Test Drive Unlimited (PSP) - Review

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High: Racing is a blast, always plenty to do on the island.

Low: Handling and over all car performance could have been better but still a great racer over all for a handheld game.



If you are expecting NFS Carbon type game play then skip Test Drive Unlimited on any platform, if you want a true classic racer brought to life in a modern format then TDU might be for you. TDU sets you up in an open world, this world is set in beautiful Hawaii, you start out with some money buy a house and a car, you race your car to earn money.

Now lets not forget that the Xbox 360 version was released late last year and that the PS 2 version was recently released so some might think that the PSP version of the game would be striped down, but the developers squeezed in all the offline modes and races found in the recently released PS2 version of the game, but they also got the online mode working, and working well. It is not only a technical marvel but one that is not dragged down by lousy loading times or a clunky interface. It may not be the very best version available, it might just be the most technically impressive of the lot.

As said before you start out in Hawaii with a brief tutorial, after which you are given the island to explore with a series of races. The races are all pretty classic with timed challenges, speed courses, and races requiring both a fast time and clean driving. So the goal is to go from race to race and win them so as to earn money. With that money you buy new cars and houses to keep the cars in, these new cars enable you to take on new challenges. The games focus is on driving so upgrading and car customization is very limited. Simply cruising around the island exploring and entering a race here or there is relaxing and enjoyable on the PSP, the consoles it was more fun to play multiplayer races.

The cars in the game are modeled very nicely, looking like pristine, out-of-the-factory renditions of their real-life counterparts. There's no damage modeling to any of the licensed vehicles, nor can you damage any of the random AI traffic. Collisions look strange, as the physics of you smashing into another car at 150 miles per hour just don't look right. It's also bizarre when you go head-on into a lamppost or fence or something equally unassuming, and get stopped on a dime by it. There's also no car-customization element to speak of. There are some basic performance upgrades you can buy that sometimes do involve some visual upgrades, but there's no way to trick out your ride to make it look like your ride beyond basic paint jobs you can grab at the time you purchase a car. It's just strange that a racing game involving such a community-driven design would go to the trouble of letting you play dress-up with your character that is barely visible outside of cutscenes, but wouldn't let you give your various cars more unique identities.

The game has good car sound effects but a fairly forgettable soundtrack consisting largely of songs from relatively unkown bands. There are a few notable tracks by artists like Queens of the Stone Age, Metric, and the James Gang, but only a small portion of the overall soundtrack really stands out. Though in my opinion this is not a large lose since I tent o have my radio or some other sound on when playing racing games.

While Test Drive Unlimited blurs the line between single-player and multiplayer racing better than anything that's ever tried it before, it's not quite a slam dunk. The PSP version can't be immediately dismissed if you've played the 360 version, since it's different enough to not quite be the same game all over again, and being able to race around Hawaii against your online buddies while you're on the go is really something else.

If you are all about driving and street racing, then any version of TDU is a welcome addition to your collection. The PSP version stands well enough on its own that it is well worth adding to your PSP collection, with its open ended play and seamless integration of single and multiplayer it is one of the better racers out there. If you want a pimped out ride with unrealistic controls then look elsewhere. On the fence? Go rent it its worth the rental fee trust us!


Reviewed By:EG Admin Reviewed On: Tue, 12 June 2007 19:02:11 -05:00

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