I am what most would likely consider a hardcore racing game fan. Simply put, if there’s a game that gives the player control a vehicle and tasks them with getting said vehicle across a finish line first, chances are I’ve played it – and if it was well done, chances are I played it a lot. This fact has never ceased to amuse or confuse my friends, of both the offline and Xbox Live variety, who take great pleasure in pointing out that the racing genre is practically the embodiment of everything I claim to loathe about the current state of game design – namely, the abundance old and tired concepts that have failed to evolve and are repeatedly resold in different packaging. For whatever reason however, be it the satiation of some primal need for pure competition or the simple adrenaline rush speed never fails to provide, any racing game that succeeds at providing the three essentials of the genre – an exhilarating sensation of speed, tight controls, and that intangible ‘feel’ for the cars – will have me entertained for hours.

Imagine my surprise then, when I found myself enjoying Test Drive Unlimited, a game that fails to provide at least two of those three essentials. After some thought though, the explanation for my entertainment became clear: Test Drive Unlimited is pornography for automobile aficionados. While it fails to excel in the tangible elements of racing game design, it triumphs in recreating those intangible elements that make the act of driving so enjoyable, the most important being the sense of freedom that makes the wait for one’s 16th birthday and driver’s license nigh unbearable for so many. Racing may be the means by which players actually progress through the game and amass money, but the actual thrill of Test Drive Unlimited is the ability to simply cruise across a gorgeous, open environment in one of many 300-horsepower fantasies after the races have finished. If that weren’t enough of a reason for my entertainment, the game certainly doesn’t fall into retread territory. In fact that the game features what could be the next big leap in racing game design, and the most seamless integration of Xbox Live multiplayer into single-player gameplay that has ever been accomplished.

Gameplay

The game begins with a real-time cinematic set at the boarding gate for a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. As the passengers line up to hand over their boarding passes, players are able to choose which one of the passengers they would prefer to use as an avatar in the game. None of them are particularly attractive, in fact all of the human beings featured in the game are quite ugly, but the choice isn’t particularly important unless players have a strong desire to collect clothing for one of the sexes in particular. Once players land in Hawaii, they are given a selection of a few cars to rent, and pointed in the direction of the real estate agent in order to put the down payment on their first home.



The player’s house serves no real purpose other than providing a space to store their vehicles and clothing, should they choose to buy any. The larger the house, the larger the garage, and by the end of the game, players will likely own several huge homes, each with enough parking space to house a fleet of automobiles. There’s really nothing to do inside the player’s residence, no arcade machines or distractions of that sort. Really, the only purpose for entering the house is to switch cars or change cloths. Besides altering their wardrobe, players can also access a customization option for their character’s face, but the system isn’t particularly intuitive and there’s no way to reset to the default, so players run the risk of being stuck with an even uglier character than when they started.

After settling into their new digs, players must choose their first car before setting off to compete in various race events or mission-based events such as transporting certain people or cars from place to place in under a certain time, or without damaging the car too badly. Race events are broken up by car class, so players will have to work their way through the first batch of races, buy a newer, better car, and then try their hand at the next round of challenges. Aside from this informal tier set-up, players are free to tackle the races and missions in whatever order they like, or choose to ignore them completely for as long as they’d like. Missions do not necessarily require a certain class of car, but as the challenge ramps up, players may find they need to upgrade from their current set of wheels to something faster in order to reach their destination in under the allotted time.

Finding races and challenges is a simple matter of hitting the d-pad to bring up the GPS map, which is complemented by a great reverse zoom effect as the camera comes over the car and launches into the air for an expansive, aerial view of the island. Races are marked by icons, which players can either travel directly to provided they have already visited the general area once before, or can mark on their GPS and drive to from their current positive with the direction of a guide arrow and stereotypically annoying GPS voice. This pretty much ensures that players will see the entirety of the island and appreciates the developers’ work, but does so in such a way that the player doesn’t feel pushed. The sheer number of available events open in various regions of the island, combined with the ability to warp to previously visited areas ensures that the player is never inconvenienced with being forced to drive for hundreds of miles to the next destination. If players prefer to play it by ear and enter events as they stumble across them, the races are marked in game by huge glowing icons that are difficult to miss.



Race types include standard races against up to seven opponents, time trials, and speed runs where the player must reach a certain speed within a designated amount of time. While the number of race-types and missions is fairly small, the topography and city layout provide for a wide variety of course designs. Tracks are nothing more that pre-determined routes through existing roadways, which means players will be navigating at high speeds through confined city streets filled with sharp turns and traffic, winding mountain roads, narrow country trails between cities, wide water-front avenues and highways, and more often than not, a combination of any of the above. Unfortunately, races aren’t as enjoyable as they could be, at least in the single-player game, because the opponent AI is barely competent, and never challenging. Missions are similarly lacking variety, as the player is always taking on the role of delivery boy, taking people or cars from one place to another for any number of trite reasons, including models who are tired from long days of shopping and need a ride home, or various rich people that – for whatever reason – trust you to take their expensive cars to the mechanic for a tune-up. These missions are flat-out boring, but they provide a lot more cash than the average race and are the only means of collecting the coupons required to buy new clothing, so players are likely to take part in at least a few.