Test Drive Unlimited

Test Drive Unlimited (PC)

Introduction

With the next-generation console war in full swing, it sometimes feels as if PC gamers are left behind, especially when it concerns new innovative ideas. Games like Okami or Guitar Hero II just don’t exist on the PC platform and instead, gamers have to settle for the typical FPS, RTS and RPG genres. While this is far from being a bad thing, I do wish that from time to time, developers would bring some those unique console games over. Thankfully, Atari and Eden Games have heard my cry for innovation, given that they’ve ported Test Drive Unlimited over to the PC. And trust me, no need to complain how this is “just another car game”, because it’s so much more than that.

Test Drive

While the vast majority of the young gamers only know about the Need for Speed series, those of us old enough remember that Test Drive was the real big daddy. Starting in 1987 on DOS, as well as the Atari ST and Commodore 64, Test Drive was the first game to offer exotic sports cars and police chases all in one lovely package. Obviously, the saga didn’t finish there and another thirteen different Test Drive games were released over the years, cumulating into the latest sequel, Test Drive Unlimited. Although it was originally released on the Xbox 360 in September 2006 (and reviewed here by Gaming Heaven), Atari has now ported this critically acclaimed game onto the PC, PS2 and even PSP.

Now, to explain why this isn’t just your typical racing game, I’ll let you try and guess what the following acronym means: M.O.O.R. Any ideas? If not, here’s the answer you seek: Massively Open Online Racing. Sure, sounds interesting but what does this mean for the average gamer? Well, think of Test Drive Unlimited as a World of Warcraft with sports cars and I think you’ll get the gist of things. But before we dive into that, let’s see how this “next-generation” port runs on the PC.

Engine
Seeing as Atari’s M.O.O.R. was originally an Xbox 360 title, I was expecting the game’s minimum requirements to be quite demanding, even for decent rigs and naturally, this was the case:

• Windows 2000 / XP / Vista
• Intel P4 2.4Ghz or AMD Athlon 2800+
• ATI Radeon 9800 256MB or Nvidia 6600 GT 256 MB
• DirectX 9.0 compatible Sound Card
• 512 MB RAM
• 8 GB HDD space

Test Drive Unlimited needs a lot of horsepower to run and I can blame it all on the fact that you simply can’t customize the game’s settings to suit your setup. Even the worst of console ports allow some form of in-depth graphical tweaking but Eden Games’ racer is the exception to the rule, given that you can only choose in between high, medium and low (and there isn’t much difference in between all three modes). This is most certainly because Atari didn’t invest enough time into adapting Test Drive Unlimited for the PC, resulting in a title that looks and feels way too much like a console game, particularly when navigating through the menus.

In addition, I didn’t find the 3D engine all that impressive because anyone who wants to enable High Dynamic Range will firstly, if using the majority of NVIDIA cards, have to sacrifice Anti-Aliasing and most probably, drop a resolution because of the performance hit. Under typical settings, my XFX 7900 GT ran the game perfectly at 1280x960 with 4xAA, averaging at about 50 frames per second but with HDR enabled, I had to drop down to 1024x768 and I still couldn’t get a playable 30 frames per second. And yes, I do know that a performance drop is to be expected but passing from enjoyable to unplayable, even with a lower resolution seems like shoddy coding to me.

Tropical Paradise

Just like its Xbox 360 counterpart, Test Drive Unlimited on the PC is a beautiful game, though six months later, it’s starting to slowly show its age. Yes, the car models are still amazing, allowing you to admire each and every detail from the exterior to the interior and yes, Oahu is still gorgeous, with each and every road from the island meticulously recreated for gamers to explore but unfortunately, the same visual problems that existed on the Xbox 360 version have been brought over to the PC version. Firstly, the characters that you see in the game just don’t seem human since they have strange animations and even stranger alienish faces. Secondly, the random popups that appeared the console version are even worse now on PC, though this might be attributed to the enormous amount of bugs plaguing the ported version. Honestly, after playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. last month, I thought I’d seen the worst of it but Test Drive Unlimited doesn’t fare much better.

But for those few lucky people who don’t have any problems (after browsing the official forums, that number seems quite low at the moment), Test Drive Unlimited is an amazing game graphically, given that the entire island of Oahu is seamless, with no loading times to ever ruin your immersion, even when driving from one end to the other (which can easily end up taking about half an hour, even at full speed in a Ferrari Enzo). To be honest, I’ve lost hours just driving through the superb scenery in my virtual supercars, enjoying the wonderful immersion that this game creates in spades.

