Test Drive Unlimited 2 Review

[Outlaw Torn]

Is there really plastic surgery in the game when the driving parts are apparently so dull? I'm not really one for driving games any more - Burnout was enough for me - but even I would expect one to at least get the driving part right. If Modern Warfare 3 decided to include a gun cleaning mini-game everyone would still expect the terrorist shootery to still be up to par.

 

[rb26dett]

About the "too much boring driving" part. If you find driving a supercar boring then this game is not for you. It is not about the destination, it's about the journey, really. First TDU was just the same in this respect, and that's exactly why people loved it - huge distances to drive in their dream cars.

The "way too ridiculous prizes" comment - once you're 100% done with the challenges, they stop giving you money for completing them again, so most people are scraping by by the time they finish the championships, actually (except cheaters, naturally)

I am surprised to see that you haven't mentioned any bugs or problems with the game, but concentrated on getting the game itself horribly wrong.

P.S: To invite a friend over to your house you have to add somebody to your friend list, go to your house, go to the pause menu > Players > Friend list > select friend you want to invite > click invite. I'm not sure how you didn't figure that out.

 

[jonyboy13]

Seems like driving games fail lately.
Maybe more focus on gameplay and less of lovely view?

 

[blipblop]

I think that you have to be a car nut and love driving to like this game... and I do
the firs one was good exept the half ass handling, but they seem to updated it for this one so I will probably get it.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

Yeah, I remember the first TDU and raised an eyebrow at the "Deliver my car to X buiding and I'll give you twenty grand" stuff. And starting the game by getting a kickass apartment in Hawaii just felt a bit much, but I suppose if the whole lifestyle thing is what they're going for then they did pretty well there. It just felt to me like the game was handing me everything at the start and I'd have nothing to earn, I like games where you start off in a dingy apartment and have to work your way up.

I'm also not a fan of how modern racing games expect me to spend twice as much time tweaking my car in the garage than actually racing it. We had a perfectly good system before; you get a car that has a certain set of stats, then you strive to unlock/buy the next car with better stats so you can go faster or handle better and the only choice you had to make about the car's setup was whether it was an auto or manual. You weren't punished for not buying this or that car upgrade the benefits of which took an auto repair course to understand, or getting the sliders just right so you could drift better, it was about getting you back into the next race as fast as possible.

But maybe I should just accept that modern racing games aren't targeted at my demographic anymore, and I should be content with the more straightforward racer games that still exist down at the arcade.

 

[Steve Butts]

About the "too much boring driving" part. If you find driving a supercar boring then this game is not for you. It is not about the destination, it's about the journey, really. First TDU was just the same in this respect, and that's exactly why people loved it - huge distances to drive in their dream cars.

I think it's fine if that's all you want to do, but I really do want something other than strict simulation in games. It's why I don't understand the appeal of civilian flight sims.

Even if simulation was the main point, the developers left some obvious holes in the imagined reality of the game and created a lot of content that just doesn't support the fantasy. I wouldn't mind all the window dressing if the core experience was more compelling. Like someone else said, Call of Duty still has to get the shooting parts right, no matter what else is added. So all the home decorating, plastic surgery, and photography missions would be less obnoxious if the actual driving content was more enjoyable.

 

[Shoelip]

Hey wait. The review said you get to drive around the island of Hawaii. I thought the island it had was Oahu. You know Hawaii is the name of the Big Island right? No probably not. No one knows anything about Hawaii. :-(

 

[Jay Wong]

TDU is fore and foremost, about cruising, so the point that it has too much driving around......is exactly why many loyal fans buy the game.

And I wouldn't say the reward is ridiculous, it didn't take long (about 6 hours) to get to the Ibiza cup and after that you already have access to the most expensive car in game, compare to GT5 that's ALOT better.

Although I am puzzled that you say the driving model is solid......cos that is the single biggest of the game imo.

 

[Tim Chuma]

Test Drive? Wasn't there a series of games in the 90s called that? What ever happened to that game where you could race 50s hot rods? Damn kids, get off my lawn!

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I think the biggest flaw in this game is the inclusion of the story. The first Unlimited didn't have a story, and didn't need one. You just went to an exotic paradise to race some of the fastest and best looking sports cars in the world. Now we have an unnecessary storyline about how you are a participant in some elaborate race that all seems very arbitrary. All the flaws in the first game I could live with, because God damnit I was living a dream. Now, I'm not, I'm Joe Blow the valet who somehow got accepted into an international competition.

And I have to agree, the social aspect of the game is extremely underdeveloped/half-assed. Where are the people in the cities? What's the point of the lavish house if there is no reason to have an interior? Why are the police oddly content to let me go Mach 9 in a 50 zone? Sorry, that's not a social issue, but still a flaw. Anyway, I don't think they should have left it like that, they should have gone all the way, including a dynamic range of NPCs you could invite to elaborate parties aboard your million-dollar yacht, or they should have left it out entirely.

At the end of the day, though, I still have fun with this game. I just ignore the story and the horridly awkward voice acting and pretend I'm still like the guy in the first game, just going to Hawaii to live out my ultimate fantasy.

