Gamernode: Reviews - Test Drive Unlimited

Test Drive Unlimited

• Test Drive Unlimited
• Xbox 360
• Eden Studios
• Atari
• September 05th, 2006

Test Drive Unlimited has been the subject of quite a bit of criticism, ever since a demo was released to the public during this year's E3. Whether it was the iffy controls, sub-par graphics or various technical issues, it was obvious that there was a lot of work to be accomplished prior to final release. Atari has addressed nearly every lingering concern pertaining to the game, but just how well were they fixed?

The most glaring and prominent problem that plagued early versions of TDU was how vehicles handled. Unfortunately, this still remains and is probably the biggest issue with the game. It was difficult to identify exactly what the problem was, but once you spend enough time with Unlimited it becomes more and more apparent. The best way I can describe it is like this: instead of driving the car from the tires and having the car react to them, you control the middle of the car, so you are effectively driving on a pivot. The premise of doing such a thing may not seem like much, but it begins to negatively affect the overall experience. When there's an issue with the driving in a racing game, there is definitely something wrong.

Unlimited's main selling point is just that - its "unlimited", immersive world...er, island. The Hawaiian island of Oahu has been beautifully reconstructed on the Xbox 360. If you let it, Unlimited can really hook you with its always connected gameplay. As you drive around the 1000+ miles of road on the island, you'll obviously encounter plenty of computer controlled drivers going about their business, but in addition gamers are doing just what you are. As long as you're connected to Xbox Live and the TDU servers are available, the island will be populated by various players who are also in free ride mode.

Scattered across the map are many different types of locations, including singleplayer and multiplayer races, events, homes for sale, car and bike dealerships, rental agencies and more. Singleplayer races will stick you in a situation that plays out more or less like a multiplayer session would, with the lone exception of opponents being controlled by bots as opposed to live people. The setup for entering multiplayer races (done by simply driving to a location on the island where a race is available - or you can use the map to teleport to a place you've already traveled) makes it easy to get into an actual racing session with fellow players, but unfortunately the actual multiplayer racing is fairly vanilla.

There are a wide variety of vehicles in Test Drive Unlimited, from Audi TTs up to high-end Ferraris and bikes. More than 90 licensed cars and bikes wait to be purchased. Like any racing title would, vehicles have a class assigned to them depending upon their performance. In singleplayer races, there will often be a specific vehicle or class requirement for you to participate. However, multiplayer races are no-hold barred affairs - there are no restrictions, and it's an extremely rare occasion to join a race where more than one person is making use of a low class vehicle. What this does is basically restrict anyone new to the game from being competitive (or even finishing races) due to competitors finishing quickly in their shiny Enzo Ferraris. And who can blame them - there is no reason to race in the slower, lower class vehicles outside of the novelty of driving those particular cars. Atari made a serious mistake in this regard, and hopefully this is an issue that can be rectified through a patch.

It may not be such a negative in a sense, in that this very formulated multiplayer mode isn't all that fun. Sure, it's easy to actually get into a race wherever you want (assuming there are other players that want to race at that location, too) but it just lacks any style or distinctiveness. The basic free ride where you can explore the island is actually the better multiplayer experience. It's an insanely cool experience to be driving along when you suddenly hear someone start talking through their headset and then go flying by you in their car. You can even flash your headlights at one another to signal that you want to race. The option to isolate yourself is always available, as is the ability to lock players into your "party" so that they don't drive off into the sunset.

In addition to racing, there are different types of events and activities to give you something else to do. One such mode will stick you in a fancy exotic car and provide a destination. There's no time limit to get the car there, but going off the road or getting into any accidents will reduce your reward significantly. Other modes will have you bringing people to their destinations, basically turning you into a sports car taxi. While these are nice distractions, they aren't anything particularly unique and get dry after a few play-throughs of this very simple formula.

Unlimited sports some fairly uninspiring visuals; with the exception of car models, it really fails to impress on any level. Buildings are repetitious and bland, trees and plants look flat and dull, and the incredibly large island never provides any wows. The blur effect is a bit extreme; a cruise ship in the distance becomes an indiscernible blotch of colors before you even hit a buck-twenty. As you cruise the island you'll never hit a loading screen, although the transition between your GPS map and getting back to driving is a bit on the long side. It's arguably worth the wait, as flying in from an overhead view of the island right down to your car is very cool.

For some reason, the island of Oahu is deserted. There is traffic scattered about, but at no point will you ever see any NPCs walking around. It's probably for the best, given that your character/avatar and the passengers you pick up are poorly animated. Then again, this is a racing game, so there's not particularly high expectations from the character models. In addition to purchasing cars and bikes, stores allow your character to pick up clothes in order to customize your online persona. Characters are rarely seen, only making brief appearances in the awful looking CGI sequences, and anytime the camera is swung around to the front of the car. The customization, while nice, is just wholly unnecessary.

Physics are an integral component in a racing title, and this is another section where Unlimited fails. Collisions with other cars are one-sided; that is, you ram a car, it loses parts of its body and goes sliding/flipping in the opposite direction. Player-controlled vehicles don't take damage, which causes a loss of immersion that the game was really striving for. Frequently, collisions that should be routine in terms of what occurs upon impact are made out to be extremely ridiculous crashes. One occurrence saw me t-bone a firetruck around 100mph, only to have the firetruck slide roughly 150 feet before coming to a halt.

Environments also play a major contribution in causing any potential immersion to be lost. They are just so dead and lifeless - nothing can be knocked down, dented or affected in the least. With the exception of traffic signs, there is not a single piece of the environment to be interacted with. Invisible barriers plague off-road areas, and prevent you from feeling like you can truly travel anywhere. Even small barrier poles that should pose no obstacle for a motorcycle stand in the way of your exploration.

Both bikes and cars really lack accurate engine noises, further contributing to that lack of immersion. A Pontiac GTO sounds more like a high-pitched muscle car than anything else. The in-game radio isn't anything special, with its collection of rock, classical and other genres of music. Even though I live for Bach, each time I booted up the game I tuned on a custom playlist, or turned the music off entirely. One option players will most certainly reach to turn off is the police chatter; its loud, piercing dispatch voice and boring comments don't really sound like what you would hear during a high-speed chase.

Test Drive Unlimited is certainly an interesting title. It tries to do something very innovative and new to the racing genre, and succeeds in some respects. The massively open online racing idea works, but critical portions of the racing and the game itself prevent this from being the next big thing. Atari should be credited for trying something new, but it's hard to excuse the poor execution around the rest of the game.
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