Test Drive Unlimited
Score: 85% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Atari Developer: Melbourne House Media: UMD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Racing/ Action/ Online
Graphics & Sound: There are some games with a nod toward realism and this usually means you get some monuments that are recognizable and maybe the roadmap of an actual city. Test Drive Unlimited takes a more ambitious tack of reproducing the entire Hawaiian island of Oahu down to the details. The roads are mapped out and have scenery that perfectly matches the layout of the island. The concept is a neat one and even though we've seen similar efforts before with games, I always appreciate the execution. The choice of this island was a good one since it includes nice beach driving and some mountainous twisty-curvies. There is a soundtrack of bands you probably haven't heard of unless you're a blood relative of a band member, but it is always nice to have some original music from real live bands in a game. The graphics suffer a bit in the online version due to the mechanics of drop-out for players that may quit suddenly or lose their Internet connection. The scenery in the online play seemed to be a bit loose and I didn't like the way the other cars on the road reacted to collisions. Managing a large environment like this requires some good mapping and some type of "helper" feature. In place of the Rockstar signature floating arrow, Test Drive Unlimited busts out a real GPS system with the nice lady that talks and gives you directions. A follow-along map showing turns and your planned route can be accessed if you are a map-kind-of-person.
Gameplay: I realized after getting into the swing of things with Test Drive Unlimited that I'd found a new version of one of my favorites from the Dreamcast days, Metropolis Street Racer. In MSR, you were on your own in a big city and could jump into races with other players to earn more street rep and build up your garage through prize winnings. The later games on big consoles, like Midnight Club, were different revs on this same formula. Test Drive Unlimited turns you loose on the island after introducing a rather random story intro that never made much sense to me. You arrive and pick up a set of wheels, get settled into a new house, and then hit the streets. No, this isn't a role-playing game. The entire experience revolves around driving and racing. The interesting thing about Test Drive Unlimited is how it combines a single-player experience with a multiplayer, online racing world. As long as you are connected through a hotspot, you can race against other players that have a connection, anywhere in the world. The single player doesn't feel like a different game at all, but you don't get to see a few things that are built in for the online experience. It's basically the realization of my grips and desires for all games that I think should have an online component more smoothly integrated. Prize money from races will earn you better cars and better garages in which to store them. Trading in that Aston Martin for a Lamborghini may be a tough choice... If you can't part with that perfect ride, you can at least add some aftermarket tricks that will help you get a few extra revs on your tach. The single-player experience includes options to race against clubs of other racers on the island for the ultimate prize of running a club. Of course that opens you up to being toppled from your throne, but isn't that what it's all about? You can access all the story elements in single-player such as the realtor and the car dealer. When you launch an ad-hoc game, you can just light up a relay race with a nearby player without much fanfare. The options are relatively limited in ad-hoc for you and other players to really stretch out on Oahu. When you enter the persistent world in infrastructure mode, you'll find that you are constantly bumping into other players. You also have access in the online world to special gathering places called Drive Ins and you can make and save friends to a list that allows you to gather a crowd for a quick race. There are also formal competitions that you can initiate in the online multiplayer mode that are lots of fun. The overall experience is excellent and more so for being portable. The power of the online play isn't nearly what you expect on a console, but the trade-offs are acceptable in exchange for taking Oahu on the road.
Difficulty: The challenges are weighted to your level in Test Drive Unlimited so that you see more as your rep increases. The online world contained some a-holes that seemed intent on running me off the road repeatedly, but I haven't been in a massively-multiplayer world yet where there weren't a few jerks. Art imitating life, I suppose... There is no question that racing skill will earn you a place among the elite, but you'll have to work hard to catch up with the folks that are power-leveling their way up to a rocket-car. There isn't really a rocket-car, but did I mention Lamborghini? Trying to pit your Nissan against thousands of horses of red Italian muscle is a sure-fire way to lose, so don't say I didn't warn you.
Game Mechanics: Managing the switch from online to offline is easy and since the world is always running, it doesn't require you to stage races and risk losing a connection and restarting your game. There are times when you'll host players, but this is mostly for the ad-hoc mode. Managing the different menus and controls takes some learning, but nothing here is difficult to master. I found some of the collision detection a bit fuzzy as mentioned before. The controls in general felt squishy and I wasn't impressed by how one car handled compared to another. Making allowances for the miniature scale of the PSP controller compared to the 360 or the PS3, I still didn't love the handling. Racing fans on PSP owe it to themselves to take a look at Test Drive Unlimited for the simple reason that a massively multiplayer, online racing game is the coolest idea since sliced bread. Expect to see more of this and don't be surprised if every racing game starts introducing these types of features into their titles. If they don't, they're crazy, because this is a heck of a lot of fun to play. More depth would have been appreciated, but that's a minor complaint compared to the fun you can have driving around Oahu.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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