I agree. I loved the first one, no story was just fine with me. I still think the police were very brutal in the first one. A Saturn Sky can't get past a wall of cop cars 8 cars long, 15 cars wide on both sides. but now they don't do anything at all. "Yeah, you just killed that guy by raming him going 180 in the oposite direction. We don't really care."

The voice acting is even worse than the first- But they KNEW it was bad in the first one, so they tried to not include it that much. The first one had more cars, too.

 

[Gaderael]

Fuel is pretty good...if you can put up with the required GFWL. *headdesk*

ToCA Race Driver 3 is amazing. DiRT 2 also, but ToCA has an amazing scope of events and is probably my favourite driving game ever.

Thank you very much good fellows. I will look in to some reviews now. Off I go!

 

[silasbufu]

I liked the driving in the first one. In this one, I find it absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic ( at least TDU1 had SOME amount of simulation to the driving).
Also, when you're not driving , the game gets REALLY stupid. The dialogue, the characters, I felt like getting a lobotomy while looking at the cutscenes.

 

[Lance Arrow]

God... this makes me so sad. I enjoyed the crap out of the first one..

..Well, can't make them all good I guess.

 

[Evilpigeon]

I keep reading the D in the TDU as an O...

TOU2 extreme ballet simulator

 

[Void(null)]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about with the controls being too sensitive. When you first begin to accelerate you will slide to the left and the right, just counter until you get into the next gear and then its smooth handling all the way.

Coming from Dirt 2 and Grid to this my big problem is with the AI. There is absolutely zero challenge in any race and the AI poses no threat whatsoever, so as pretty as the environments are and as neat as the game world is and as fun as the driving is its just... not fun as a whole.

 

[rb26dett]

I think it's fine if that's all you want to do, but I really do want something other than strict simulation in games. It's why I don't understand the appeal of civilian flight sims.

Even if simulation was the main point, the developers left some obvious holes in the imagined reality of the game and created a lot of content that just doesn't support the fantasy. I wouldn't mind all the window dressing if the core experience was more compelling. Like someone else said, Call of Duty still has to get the shooting parts right, no matter what else is added. So all the home decorating, plastic surgery, and photography missions would be less obnoxious if the actual driving content was more enjoyable.

Yes, I will agree. Driving isn't exactly "polished", and for now the connectivity issues are being patched, as well as some major bugs (save game corruption and similary bad ones). There are things to be desired in the driving department (better force feedback, better analogue brake, automatic clutch working only on gearchanges, ability to clutch if you use a sequential without a clutch pedal on your wheel set, Limited Slip Differentials, windscreen wipers, high beams, and those are just off the top of my head), and hopes at Test Drive forums are that those will be addressed.

However, there isn't a single game I can name at this point that does the driving in the open world better. I can name a few surrogates ofcourse
*GTA IV, and using a wheel is while possible, just a nightmare
*Just Cause 2 - only good thing about it was the scale of the thing, driving wasn't pleasant
*Test Drive Unlimited 1 - the low poly roads made it impossible to control a car when any elevation change was in question (and on the island of Oahu, it almost always is, I've found at most 7-10 compelling roads to drive in it).

So that's the simple secret to this gamem which allows for tons of fun for a lot of people. It allows you (BADLY) to do what others failed at completely. In the kingdom of paraplegics, an amputee is king (Probably lost something in the translation, but you get the idea)

 

[josemlopes]

This is really frickin' sad. I was really hoping for a good racer for the PC. Oh well. Anyone have any suggestions for a good racing game for the PC that's been released in the last couple of years that they would recommend?

Test Drive Unlimited 2 Review

All the fun of driving an Audi to get an overpriced haircut.

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Completely off topic, but where did you get the Beard Badge? I need it!

The other guy adviced Fuel and the game is fun but it has his problems. The PC version has a mod that it is still beeing worked on that improves the game a lot. If you consider buying the game you should take a look at this.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/fuel-refueled


In this video most of the "extreme" stuff isnt in the free roam of the vanilla version

 

[s2dio]

The cell phones! THE @#$%ING CELL PHONES!!!

That was the deal breaker for me on the latest Midnight Club. They give you an open world environment, and actually give you some seek & find collectibles, then CALL YOU every 30 seconds to tell you to do something. I see the ruddy glowing marker! It's 300' high! Stop calling/texting me!

If they have the same type deal in the new Test Drive... I'll stick to NFS Hot Pursuit and Shift.

 

[DeadFetus511]

As Good Game (Aussie TV gaming show) put it, every character in the game is a massive douche xD
The graphics don't look all that flash either.
Disappointed with this game.

 

[punkocker56]

Ya its a good game but i mean hey its not as fun as actually driving one of these many gorgouse cars. I live in honolulu and commute to work every morning in a lamborghini murcialago and nothing compares to driving a car like that i mean ya if you were to play the game with a force feedback racing wheel like the logitech G25 and be playing in the cockpit view ya it may feel real but no as real as ud hope. overall i would give the game a decent rating like 7.5/10 but theres just not as many things to do as u would expect to be able to do because hell lets face it TDU AND TDU2 are the only driving games with a title that fits the actual style of the game but like i said overal a rating of 7.5/10 in my books. Its a fun game to play just to short