12.7.2008

"Test Drive Unlimited: A drving enthusiast's view."We have seen many different types of racing game on the Xbox 360, from the rock-hard simulation in Forza Motorsport 2, to the semi-realistic arcade racing on PGR4, to the full on foot to the floor adrenaline racers like Burnout: Paradise.Well, Test Drive Unlimited, while not a new title, is good and interesting in that a put's a unique spin on an established genre.Racing games are not known for their epic, sweeping storylines, and TDU is no different. This time you play a hotshot racer, who has landed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and you set out to make a name for yourself.Graphics.Firstly the cars themselves look, beautiful,they have been modelled from every angle in beautiful detail, you can see a lot of effort went into replicating each vehicle fully. The bodywork is perfect from every angle and the in-car driver's seat view, is very realistic as you can see all the dials, indicators etc and even little details, like the driver, pressing down on the pedals or changing gear as you accelerate this is all very satisfying on the eyes.The Motorcyles are also, very well done, and allow you a chance to admire the character modelling, sadly there are no pedestrians, so this only way asides from wardrobe mode, to have a good llook at the character you have created, there is also a a Helmet view for riding the motorcycles, but I would avoid it, unless you enjoy being nauseated through the turns.The island of Oahu, has been replicated perfectly, the scenery is stunning, whether it be the inner city streets and boulevards of the cities and towns bustling with traffic to the twisting mountain roads and back country lanes going past villages and farms.The only that is slightly disappointing thing is that there are no weather effects to speak of save for a few crowds floating overhead occasionally.Also the game feature's no damage model, NPC cars can be damaged, but your car can crash into a wall at 200 plus mph and drive away without a scratch.Rating 8/10SoundThe sound in the game is very good, every car's engine has a unique sound to it. Whether it be the turbo charged whine of straight-6 in a Nissan R34 Skyline, the high pitched wail of a Ferrari V12 in a 575, or the deep throaty roar of a big V8 in an old school muscle car like the Shelby Mustang GT500, or the scream of a Kawasaki Ninja as you accelerate.The other effects are good, gearboxe's click as you go through the gears, tyre screech and scream as you gun the engine and spin your wheels off the line.I chose not to review the music in the game, as I suspect that most gamer's will prefer to stream your music of choice through the dashboard.Rating 9/10GameplayThere are three things that make Test Drive Unlimited unique among racing games. The first is that the game is a sandbox title, rather than being restricted to race tracks like most games, you are free to drive wherever you please, and boy oh boy, is it good, the island of Oahu is huge and will keep you exploring, there are plenty of places to drive. Go into the center of town and drag race down the boulevards, or drive down the motorways, or tear it up through the mountain roads and hills, drive wherever you please.Another thing that makes Test Drive Unlimited unique, is that as long as you are connected to Xbox Live, Test Drive Unlimited is always online, so you will frequently cross the paths of other racers while you drive around, and how you interact is upto you. You can just drive your separate ways, join up and just cruise, or challenge them for a head to head to race.The great thing about this, is that unlike other racing games, TDU does not force you into being competitive all the time, in the way that Forza 2 or PGR4 does. The game allows you to drive at your own pace, whether you are just admiring the scenery or driving with a few friends or pushing your limits in a race against other players.Finally the driving engine itself, now this is what makes or breaks a good racer. So thankfully, it's a good one here. The game drive quite realistically, but not so much that it punishes every mistake you make. It manages to find a happy medium, allowing you to to drive as you please, it follows the standard layout R Trigger accelerates L Trigger Brakes Of course every car handles differently, but all can be mastered with relative ease.For those wanting a realistic experience the good news is, that the game is fully compatible with the MS Wireless Wheel, and works very well with it.Rating 8/10The Cars.Now in a driving game such as this, the cars are important, so I though I would give a quick rundown of what to expect. Cars range from the 60s right upto the just out models, you get every thing from old school muscle cars like the Shelby Mustang GT500 to the newest Ferrari, Lotus, Aston Martin, Koenigsegg, Spyker, Audi, Ford, Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini, Dodge and Chevrolet offerings and that doesn't include the cars that can be downloaded from the Xbox marketplace.Overall Rating.This is a top notch game and will offer up many hours of enjoyment, and I as a racing enthusiast with an eye only for top quality, can happily give this game my highest recommendations I have enjoyed thoroughly, so if you like cars and driving you should give this a go.Rating. 8/10

