Characteristics

Like all the other versions of the game, Test Drive Unlimited is an arcade-racing game (a genre that is popular still today despite the lack of simulation). So if there is no simulation, the game must offer something that makes it worth buying:

1. The first thing that hits any gamer is the number of licensed vehicles brands, 34, including cars and motorcycles. At the moment the game has the most beautiful and wide collection of cars, from all the games on the market, including their biggest challenger Need for Speed. You can find here vintage models (Maserati 3500 GT, Lamborghini Miura, Mercedes Benz Gullwing, etc), exotic models (McLaren F1 GTR, Noble, Farboud, Saleen, Pagani Zonda, Koenigsseg, etc), and sport models (Jaguar XKR, Lamborghini Gallardo, Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang, Alfa Romeo GTA, etc).

A plus for the game is the motorcycles category represented by Triumph, Ducati, MV Augusta, and Kawasaki. Not too many, but at least some brands that are considered at the top of the motorcycles industry.

The best thing about this game is that you can actually analyze these models from any angle, open the doors and even lower down the windows. The idea is definitely taken from Need for Speed: Porsche, but who cares. For every car freak, this is an extraordinary thing. You can admire every detail also from the interior of the car.

 

 

As an addition, you will find on the map tuning and custom paintings shops. The problems is that you will find three tuning dealers around the island, and every dealer will upgrade only specific brands. The tuning consists in buying full packages which will increase your car specification, but no changes to the look. So in the end the car will look the same with some differences on handling and speed. There's no way you can compare the tuning process in this game with the one present in Need for Speed series. But it still exists.

2. The second thing that makes the game be wanted is the huge amount of roads and highways spread on almost 1000 miles. A huge area that can be explored without any loading screen, based only on streaming technology. To be as realistic as possible, the whole action of the game takes place on Oahu island, which was fully recreated within a meter of detail, based on satellite readings and scannings.

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3. No boundaries between singleplayer and multiplayer. You don't need to exit the singleplayer in order to race with a friend online. Every player online will be visible in real time on the map. You can meet any human racer on the streets. If you want to race him, you just need to flash him with your lights. He can except the challenge or not. The same thing goes for you if somebody else is flashing you. Besides these head-to-head races, you can create from the lobby your own race in which anyone can participate with your approval, or create your own gang and roam freely. Of course you can't see thousands of players in the game! That's because of the different servers which are supporting the multiplayer mode. Sometimes you want to meet a friend in a specific spot in the city, and although everyone of you are arriving at the precise spot, there is a possibility not to see each other. That's because your friend is on another server.

Police

The sightseeing in a fast car can be spoiled by the police presence. But there's no problem if you know how to deal with them, or have enough money to pay the bills. The police patrol can be seen everywhere but will not stand in your way if you don't piss them off. You can drive as fast as you can in front of a police car, but if you will just scratch it, they will begin to pursuit you. But if you hit a car from the traffic, they will just begin to search for you and eventually chase you. But they give up very fast. After a few seconds from the previous one you cause a new accident, they will begin to hunt you. If the police car is close enough, it will try to slam you off the road. At the same time the game will create road blocks in order to stop you. So the chance of hitting a car is increasing. In addition the game is registering every slam as an accident, so after you have been caught, you have to pay for every hit.

Gameplay modes

The game consists in all the classic modes of playing:

Race: available in single player, multiplayer. The first to cross the finish line wins.

Speed: available in single player, multiplayer. You must drive as fast as you can in front of the speed traps.

Instant Challenge: available in single player, multiplayer. Either challenge or be challenged by other opponents. Simple by flashing any opponent near you. After that you just have to position the finish line. It will not matter what road you will take, just get to the finish line before your opponent.

Missions: available only on single player. Either you take hitchhikers and models from one point to another between a time limit, deliver packages or cars without destroying them.

Custom Challenge: available in single player and multiplayer. These challenges can be created via the Editor. Just push the pause button and there you have it. The Editor is very intuitive and needs little time to create a new track. You just need to choose the checkpoints positions, the start and the finish line. Then you can set different rules of the race, from number of players to camera and brands limitations.

