High: Great gameplay, good graphics, good online play, over all a great game.

Low: Some parts of the game could have been polished



Test Drive Unlimited starts out with character selection. There is the option to decide between a few male and female candidates. The selection is fairly solid, however there is a bit of disappointment due to the lack of character customization that is found in most modern games. Regardless, TDU starts the selected character out within a car rental facility. One rents a car and then proceeds to purchase a house and a car. There is a variety of houses available to own, which plays a significant role in the game. Each house comes with a specific amount of garage space available for a car collection. Once the garage space fills up, it becomes necessary to purchase another home completely or trade the old house in for a larger one.

The first thing to note about TDU's racing engine is the Oblivion/Grand Theft Auto openness. Unlike racing games prior to TDU there is more to it than simply moving from one race to the other. TDU maps out an entire island with literally thousands of miles to explore. Exploring is the key to finding and gaining access to all of the races, dealerships and houses. After a location has been discovered for the first time, a quick travel option becomes available which is used to save the time from having to drive from one side of the island to the other over and over. This is an excellent feature - first making the player explore but also reducing the repetitious nature that open-world environments can sometimes suffer from. The large island really comes alive by showcasing many different locations, complete with side roads and highways. Some areas of the island have numerous buildings while other areas are barren. The streets are filled with a good amount of traffic, including the police - who can and will fine a pulled-over driver for reckless driving. Overall, the island is very well mapped and feels very real.

The second feature worth noting about TDU is the wealth of car selection. The game features over 80 cars along with a few bikes. The game's car selection features Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Lotus, along with many other high-end car manufactures. Needless to say, the car selection is darn good. Each car is solidly modeled and allows the buyer to select the color of the exterior as well as the interior. As the game progresses, the option to tune the cars becomes available. The tune feature offers a bit more to the game but isn't near as deep as other racing games such as Gran Turismo and Forza. Overall, the tune feature could be deeper and is a bit shallow. Each car handles well and uniquely. The drastically unique feeling of each car really makes car collecting a joy. Physically, the racing engine is an in-between of realistic and arcade-based racing. In general, the handling offered by TDU fits the game very well and makes driving around the massive island pleasurable.

TDU also excels by offering a large amount of variety in racing events. The game offers the standard 6 car races, 1 on 1 and time trial events. However, TDU offers a bit more with a Crazy Taxi-type event featuring dropping people off within the time limit while maintaining a certain amount of driving skill during the process. Certain events require dropping off packages within a time limit without being pulled over by the police, while others require delivering cars to specific locations with no time limit but keeping the car in good shape. Overall, the game offers a great deal of variety in the racing events which is the best feature of the game. TDU really feels fresh throughout and lacks the repetitiveness offered by most other racers.

TDU offers a strong online portion on top of the already strong noted single player aspect. There are a variety of multiplayer stages throughout the island that players can hang out at and of course choose to race each other. The online portion also offers openness in terms of being able to drive around the island and flash the car's headlights - a challenge to race. The challenge can be declined or accepted, once accepted a destination is selected and the race begins. Overall it is nice to see a game feature both a strong single player mode and a strong multiplayer mode.


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Reviewed By:EG Admin Reviewed On: Tue, 10 October 2006 02:16:26 Read:

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