Test Drive Unlimited 2

So, my girlfriend had been telling me for some time about how much she enjoyed this game, Test Drive Unlimited. Then I found out (probably via her) that a sequel came out only a couple of months ago. So I figured, how often do I review a new racing game? Lets do it! And here we are now. You up to speed? Good. Lets go!

STORY
Test Drive Unlimited 2, being a racing game, lacks a decent, coherent story. The premise however, is that you have 2 islands (Ibiza and an Island in Hawaii), and a potentially huge garage. The "Less than decent, rather incoherent" story I mentioned involves your character getting fired from his/her valet job, then somehow getting the dream job of Professional Racer. Yea... I told you.

The premise itself is a good enough excuse to give you free reign over a wide selection of cars, and two large vehicular playgrounds.

PRESENTATION
The visuals of Test Drive Unlimited 2 are decent enough and, at times, the game looks really amazing. The selection of cars is huge, and they all look authentic and shiny; whereas the environment is sprawling and varied. The landscape goes from seaside roads, to dirt tracks through plains, to city driving. But then your customizable avatar gets out of the car for some arbitrary reason... And he/she looks shite. The character models here are pretty bad, even if most of the time you'll be watching the cars.

Speaking of your ugly avatar, they also have a really terrible voice too. Just like every other character in the game. They all have bland, horrible voices; which repeat lines ad nauseam. The soundtrack is pretty lame, but I'm sure someone will appreciate it. If only they would let us import tracks. On all platforms.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay of TDU2 is primarily focused on, you guessed it, RACING! What kind of racing? I'm still not sure. I spent a decent amount of time with the game, and it still feels like a strange Arcade/Racing Sim hybrid. That's not to say it's bad. It actually works on the most part, and requires a relatively small amount of finesse compared to Forza or GT5. TDU2 also grounds itself in realism more than say, Need for Speed or (clearly) Split/Second.

The driving is solid, and the skill testing and varied tracks really are the icing on the cake. Like, really good icing on a somewhat average, but tasty cake. That said, the tracks provide more of a challenge than the AI competition. They're really not as competitive as they should be, and if you make a large enough gap between you and the following AI player, you can make a buttload of mistakes.

Speaking of AI, when they try to be competitive, it just comes off as being cheap. While I could win most races easily, when the computer racers caught up, they'd seem to intentionally spin me out. I even tried to return the favour, and the AI just compensated for it perfectly. It took me right out of the game. I know it sounds like I'm complaining, and I kind of am... but this was a source of major frustration for me.

So, after that, lets end the gameplay section on a high note. I like how you have to get different licenses for different championships, and that there are different car classes and championships. The offroad races are pure, slidey offroad awesome, and the other classes contain some truly amazing vehicles. Oh, and theres an "Island tour" race, that basically encompasses the entire island of Ibiza. It was awesome.

There are some pretty pointless features like avatar customization and house buying/customization, but the game never forces you to do any of that (unless you want to look like less of a douche, and own more than two cars at a time). Also, theres no way to quickly access races from a menu. The only way to do this is go to the map, and try to go directly to the race. This only works with roads you have unlocked however. All in all, the sandbox seems just a little bit pointless.

I almost forgot, theres a pretty cool multiplayer feature. Seeing as the game is held together by an open world sandbox where you can drive freely, you can see every online player occupying the same world that you're in. This is the only reason that the sandbox seems somewhat useful.

Theres also a levelling system, which allows players more unlockable items each time you level up. Although, the stuff you unlock is mostly arbitrary, and the requirements to level up aren't confined to just racing. Often it involves collecting clothes or exploring the island. While it's nice to do that anyway in some games, being forced to makes it annoying.

REPLAYABILITY
It's a racing game.. That should tell you all you need to know. While there isn't any split screen multiplayer, the online seems like it could be pretty awesome (though I didn't get to try it). On top of that, theres a lot of stuff to collect.. although alot of that seems really useless.

OVERVIEW
While the game does boast fast cars and interesting, varied tracks, I can't help but feel like something with TDU2 just doesn't work. Maybe it's all the pointless avatar customization, or the AI that feels somewhat broken. However, I do like the amount and quality of cars, as well as the variety of racing classes and types. The levelling system, I love alot less. The arbitrary customization and collection surrounding your avatar just ruins it for me though.

Fuckin' ugly avatars.


Next week, the uber realistic modern day shooter, Operation Flashpoint: Red River! See you next time!