26.11.2007

First off this game is AWESOME fun. The first criteria of any game is to please the punter, and this game does it in spades with its pretty visuals, impressive array of cars to collect, huge selection of tasks and sublime handling. Falling happily somewhere between a sim and arcade racer, the cars are sure-footed but when pushed hard have the edginess that makes any high speed race thrilling by being potentially dangerous. Your nerves really feel it when racing at breakneck speed through oncoming traffic against competitors who are as apt to make a mistake as you are. Controlled realism is a good way to describe how things unfold, where the consequences of a hit are never catastrophic but always in the hands of the player.Which means that when you win you really feel you deserve it. Brilliant.And what a setting Hawaii is, with every foot of it mapped and ready to be explored. I've driven hundreds of miles already (I've had the game less than two weeks) just looking the place over and so far have not found anything to be bored by. There are hundreds of other cars on the roads and they can behave in an occasionally unpredictable and erratic manner, but not so that they become an annoyance.Unlike the sat-nav voice that's supposed to help you get from point to point. She sounds uncomfortably like Ruby Wax and you wonder at times if she's just winding you up when she turns you into oncoming traffic when there's no apparent reason to. But this niggle is largely rectified by learning the road layouts and how Hawaii's junctions work.The police are in evidence and seem only interested if you go way over the limit or make contact with any of the `residents' who are constantly driving around. You can get away with going the wrong way and even screaming past them at 200+ miles per hour at times, and when they begin a chase its usually pretty easy to lose them. But they add another enjoyable element to the game and keep you from putting your foot down all the time and forcing you to go with the flow of Hawaii's traffic, which is actually pretty enjoyable.There are PLENTY of races of different kinds and enough cars to keep the interest levels up, with some great features and driving views, although the bumper-cam is best when the going gets quick.If the developers set out to create an immersive, user-friendly, very enjoyable and long-lasting game then they certainly succeeded. At just over 20% through I've still got loads to tackle and I know that when the game's completed I'll still be there trying to better my times or just enjoying getting behind the wheel and cruising around in some outstanding cars.Unlike too many racing games, Test Drive Unlimited has true depth and character, and this makes it a winner.

20.8.2007

Some of you may have ready my scathing review of the PS2 version of this game, to those I can say that my opinion of the PC variety of this is infinitely better!So, what's different from the platforms? As soon as you create your character you have the choice of several avatars, some of them female! Later, as you progress through the game you can change how they look, such as hair and facial features. Clothes can be bought using fashion tokens obtained from hitch-hikers or giving models a lift from the shops. You can also do courier mission against the clock, or transport someone else's car without getting it scratched for large amounts of cash, all of which not available in the PS2.The number of cars is also greatly increased,

22.3.2007

Test Drive Unlimited offers the player a scale representation of the Hawaiian island Oahu and most of its road system, together with a collection of high performance sports cars and motorcycles to explore and take part in races. You only start with a limited amount of virtual cash - enough to purchase one house and car but can improve your financial standing by racing for prize money (against AI competitors or in time trials), or doing odd jobs such as delivering parcels, ferrying passengers or transferring hire cars (the latter is by far the most lucrative).The 3D world created for TDU offers some of the best graphics I have ever seen in a PC game - the only slight downer is no diurnal effects,

9.6.2009

This is the second attempt at a review as I managed to erase the first before I could post it.I bought the game last year but was dismayed to find out that my system was not man enough to play it so I had to upgrade my entire PC in order to go for a spin in a posh car.After flying to the island, renting a smart Lotus and buying a house it was them time to go out shopping for a car. I chose a nice red Audi TT which I took for a bit of a spin and a couple of the rather easy races. This provided some more money for me to buy a shockingly bad Ford Mustang which takes corners like an oil tanker - pretty much like all yank cars.

12.12.2008

I first bought Test Drive Unlimited on the PC in 2007. Switching from PC to the Xbox 360 earlier this year I was eager to see what it was like on a next-gen console.I tried to recapture the glory days of the PC, but stunning HD games such as PGR4, GRID & DiRT simply took over, TDU got lost in fold and I eventually sold it. Fast forward nearly a year to Midnight Club: Los Angeles. A game that has equal capacity to stun and annoy you at the same time. Although MC: LA was stunning visually, its insane level of AI and the fact you are constantly cajoled into racing left me pining for the more simple life of TDUSo I bought it once more, and I'm very pleased I have.

