Looking through the bargain bin at a Gamestop, I came across a racing game that looked pretty decent. And looking it up online and seeing it got good reviews I decided to try it.

Test Drive Unlimited. The first version I got was for my PSP, and I was amazed! You can drive literally miles and miles in this open world of a Hawaii island. There are a ton of cars to choose from, and it's sort of nice not to have some sort of "underground racing / avenging so-and-so / undercover cop but breaking the law" storyline for a change. You're simply a guy who flies to Hawaii, rents a car for a bit, buys a house, and starts racing. The handling on the cars is much better than most racing games I've played, and I was so impressed, I did some research and discovered that they made it for the PC as well... Being a PC gamer, I promptly bought it.


Wow...


The game came out in 2006, but the graphics are really quite stunning. Sadly you cannot really get out of your cars, but that really doesn't matter much... this game is about racing.

Each car has it's own interior and it's actually fun to drive using the inside view, because it is very realistic feeling. The car sounds are very realistic in that the interior sounds of the engine are a bit muffled as they are in real life, and it's fun to control the windows

Races are varied enough to give the game replay value. There are multiple scenarios to play, such as driving a model somewhere without hitting anything and doing so in a time limit. If you do it perfectly (without hitting anything) you get bonus money/clothes. Yes you can customize your character by purchasing clothes. Clothes can be bought using coupons given when you drive a model or take a hitchhiker to his destination.

Another interesting race mode involves taking a rich guy's car and driving it an average of 10 miles. There is no time limit, but the journey takes so long, you can't help but speed. and also, the rich guy's cars are usually the very expensive high end ones with a lot of horsepower, which makes it hard not to go whizzing by at 200mph. Smash the car, though, and you fail or get less money when you complete it.

There are houses for sale, which are all very nice. Collecting cars and completing challenges award you with achievements, which is a nice motivator.

One of the cooler things is that this game, if you sign up online for a gamespy account, is a giant multiplayer arena as well. You will be online doing your solo driving missions, and just randomly see someone else on your screen drive by and honk at you. Another player. There aren't usually a ton of people, but I've always seen people on. Granted, they've had the game longer and have all the good cars by now, but it's nice to see a game 3 years old still have some sort of fan base.

That's about it. There's no story to comment on, which is fine for all the other goodies they offer. I say check it out. I think I got it for $9.99 at gamespot but they're on clearance so check it out if they're not gone already. It's definitely worth more than they are charging for it!

The PSP version, by the way, is a good investment as well if you need a good racing game for your portable. Otherwise, get the PC version for better eyecandy, though the games other than the graphics are nearly identical in gameplay. Sometimes you get a console version and it's totally different. I was suprised how much they could fit into the PSP version!