Test Drive Unlimited's aim is the world’s first massively multiplayer driving game. And, to that extent the game succeeds. You are given hundreds of miles of road on which to race against friends and online competitors. In addition, the online experience meshes seamlessly with the offline, single-player component. However, the more I played
TDU, the more I began to wonder if the developers became so wrapped up in crafting a new experience that no one stopped to look at the basics.
For starters, the driving engine and driving game don’t seem to blend together all that well. TDU goes for a more sim-styled gameplay model similar to Project Gotham Racing. At the same time, many of the events would lead you to believe that it was more of a Need for Speed-styled arcade model. You often have to dodge other cars while driving on the road and sometimes will even find yourself being pursued by police. Neither of these gameplay elements lend themselves well to a sim-styled driving experience, at least if you’re a casual racing fan – which is something TDU needs to be successful. Weaving through traffic can be a pain, especially when faced with a road full of slow moving vehicles. And, if the police are able to set up a roadblock, you might as well just pull over and start emptying your wallet since there isn’t much chance that you’ll slip through their fingers like you can in NFS: Most Wanted.
Besides not really fitting the engine, they don’t add much to the experience either. Sure, its fun to see other cars on the road while in Free-Ride mode, but seeing them during races is pointless, especially when the bank of slow moving cars can kill your race times. Some races even require you to avoid hitting traffic or going off the road, adding nothing but frustration. There’s nothing more infuriating than getting to the end of a long race only to slam into a car coming over a hill, either knocking you out of the race because you lost too many points on a meter or delaying you for a few precious seconds.
When not participating in Checkpoint and Versus races, you can try your hand at several side challenges. Most involve ferrying someone from one point to another before time runs out, though others have you either running through speed traps or delivering cars to people around the island. Of the challenge types available, the first two feel rather pointless. While completing them all does earn you a few Achievement points to help boost your in-game and 360 Gamer Scores, the reward isn’t worth the effort. Rather than earning cash, you receive coupons that you can use to buy new clothes for your driver. Again, the only real worth for doing so is to unlock an Achievement – after which you won’t even care what your character is wearing because you won’t see them all that much.
Actually, in the long run, the character customization aspect doesn’t really matter unless you want your car club to have matching shirts or something and feels like a cheap in-game advertisement angle. There are more customization aspects for your character than your car. I may be in the minority here, but when playing a racing game I’d much rather a few body kits or decals rather than an Ecko Unlimited T-shirt.
Of all the side events present in the game, my favorite by far are the Transport missions where you’re required to bring a car from one point to another. The payout for these seemingly easy missions is usually big provided, of course, that you can get the car there in one piece. The novelty of having to actually be careful and follow the rules of the road is refreshing and more of a challenge than you’d think.
