First Look: Test Drive Unlimited 2
After spending around six hours on Ibiza in Test Drive Unlimited 2, it’s time to reveal my first look at the game. I’ve been playing the Xbox 360 version with a standard controller, so i can’t speak to the real hardware experience. Please note that this isn’t a full review of the game, just some observations from the title’s first few hours.
To keep these initial impressions simple I’m going to break my thoughts into two categories: bad and good. We’ll talk negatives first so that we can end on the game’s merits and what elements people may take away from the experience with a smile. I progressed to level 10 of 60 in this time frame and finished two championships in each of the Asphalt, Off-Road and Classic series. I purchased five cars, three houses and dabbled with new clothes and plastic surgery. When I signed off to write this first look I had just been invited to the game’s second island.
Now first of all, the story on which the single player game is framed is quite cheesy and unnecessary. It’s full of cliches, repeated dialogue and over-zealous voice actors. Everyone sounds like a sports announcer by just how happy they are to deliver their lines. To explain the starting story, you play as a valet parking attendant who’s picked to join a reality television show that’s centered around a group of races called the “Solar Crown.” You then must earn different car licenses to compete in different racing series on the show. The characters all look quite similar and overall get in the way more than draw the player into the experience.
The car physics tend towards slippery-arcade rather than simulation. The game offers three different driving styles that present different levels of driving assistance. But even on “hardcore” mode which claims to offer “sim-type” handling, the game’s controls feel loose. In this mode the game’s engine still doesn’t provide that true-to-life grip and cornering experience. It takes some practice to corner the game’s way correctly. Driving off-road feels like a slicker version of asphalt rather than a different type of terrain altogether.
First Look: Test Drive Unlimited 2
There is no real car damage in the game. Although your vehicle shows some wear and tear after bumping opponents, you can drive 120mph into a rock wall and only lose a few seconds of race time after reversing and returning to the road. This lack of consequence makes the overall experience feel easy. In addition, you can restart any event after the slightest mistake so you never really have to fear losing.
The AI runs set paths and doesn’t appear to change over the course of a race or series. You’ll notice everyone trying to drive the same lines and running into any obstacles in their way. During one license test, I was told how to overtake other vehicles. After a clean pass on my part, I must have crossed into the AI’s set path because he swerved directly into the back left side of my car and caused me to fail the test due to his incompetence.
On the positive side, the game is ambitious and provides an enormous amount of content to unlock and explore. There are hundreds of events from races to deliveries to finding car wrecks hidden around the island’s environments. There is never a lack of activities to take part in. The phone calls from friends and counterparts do get annoying after a while, because they all want you to go somewhere different at the same time, but you can ignore whoever you want and go about the events at your own pace.
The multiplayer events are exciting and add a level of thrill compared to the AI races. When you’re pitting your own funds against real people, the stakes definitely go up. By flashing your headlights you can challenge other players around the game world to a race. I must say I had some suspicions that some fake players were populating my game world, because while the cable guy was replacing our modem downstairs and we were without internet I still found “players” driving around the world who I could challenge. Other times there were definitely people populating the world because I could hear grumbles from their headsets.
The available cars to purchase and drive are beautiful. The game recreates them in a loving fashion and the ability to walk around, sit in, and tinker with the windows and doors of these cars feels like a hands-on experience with machines one might not otherwise be able to breathe on. With easy access to money from trick points and races, none of the vehicles seem unattainable so it’s easy to set goals and purchase the cars you really want to cruise around in.
The game gives you experience points for exploring the world and it marks every road you’ve driven on with a blue line indicating that it’s been explored. With the huge amount of roads to drive on and the size of the island, driving around and exploring the scenery is a pleasant and zen-like experience. Once you have some cars in the garage, it’s fun to pick your favorite and just take it for a drive.
There are still quite a few things I need to do before presenting a full review of the game to you guys. I haven’t had a chance to try out the game’s tuning features, I haven’t experienced the organized multiplayer outside of duels, I haven’t tried forming a club of friends to race cooperative events with, and I haven’t yet set foot on Hawaii or tested out the community challenges. What I have discovered so far is that the game presents an arcade experience with some poor AI, but it attempts to make up for its downfalls with tons of content and great collectibles. For a completionist, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is going to keep you busy for a long time.
Stay tuned early next week for a more complete review and an in-depth look at these initial thoughts. Feel free to chime in if you’ve already been cruising around Ibiza too.
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