Test Drive Unlimited

Test Drive unlimited is not your typical racing game available on the market. The game is set in the real world setting of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which has been mapped to allow you to free roam round the roads and different locations on the island. It creates a massive online racing experience that lets you drive and race your car with other online players from around the world at the same time.

Test Drive Unlimited was released in 2006 by Atari on various formats including the; PC, Xbox 360 (the game was develop by Eden) and for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (which was develop by Melbourne House).
We have been playing the PC version of the game, it is very much similar to the Xbox 360 version. The PC version has a few problems, but still plays as well as the console version. The game starts with you picking an avatar, there are a few to choose from (male or female), but don’t worry, if you don’t like the look of your avatar, you can fully customise their face, hair and clothing. Once you buy a car and a house you are ready to explore the island. To help you to navigate around the island every car and motor bike has a sat-nav. The Sat-nav directs you to your races and missions. Once you won the race you get trophies and money. This will add to your reputation. The more you explore in the game the more missions get unlocked. Some of the races can feel repetitive but the races are staged at different locations around the island. Overall, the races are quiet easy.

There is no storyline in Test Drive, but there are different missions other than racing, such as; speed challenges, delivery missions and time trails to keep you playing.

Speed challenges are fun to do because you have to drive your car as fast as u can through speed traps, to average a specific set speed in a time limit. The other type of Speed challenge is when you have to reach a specific speed before the time runs out.
Delivery missions are when you have to deliver a car to a location on the island, this mission helps you to explore the island and unlock other missions. You have to drive the car careful and try not to hit any cars or come of the road to get a bonus. Every delivery mission has a different exotic car to drive, you can sit back and enjoy cruising around the island.
Time trails are the most challenging missions to complete. These missions are difficult as they are set on winding roads.
The game has a wide selection of cars and a few motor bikes. The cars and bikes have been modelled to meet high quality and the handlings of the cars are quiet good compared with other games of this genre. There is no damage to the cars, but instead damage is inflicted on other AI traffic and parts of the environment (sign posts). When you pause the game there is a photo mode that allows you to take a photo of the car or motor bike from different angles and allows you to zoom in or out.

There are 90 cars and motorbikes to purchase or unlock in the game. The cars are classed A-G and some missions require different classes of cars. The performance of Cars and bikes can be tuned but in very limited stages. Unfortunately, there is no option available to customise the aesthetics of the car or bike, you can only change the colour and choose different wheels when purchasing the car. The disappointing thing is there are only a few motor bikes in the game. It would have been good if there was a wider selection. If you want more cars you can download an expansion pack from the Test drive website for £9.99. This pack will give you an extra 45 cars, but the annoying thing with this pack is you have to purchase the cars in the game. The pack cost about the same as the game so it is a bit of a rip off.
Online
Racing someone online is easy, you drive up behind someone and flash your head lights, and then the other person accepts your invitation to have a race. The good thing is you can plot the course on the map and the length of the race.
There are clubs you can join or you can create your own but this will cost a lot of your earned money in the game. In the clubs you can meet up with your friends. Sometimes there is a bit of a delay with other players online they seem to glitch across the screen. You can buy, trade and sell cars with other online players.

Verdict
The game is great if you are into cars. The game is different from all the other driving games out there. The game play is not as realistic as some games but that make the game easy to play. There are a variety of different missions and races to keep you playing the game. If you don’t want to race then you can drive around the island discovering new roads and places. This is a game every driving game fan should play.
My Gamer Blog score 7.5/10

Test Drive unlimited is not your typical racing game available on the market. The game is set in the real world setting of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which has been mapped to allow you to free roam round the roads and different locations on the island. It creates a massive online racing experience that lets you drive and race your car with other online players from around the world at the same time.

Test Drive Unlimited was released in 2006 by Atari on various formats including the; PC, Xbox 360 (the game was develop by Eden) and for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (which was develop by Melbourne House).

We have been playing the PC version of the game, it is very much similar to the Xbox 360 version. The PC version has a few problems, but still plays as well as the console version. The game starts with you picking an avatar, there are a few to choose from (male or female), but don’t worry, if you don’t like the look of your avatar, you can fully customise their face, hair and clothing. Once you buy a car and a house you are ready to explore the island. To help you to navigate around the island every car and motor bike has a sat-nav. The Sat-nav directs you to your races and missions. Once you won the race you get trophies and money. This will add to your reputation. The more you explore in the game the more missions get unlocked. Some of the races can feel repetitive but the races are staged at different locations around the island. Overall, the races are quiet easy.

There is no storyline in Test Drive, but there are different missions other than racing, such as; speed challenges, delivery missions and time trails to keep you playing.

Speed challenges are fun to do because you have to drive your car as fast as u can through speed traps, to average a specific set speed in a time limit. The other type of Speed challenge is when you have to reach a specific speed before the time runs out.

Delivery missions are when you have to deliver a car to a location on the island, this mission helps you to explore the island and unlock other missions. You have to drive the car careful and try not to hit any cars or come of the road to get a bonus. Every delivery mission has a different exotic car to drive, you can sit back and enjoy cruising around the island.

Time trails are the most challenging missions to complete. These missions are difficult as they are set on winding roads.

The game has a wide selection of cars and a few motor bikes. The cars and bikes have been modelled to meet high quality and the handlings of the cars are quiet good compared with other games of this genre. There is no damage to the cars, but instead damage is inflicted on other AI traffic and parts of the environment (sign posts). When you pause the game there is a photo mode that allows you to take a photo of the car or motor bike from different angles and allows you to zoom in or out.

There are 90 cars and motorbikes to purchase or unlock in the game. The cars are classed A-G and some missions require different classes of cars. The performance of Cars and bikes can be tuned but in very limited stages. Unfortunately, there is no option available to customise the aesthetics of the car or bike, you can only change the colour and choose different wheels when purchasing the car. The disappointing thing is there are only a few motor bikes in the game. It would have been good if there was a wider selection. If you want more cars you can download an expansion pack from the Test drive website for £9.99. This pack will give you an extra 45 cars, but the annoying thing with this pack is you have to purchase the cars in the game. The pack cost about the same as the game so it is a bit of a rip off.

Online

Racing someone online is easy, you drive up behind someone and flash your head lights, and then the other person accepts your invitation to have a race. The good thing is you can plot the course on the map and the length of the race.

There are clubs you can join or you can create your own but this will cost a lot of your earned money in the game. In the clubs you can meet up with your friends. Sometimes there is a bit of a delay with other players online they seem to glitch across the screen. You can buy, trade and sell cars with other online players.

Verdict

The game is great if you are into cars. The game is different from all the other driving games out there. The game play is not as realistic as some games but that make the game easy to play. There are a variety of different missions and races to keep you playing the game. If you don’t want to race then you can drive around the island discovering new roads and places. This is a game every driving game fan should play.

My Gamer Blog score 7.5/10

mygamerblog	Latest page update: made by mygamerblog , Dec 20 2008, 2:38 PM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by mygamerblog 88 words added 1 image added view changes - complete history)
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