22.4.2007

This is a fun game to play, but it does have it's faults. Pop-up and slow-down are much in evidence here as the game tests the limits of the PS2.Loading times when you enter events are quite long.Cops only bother you when driving to the many locations on the map, and their AI is pretty bad.But, if you can see past these little niggles, you'll find an enjoyable and often challenging racer.The cars you buy and race against are well detailed, with nice shiny bodywork, windows and lights that you can operate, and a proper in-car view that is fun for driving around but not for racing.There isn't any car customising or set-up tinkering here,beyond picking the colour of your car and its interior,

15.8.2007

I bought this game hoping it would be a nice alternative to Need for speed,it turned out to be a lot more than that.This is a very addictive game,you can while away a few hours on this without realizing.The scenery is the best i have ever seen,with draw distance that seems to let you see miles away.You are on the Hawaian island of O'ahu,there are miles and miles of roads to discover,the cars handle fairly well,not so much at slow speeds but much better at high speed.You can store 4 cars in your first house then as you earn more money you can buy houses that store 6,8 or 10 cars.The online game works ok most of the time,ive encountered hundreds of drivers while playing this,there are parts of

18.12.2008

first of all sys specsAMD x2 4400 processor2gig OCZ RAMnvidia 7950gx2 quad sliwindows xp sp3i start by saying that this is one of the most graphically detailed games ive ever seen on pc, the textures, shaders are simply sublime. theres a huge variety of cars (not so much bikes) to choose from, unfortunately if you want to be competative then there are only a few cars worth buying.the whole game is huge with 100s of miles of road to drive on, but for me the game just lacks something. i can only pin it on the cars handling which at slow speeds are very tricky to drive especially the bikes! im also unsure on the cars physics going over the hilly roads the cars seem to just leave the road even at low speeds and kind of "bang" back onthe road again with no sense of suspension what so ever.

11.2.2011

If you're the kind of person who likes to drive around and explore areas, this is the game for you. Test Drive Unlimited takes place on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu and lets you explore virtually every inch of the island, it also (apparently) uses real-time weather by using satellites to reflect what the weather is really like over the island.Of course, most people will want to know about the racing, so here it goes:The racing is split into categories, from G to A, G being the slowest cars and A being the fast ones (like the Koenigsegg CC8S) The races start off easy and of course get more difficult as you progress through the 'career'.Aside from the races, there are also side-quests (of sorts)

5.5.2008

I'm glad I bought TDU for my PS2.Many people who have the PC/Xbox version will complain about how bad the PS2 version is because it doesn't contain bikes, picking up hitch-hikers, not having as many cars, including Ferraris and Maseratis, etc.These are all valid points but for me, they do not detract from the quality of the game. There are still about 70 cars to choose from and many of them are true exotics and concepts which I have not seen in any other racing games. For example, how many times have you seen a Noble M400, an Ascari KZ-1, a Koenigsegg CC8S or the more powerful CCR? How about a Chrysler ME Four-Twelve? A Mercedes CLK-DTM AMG road version?

3.8.2007

This game is immense, so there are the odd glitch like going through a wall on the highway but apart from that it's great!I'll start with the good then move on to the bad.The good:Many sports cars, muscle cars, racingcars and supercars!Houses you can buy either cheap and cheerful 4 car houses or extremly expensive 10 car houses other house numbers are 6 and 8 carsOver 1000 miles of road so they're not all in the right place but who cares?Brilliat interior detail you choose the colour unless the paint dosent have the interior optionGreat street races/ time trials/speed events and clubsYou can even choose the hub caps!Modding you can mod you car I have the three fastest cars in the game the

25.2.2008

Test Drive Unlimited boasts a huge range of cars and bikes and acres of road with no boundaries. This sounds appealing and actually works very well. The Graphics are good so drive around the island exploring and enjoying the scenery is fun for a while. However it can only last so long before you get fed up of it and want to start racing, and that is when the game gets a lot worse.The races are all very similar and just very ordinary and boring, there are other missions to do such as Hitchhikers, delivery missions and Car transport missions, but all of these are essentially the same, the only thing that changes is what you are delivering.

12.9.2007

The game is amazing and you can literally drive for hours up mountains in the cities in exotic sports cars. You compete in races for money to buy new cars and houses etc.Firstly here are my machine specs: AMD Athlon XP2400+, 896MB Ram, ATI Radeon X1650 Pro 256mb.To get the game running OK on my machine - and by ok I mean 15-20 fps which is not great by any means but is playable (Apart from in cities where it drops at times to under 10 fps). I had to disable Details (Flying bits of paper and stuff which don't really add anything to the experience) and Traffic (which makes the game easier because the police aren't after you all the time!),

21.3.2007

Firstly i'll give the spec of my machine and settings. I have an AMD Athlon 64 +3200 Processor with 1Gb of RAM and an nvidia 7600 GS chipset with 512Mb of video RAM. To get the game to run smoothly at a decent frame rate i reduced the resolution from default to 800 x 600, turned on HDR (it's an option in the settings of the game) and now it plays fine.To start with i mainly bought this game for the graphics and from what i'd heard. Not a true racer like Gran Turismo on the playstation but a bit of fun none the less. And On the whole i have to agree, i've played it for about a week now and it's still proving good fun to get in my ferrari and zoom around the island.

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