Physics

A racing game always succeeded in stunning physics and a good handling of the car. But nowadays more and more games give up the true concept of racing game, in favor of a more casual approach. The problem is that sometimes the implementation of this kind of approach can be very tricky, and the game can become harder without any reason. The same goes with Test Drive Unlimited. The game is far from the simulation concept but you could say that this is an arcade one, but the handling is difficult. With all the tweaks that I have tried to make from the options menu, nothing made the car more docile. If you use a keyboard, at high speeds, is hard to drive straight the car. The handling is somehow similar to Midnight Club 2 (another disaster racing game). Fortunate, the handling is getting better if you use a gamepad, or a wheel. I suggest the wheel, which seems to be the best solution in playing this game. You will not feel to many force feedback effects, but at least makes the game more enjoyable and accessible. The problem is getting even more dramatic with the handling of the bikes. Instead of taking the corners more tight, the bike responds like a truck. If you ever get contact with another car, the game will just respawn you back on the road without any crash effect. Like in all modern racing games, this game has no damage system and every bush, tree, wall, pole has the same effect on your car: instant stop. The car has almost the same handling on any surface. If you drive on the sand or on the grass the car will become slower, but the handling remains the same.

GPS

But how is it possible for anybody to find the races? With the help of a map and a GPS system very well known from the GTA series. The GPS has also voice indicator which is not functioning properly. Sometimes it will give the direction much sooner or later from the point of turning. This is a misleading fact especially when you are doing delivering missions. The map has four levels of zoom, giving a breathtaking view of the entire island.

Animations

Except the first cinematic is hard to say something about animations. The hitchhikers you take in your car and the models, or the ladies that are working in every car stores, are created after four or five prototypes. So the same person will be present in several spots. Although the island has several cities, there is nobody outside. Besides cars and motorcycles, nobody else can be seen. Besides physics and animations, the graphics suffer from the lack of polish. On HD mode the game looks much greater than on normal mode because of the next-gen lighting effects. But if the game looks great from an angle, from another one it seems very dull. The cars seem not to be created from real models. Some of the models like Spyke or Maserati don't respect the real scales. In some angles the proportions are wrong. They seems too high.

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Gameplay: 79

Innovative in some circumstances, but it feels the lack of polish. There is no story or any reason to further take part at the same races, than the huge lot of cars. The money you earn at every race can be used in buying luxury estates to further increase your parking lot. Yes it's true. This is the first game where you have to buy a house in order to park your cars. So instead of buying a new car, you have to buy a new estate (from 4 to 10 park lots) at a least 10 times more expensive price than a car model in order to park your next few models. The developers introduced also the option to buy clothes for your character, instead of further developing the tuning process, or the handling of the cars!

Graphics: 85

Glamorous at some points, but repetitive in others. The blur effect increases the feeling of speed.

The cars are recreated following every detail but with some proportion errors. Taking in consideration the huge environment where the races take place, it's understandable sometimes the lack of details such as vegetation, population, etc. It would have been much better if the graphic engine could support also weather changes or the day-and-night cycle. But all-in-one, the environment is created acceptable and nobody can argue with its size. No racing game has such a huge dimension.

Multiplayer: 90

The first racing game that combines perfect the singleplayer and multiplayer modes at the same time. The multiplayer experience can be definitely compared to the MMO concept due to the huge environment and the possibility of challenging other gamers in real time without leaving the car. Another plus for the Editor and the lobby which can be used in order to create different tracks where you can invite your friends to race against you.

Sound: 74

Not the best around. Although you will drive cars considered to be the best around the globe, their engines sound almost the same and far from the original one. My advice is to turn up the volume of the radio. Yes the radio system exists also in this game and includes over 30 tracks. Taking in consideration the fact that some of the races can last more than half an hour, the track list is not enough.

Hardware: 72

No loading sequences around the island due to an advance streaming system. But there is a price to pay for this new technology. The game needs a huge amount of space on your PC: over 7 GB from your harddisk space. Being a next-gen game, the hardware requirements are quite high: at least a 256 MB videocard and 1GB of memory recommended. Even on a decent system, the game has its framing problems and its crashing moments.