Test Drive Unlimited 2 Promises so much yet delivers so little (Much like Arsenal FC)

It Has been 4 years since the last Test Drive which was an interesting step towards a new genre, the MMO Driving simulator. It was certainly a breath of fresh air into an over saturated driving genre. The big question from fans and interested buyers alike was whether they could provide a better experience and not fall into the category of a bad sequel.

And in some ways it does. A car list ranging from old Lotuses to THE Bugatti Veyron and even Range Rovers Provides great diversity in terms of cars to drive around the huge island of Ibiza. And boy is it huge. The satisfaction of getting the money to buy one of the many premium car brands (Audi, Lexus, Mercedes, Ferrari) is increased when you cruise along Ibiza’s wide highways with the sun shining off your gleaming car.

The developers, Lyon’s Eden Games have realized that driving for miles to reach a clothing shop may not appeal to all (especially those who drive to work during rush hour in real life, MORE DRIVING??!! NOOOOOOO!!!!). Thus they have introduced a scoring system where you get cash for close-shaves, jumps and speed. Sadly you soon come to realize that earning money this way is not the most efficient way as rarely do you get more than a 1000 dollars at a time.

Therefore it is good that the game never leaves you alone, NPCs call you frequently to inform you of various events that you can and should participate in the advance your level. The GPS in the game is better than some in real life and this makes for a pleasant gaming experience.

As with any MMO, 2 things matter; Leveling up, and Cash. Thankfully TDU 2 makes both easy to start with and harder as the game goes on.

You can level up in 4 categories:

• Competition (racing, completing challenges)
• Social (making friends in the game, race against other people, joining clubs)
• Discovery (discover all roads, take photographs of specific locations, find all car wrecks)
• Collection (buy cars, houses, furniture, clothing/basic needs)

Cash can be obtained through the earlier mentioned method or through races. Cash is used for buying funky and cool clothes (Admittedly i did not change from my Valet Driver uniform which you start with), Houses ranging from your dingy 1-rooms to sprawling mansions LKY would live in and of course cars which cost like real life too meaning the MMO grind is well and truly alive in this game.

The multiplayer aspect of the game has a couple of good ideas, Players are able to create their own challenges for other players to attempt to win the prize. You can also rate the challenge afterward which prevents cheaters who create impossible challenges. You may also challenge any player you see on the roads with a flash of your headlights, an idea Apple themselves would be proud of. Voice chat is also available for trash talking.

The sound in this game is good but not amazing, the roars from the more expensive cars feel somewhat hollow.

Now at this point, you may be already opening up another tab on your browser to look for TDU 2 on Gametrader.SG, but hold on to your horses or horsepowers (bad joke) as with anything in this world its not perfect, not even near perfect.

The graphics appear to not have changed from the first TDU and the setting of the Tropical Island of Ibiza seems to be an effort to  .

What is, is the poorly done cut-scenes which pale in comparison to efforts by Rockstar, and even Quantic Dream( Heavy Rain). Where these companies have cut-scenes which are realistic and emotional, TDU2 is cut-off and aloof. And this is bad because the point of the game is to dump the player into a realistic moving world where you can live out your real life car fantasies. sadly the Bad voice acting jarred the experience.

This also applies to the main story where you are in a racing competition. There was huge potential for something like F1 2010 where the were press conferences and commentary. All you get from this game is “So and So are fighting again” or “What an important race this is” over and over again. Of course its important! I don’t think the viewers, whoever they may be, need to be told this.

While the multiplayer in theory sounds like a great idea, it is limited due to server issues much like a car would be limited if the engine keeps breaking down. Issues with connection to servers, entering the casino, and redeeming DLCs make the bulk of the problem. Thankfully most of the bugs and glitches have been sorted out.

The handling also suffers with no clear difference between the Guided and Sport options, with a controller the handling is jerky and not accurate, this game is best played with a wheel.

What is worse is the lousy radio which plays Top 100 Worst hits EVER on every station you choose

In total this game should last you from 5 mins to 60 hours depending on whether you Rage-quit due to:

1. Lousy Starting Scene
2. Only 1 Asian Character option
3. Poor Voice acting
4. Poor Graphics
5. Jerky Handling
6. The Grind to get better cars
7. Getting thrashed by the Buggati Veyron Super Sport (a pre-order DLC)
8. Trouble connecting to Online Servers
9. Corrupted save due to bug
10. Smashing of Speaker system due to terrible soundtrack

Final Verdict:

• Graphics : 6.5/10
• Sound : 7/10
• Gameplay : 8/10
• Multiplayer : 7.8/10
• Longevity : 4-8/10

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is close to gaming perfection just based on its gameplay, and large amount of great ideas but it doesn’t have ruins it. ( Much like Arsenal and their lack of a good back 4 😉 )