IGN
Test Drive Unlimited Hands-on
He's going the distance. He's going for speed.
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To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts., IGN AU
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Australia, January 11, 2007 - The Test Drive series has banked and rolled over more ups and downs than a mountainside race course over the years. Most recently, the series peaked with
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. - an epic, sprawling and open-ended racer that crammed the entire Hawaiian island of Oahu, mapped to within one metre of the actual geography.
However, under the hood lay the structure of a very cool and innovative massively-multiplayer racer, too, combining the depth of a semi-serious racer containing tuning and upgrades, with the social and competitive joys of an online RPG. The amazing detail of the massive driving area was handled ably on the Xbox 360 hardware. However, there were definitely teething problems with the online matchmaking and friend-finding, and after unlocking the wickedly fast motorcycles, it was easy to exploit the unbalanced vehicle line-up to kick all sorts of ass online.
How does the PSP version stack up? That's the burning question of the moment. Is it even possible to create an adequate adaptation of such a mammoth title on a handheld? And is the online infrastructure at all similar? Let's dive in and find out.
God knows how they've done it, but they've done it. Melbourne House, that sage studio of Australian game development, has crammed just about all of the features of the Xbox 360 version onto Sony's handheld. What's more, while the graphics engine lacks the sophistication of the full-sized version, it still captures the lush palm forests, beach fronts and rolling hills of Oahu. The roads, all 1000-plus kilometres of them, are populated by plenty of traffic and the draw distance is mind-boggling. Truly, this is a faithful representation of the Unlimited world. Insane.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Sunset in the northern towns bathes the world in pink hues.
Starting out in Unlimited parallels most other racing games; however, the personalisation and depth places it in the same leagues as a fully-fledged racing RPG. You start out with a small amount of money - enough to buy your first set of wheels and a roof over your head. From your base of operations, you can start to dip your toes into the complexity and scale of the game - something that might be daunting for the uninitiated.
Thankfully, the voice-guided GPS navigation system returns, giving you clear and accurate directions while travelling from place to place. Likewise, the scaling map of Oahu is also included again - complete with the very swish zoom-out effect of the 360 version intact. It seems to us that Melbourne House has thrown just about as much as it could into the PSP edition - from presentation to the depth of the game's challenges structure.
The game is structured in such a way that the more you explore the island, the more challenges you uncover. As you complete them, more become available and the greater the amount of money you earn for placing in each race. Unlike the Xbox 360 version, there doesn't appear to be an option to create a custom course through the island, or issue unique (and sometimes nearly impossible) challenges for other players to compete against. Of course, with 240 challenges, you might well ignore such an omission. Earning money nets new cars, houses and custom parts, adding incentive to keep tackling each course until you achieve perfection.
Another notable exclusion from the experience are the motorcycle dealerships. It's arguable that this is an improvement over the unbalanced and almost rampant abuse of the crotch-rockets on the 360 version. They also had the handling model of a jet-powered brick. However, with well over a hundred high-performance cars to unlock, clubs to join and ways to customise your ride, we think there might be enough meat still on the bone to call things square. Heck, this is a PSP title after all.
Instead of the robust MMO-style multiplayer component that sat at the core of the 360 version, the PSP iteration offers ad-hoc multiplayer, as well as an infrastructure mode. According to the developer, the online component is still an intrinsic and valued component of the gameplay. To that end, the infrastructure mode will allow players to instantaneously view any other players in the area - much like the 360 version did. The ad-hoc mode is designed for living-room or school bus multiplayer sessions, and promises to be serious fun.
Quick race mode, found on the main menu, puts you into a straight-up street race in one of a huge number of tracks. Since the game has more than a thousand kilometres of road, there's very rarely any overlap, and the opportunity for breathtaking views along scenic coastlines is frequent. This entire mode is much-appreciated, considering the PSP's pick-up-and-play nature.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. The PSP's graphics do a decent job of replicating Oahu
Melbourne House has wisely included a joystick fine-tuning menu. From here you can tweak the sensitivity of the steering mechanic as well as the all-important 'dead-zone' in the stick. This has radically improved the performance of the PSP's often frustrating analogue stick - and this only improves the entire racing experience.
There are still a few things we'd love to see cleaned up before the game releases several months from now. Graphically, there is a lot going on, with a spectacular draw distance. It's no surprise then that during a race the framerate can drop noticeably when more than a handful of cars zoom into view. On one hand, this might drive you to stay in first place for the entire race; on the other, it's a little jittery and in need of some fine-tuning of its own. There are also a few strange glitches during races, such as 'vibrating' cars that shimmy along the tracks, almost as if simulating a laggy online experience.
We managed to get stuck inside a few fence posts, too - raising questions of impact detection. Of course, a quick-reset with the select button instantly makes this a moot point. However, an overall clean-up is certainly expected before release.
At this stage, we're surprised and humbled by the fine job Melbourne House has done in bringing a complex game to a handheld without removing the spine or soul of the experience. We can't wait to take this puppy online and find out if the experience measures up to - or even improves upon - the 360 version. This is shaping up to be the PSP's single largest and most complex racer to date, and might just be one of the most impressive ports of the year.
What do you think of the Test Drive series? We're keen to find out your thoughts
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