Aural Heaven

I love hearing the noise of a car engine revving and thankfully, Eden Games didn’t skimp on the sound department, seeing as most of the engines sound exactly as they should (though a couple sound quite generic, like the McLaren SLR to my dismay). But overall, crank up the volume, slam your virtual foot on the accelerator and allow the wondrous noise of a V12 to fill your room. I never grow tired of doing that in the game and if you love your cars (which you technically should if you’re reading this review), you’ll love it too. The rest of the sound effects, from tire screeches to police sirens all sound great as well, helping the immersion factor of the title. Actually, come to think of it, I played this game for hours without even having any music on, simply enjoying the wail of an engine, followed by sound of tires skidding on tarmac, that’s how good it is.

But for those of you who need music, the game offers several different radio stations to listen to while you cruise along, some of which are pretty catchy but alas, end up repeating themselves way too often. However, Eden Games anticipated this and as a result, you can create six extra radio stations with your own songs, which is always a welcome feature that more developers need to do.

Driving Ecstasy

Even though Test Drive Unlimited looks like a driving simulation thanks to all its 90 licensed sports cars and realistic location, in reality, it’s a careful balance in between arcade and realism. Personally, I found this disappointing since I like my games to be either fun arcade games or rewarding simulations, not a half-bred mix of both. There are several different settings to vary the handling but somehow, I was always left with this feeling that the handling of the various vehicles could have been so much more, especially the motorcycles that don’t feel like anything at all to be frank. Again, this was a serious problem on the Xbox 360 version and it’s sad to see that Eden Games didn’t take the time to fix some of these basic mistakes (the bikes handle like shopping carts). While they did add a “Hardcore Mode” (which also exists on the console version) that makes the gameplay more demanding, this isn’t a true fix since you can’t do any of the singleplayer events in this mode. However, if you overlook this, and own a gamepad or steering wheel, then you’ll see the hours fly by as you explore the vast island at your disposal.

And as I mentioned above, this is not your typical racing game but it’s a M.O.O.R, meaning that from the moment you log on to Test Drive Unlimited with a valid internet account, you’ll be racing and exploring alongside thousands of other players. That famous barrier in between single and multiplayer has finally been completely erased, given that even if you just want to do the singleplayer races, time trails, speed tests or missions, real people will still be driving and racing around you. Simply put, there is nothing else like Test Drive Unlimited, and having this constant connection to thousands of other people whenever you log onto the game is something I really ended up enjoying. To help this sense of community, you can even create racing clubs and challenge other players to whatever you fancy, from competitive races to fun drifting.

Unfortunately, a couple of things might ruin your time on paradise island, mostly in the form of major bugs that crash the game or even worse, corrupt your saved game files. This can really be annoying, especially when you’re about to win a one hour race or were transporting a model from one side of the island to the other. The problem is that Atari seems to have rushed Test Drive Unlimited onto the PC platform without having even tested for bugs, which is disappointing to say the least. In addition, it must be said that after the first few hours, the more casual gamers will find the game a bit repetitive.

Conclusion

I love it when a great console game gets ported onto the PC, especially when they offering something completely different like Test Drive Unlimited. The ability to have a seamless single and multiplayer experience is a brilliant, creating a game that petrolheads will be addicted to for a long time yet (I’ve already clocked over 85 hours and I’m far from bored). Yes, it has faults, such as a buggy 3D engine and the obligatory requirement of a gamepad or steering wheel but overall, Test Drive Unlimited is still just as fun as it was back in September of last year.

Gameplay	16/20	Neither a simulation nor an arcade racer, Test Drive tries to find a good medium that some will love and others will find slightly disappointing. On the plus side, M.O.O.R. rule!
Graphics	15/20	Still a very pretty game, even six months after its initial release. A pity then that the 3D engine is so fragile and ends up ruining both the graphics and stability of the game.
Sound	16/20	Engine noises are decent, as well as the rest of the sound effects. The music, while enjoyable ends up repeating a bit too often but thanks to the ability to create your own playlists, nothing too worrying.
Value	17/20	If you consider yourself a true petrolhead, then this is one game you’ll never let go of. Considering the fact that one can create clubs with other players and roam Oahu with them and reason enough to play it over and over again.
Preference	18/20	Thanks to the amazing immersion the Test Drive Unlimited offers, I’ve already lost over eighty hours of my life playing it, and I don’t think I’m about to stop now. Once you start, you won’t be able to let go.
Overall	82/100	Even though the game has its faults, the port from Xbox 360 to PC hasn’t ruined any of the magic the game originally had. While I definitely can’t recommend someone who already owns it on Xbox 360 to buy it again for their computer, those of you who’ve never yet tried it and love cars, take it for a spin!