Test Drive: Unlimited is set on the Hawaiian island Oahu. The island is fully rendered from real life using Google Maps. Every tree or road sign that is there in real life, is also in the game. In total there are over 1000 miles of road available for you to enjoy yourself on. The game is divided in 2 pieces (Single player and Multiplayer), so I’ll split the review in 2 also.
First of all the single player game.
After the short tutorial, the single player game offers the player a wide variety of challenges (races (circuit and point-to-point), time trials, pick up lifters and models, car deliveries). Most races are not really hard or long so you don’t lose much time doing them all. There is no need to pressure on you to actually do this challenges at once. The player can drive around freely around the island in GTA style. The challenges are meant to earn money to get yourself some new cars, tuning your cars, get new clothing, new houses, … Unfortunately, most challenges are not engaging. Neither are the races. The AI opponents are very connected to particular patterns. I mean, when you race two-three times, the AI cars make the same mistakes. The point-to-point races are a bit more challenging. Here you drive time limited and you encounter road hazards, weather and traffic.
Good thing about the single player game is that you never run out of things to do. There are always new cars to shop for in the showrooms, get some new clothing or buy new houses.
The multiplayer game is basically the same as the single player game. You still have to do the challenges, earn money, buy new cars, … But they added some cool touches to make the game more interesting. Like the option to challenge whatever player you want by flashing your headlights. The most important feature is the car club option. When you own/are in a club, you can challenge other clubs, hang out in your clubhouse and exchange gear and cars. Off course you can keep an eye on the stats and rankings. In order to create circuit races, players have to achieve the Pro status. This will enable the race editor tool. The multiplayer game makes the game look better because of the actual weak single player.
The vehicle diversity in TD:U is enough for the game. There are around 90 cars/bikes in the game divided in classes. The handling of the cars is pretty simple, but you need some time to get used to the responsiveness of the different cars. I can’t confirm if the bike’s handling is the same as the handling of the cars. To explain the damage system in TD:U, I don’t take much time because there is none. Driving into walls at 200km/h feels like falling into a bush. Overall the handling of the cars/bikes are pure arcade. The cars look pretty good but you might expect more from a new PC game. The environment on the other hand is rendered beautifully. It is a real pleasure to just cruise around on the island.
The cars sound is muscular and loud enough. Each car has their own sound library. I don’t exactly know if that are real sounds or programmed ones. The in-game radio is varied but limited. Good thing is that you can easily import your own music into the game.