09.05.07
Review: Test Drive Unlimited
I have to be honest, I didn’t really have any solid expectations of TDU. I played the demo and thought it was generally OK (apart from the motorbike riding dynamics of course.. being a biker and racer in the past NOTHING ever really works properly in this area - actually MOTOGP come close, only close though).
The best I can come up with is that TDU is a driving simulator in arcade mode so there’s no damage. There’s racing in there too, street-style in the mold of Need for Speed with all of the attendant risks of oncoming traffic etc and this is used to win money to allow you to buy and drive faster cars. The racing also progresses you through the difficulty levels which opens up more races and facilities too.
The cash element of the game is also important in buying property, the garages of which you keep your cars in which kind of makes sense.. in a PGR kind of way I suppose. But then there is another form of currency in play too.. the fashion voucher/credit which you can use to purchase clothes and accessories for your character. This is no doubt the most obvious and blatant piece of advertising I’ve seen in a game so far (I mean driving games are going to have cars in so you can forgive the manufacturers being there), this even goes as far as having an achievement for owning all of the items from a particular brand! It’s quite strange.
Now, I’ve reached Pro level, I have 1 house and 2 cars, so I’m sure there will be TDU fans out there who will say that so far I’ve only just scratched the surface of this game, and for sure I’ve not engaged in any multi-player antics (although the full time on-line play is actually quite cool!), so I’m prepared and more than happy to continue running through and expanding my real-estate empire and racking up the miles. So I’ll probably be back when I’m done! 
Silesti.
