockpit, seeing the wheel and the speedometer, but also another angle by looking through the windshield. Considering that is the least potent console of the platforms that host this game, we're treated with some pretty nice lighting effects, now at the end of the PS2 era. I wonder if we'll see a new Test Drive for the PS3 soon and one can only drool thinking about that...

Sound In terms of soundtrack, I must say that the music is not much unless you count the appearance of Queens of the Stone Age and one of their songs. It's background music that you would hear in a fancy pub in an airport. It doesn't add to the experience, nor decrease it so let's not be mean and consider it total dullness. I found it pretty relaxing to cruise on the beach, while listening to a calm tune, interrupted by angry horns of the cars that were on collision course with my vehicle. Other than that it's all metallic noises made by crashes, the gentle roar of the engines and that voice in the beginning that tells you what to do during the tutorial.

Multiplayer Once you go online you can meet players from all over the world at any time and respond to their challenges. To my surprise, there no "single multiplayer" or that classic two-player game with two joysticks attached. It seems that Test Drive Unlimited is truly an online-oriented game, so you'll be checking out hubs in the search of a couple of racers that will allow you to participate in their challenge. The whole challenging concept is pretty cool, because you'll have to flash your lights to attract the opponents' attention and they can accept the challenge or deny it.

The same icons from the single player mode will be on the map and the ranking points will also be saved from the original mode. Once you've met a friendly guy that wants to race with you, there will have to be an agreement made about the place where the race finishes. I guess you won't set the finishing line 100 miles away... In the intro I said something about this game being the first MMOR, in fact the producers call it MOOR (Massively Open Online Racing), anyway it's massive and it takes just the map to convince you of that. All the races in the multiplayer mode are held for cash, fame, pride and a place in the hall of fame.

Conclusion Test Drive Unlimited is the return of one of the greatest racing titles of all time, but it has arrived a tad too late for this market, saturated with above the average simulators. We've been doing drifts and racing freely for years now... The good thing though is that we're now able to do those things in a multiplayer mode similar to a car-racing version of World of Warcraft. It it weren't for this innovative feature, I really don't know where this title would be now. Not in the driving games top 10, that's for sure!

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story 0
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 7
audio 7
multiplayer 9
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 
NEXT REVIEW: God of War 2

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

Little Red Riding HoodOn a highway to hellCheck out the map folks!Are we crashing, yet?