Articles
By Nonny
Published: Mar. 11, 2007 11:44 AM
The Test Drive franchise has been around for several years and gone through many theme variations during that time yet has generally always stayed a fanatic’s driving experience. Overshadowed in recent times by other big franchises such as Gran Turismo, Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsport, it is interesting that its return to form is not really a purist’s racer, but a blend of several interwoven genres to create a new experience which Eden Studios has named M.O.O.R; or Massively Online Open Racing. With Test Drive Unlimited, Eden have taken the main staple of racing games and fused them with the open sandbox gameplay made famous with such titles as Grand Theft Auto, or more recently Saints Row. The sandbox in question here in Test Drive Unlimited is the massive Hawaiian island of Oahu, a tropical playground spanning 1,600 miles of open road, covering urban sprawls such as the city of Honolulu, as well as its winding country back roads, freeways and shoreline vistas. Impressively the developers have managed to realistically map out the entire island to scale with every landmark and detail accounted for which is a mean feat in itself. Unlike your generic racer, the game opens with the player waiting to board a flight to Oahu which is also the point for them to pick out how their character will look. Though only a small selection is on offer to begin with the game supports full customization of your characters looks at a later point. Once arrived in Oahu you are then instructed to rent a car for your inaugural drive to the real estate agent to purchase your first home. Even from this initial outset it is quite clear that TDU feels quite different to your normal racing title, where the emphasis is less on racing per se and clearly more about the entire driving experience. The core structure of the game is designed much like other sandbox titles where your home acts as the central hub for all information on progress, missions and other important factors, in addition to being your garage. Then dotted around the island are other important destinations to visit which include car dealerships, car clubs, high performance tuners, drive-in diners, paint shops, clothes shops all of which are periphery to the actual racing and challenges which are also shown.
The first thing which really impresses with TDU is the size and scale of Oahu and how the game is built entirely around the GPS and menu system. Where other titles have seen similar map systems in place TDU really outclasses all of them with a map of Oahu which is not unlike the one seen on Google Earth. At any point in time the player can press right on the Dpad and bring up the GPS (Global Positioning System) showing your exact location on the island. From here you are then able to zoom in repeatedly to anywhere you wish and the map updates its texture detail accordingly until you are literally given a bird’s eye view of any location. Amazingly at this level of zoom you can even see planes taking flight paths across the island to the Airport amongst other things and the whole GPS is a cinch to use once you get used to the filtering system. The filters available allow you to pick from four categories which are challenges, players, key points of interest and bookmarks. Under each of these it is possible to filter further to only overlay what you need to see on the map in general. Only want to see single player time challenges? It’s only two button presses away, likewise you can filter on just your friends or only people who belong to your car club (more on that later) but either way while the GPS system is daunting at first because of its scope it feels user-friendly after only a few minutes of use. The size and scale of Oahu is as exact to reality as possible, which conveys more realism than you first give it credit for. When you enter a race that stretches 15 miles it literally is 15 miles and feels exactly as you would imagine. This becomes even more impressive when you first enter a race which stretches around the entire perimeter of the island, such as the millionaires challenge which is a timed race which you must complete in under an hour… yes that’s 60 minutes of racing seamlessly from start to finish right around the island, and as it’s a class A vehicle restriction expect to be pulling around 150-190mph the entire hour. Very cool.
All of this would of course mean nothing if there was nothing fun to drive but thankfully Eden Studios have provided well over 120+ vehicles for you to use from such manufacturers as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maclaren, Audi, Ford, Nissan, Aston Martin etc… the range is as impressive as any title out there and though the selection is small there are Motorbikes as well to mix things up. Once you’ve picked yourself a ride and got out onto the open road it is finally time to find a race from the selection on offer. Dotted around the map are both multiplayer and single player race options. As with any other key location shown on the GPS, once you’ve driven on the road where the race icon is shown you can then fast track to that location whenever you like without having to drive there from the other side of the island. Roads you’ve already driven on are shown in blue on your GPS system as well so you can instantly tell where you have already been and which are left to explore. Racing comes in four separate types in TDU, there are your flat out racing against up to seven other opponents, timed challenges where you must reach your final destination within a set limit, speed racing where you must pass designated speed traps at the highest speed to win and finally the special delivery type events, which from the outset prove to be the most interesting and quickest way to earn revenue. Within the special challenge there are also several types such as picking up top-models from the roadside and driving them home within a time limit, taking care not to scare them too much. Then there are hitch-hikers as well, and package deliveries all which follow a similar theme but the most lucrative of all are the car deliveries. Here you pick up the car in question, which is usually one of the more desirable vehicles in the game, and have to deliver it back to the car rental agent without a scratch. The key here is that there is no time limit and delivering it without any collisions or off-road penalties nets you a perfect score and bonus money on top of the already decent award. These are also one off events so whilst you can restart them as much as you like but once you have delivered the car once that challenge disappears from the map completely, so it pays to act a little driving miss daisy if you want to earn the big bucks early on.
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