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Platform: Xbox Genre: Racing Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Pitbull Syndicate ESRB: T (Teen) Released: Q2 2002 Support AE! Buy Games Here:
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Test Drive
Score: 8.1 / 10 |
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Pros: -
Get to drive 1960s-70s muscle cars you were too young to drive when they
first roamed the streets -
Takes advantage of Xbox soundtrack feature if you, like me, don't care
much for Ja Rule tunes -
When the speed gauge reads you're flying at 200 mph, it actually feels
that way - Tight and responsive driving control scheme
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Cons: -
CPU AI needs improvement -
Never feel like you're driving with the power packed under the hood of
muscle cars because of sub-par engine sounds - Soundtrack during races becomes too repetitive and no option to select which song you want to drive to
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Related Links: Review: Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open (XBox) Review: Test Drive (Playstation 2)
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"Weak CPU AI through most of the game is what really holds Test Drive back from being a Ferrari amongst Xbox racing games."
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Okay,
you can’t play (or won’t be able to anytime soon, thanks to the
PlayStation exclusivity deal) Grand Theft Auto III on an Xbox. But with
Project Gotham Racing (PGR), RalliSport Challenge (RSC), and Wreckless:
The Yakuza Missions, the Xbox has some really top-notch games for fans
of the genre to get revved up about. Add one more to that collection of
solid Xbox drivers with the latest to motor onto the Microsoft system,
Test Drive (TD). Now, the Test Drive arcade racing series has been
hanging around the console market for quite a while, with the latest
release being Test Drive 6 on the PlayStation two years ago. After the
ill-advised attempt to take the series off-road last year (Test
Drive Off-Road Wide Open) on first the PS2 and then the Xbox,
TD restarts the series’ odometer at 0 and turns a new corner by
successfully returning to its arcade street racing roots.
The
earlier Test Drive games focused on arcade-style racing instead of the
simulation-based driving made famous and perfected by the Gran Turismo
series on the PlayStation and PS2. Which meant not worrying about if
your tires would provide the proper grip and braking needed for a
particular race and instead concentrating on illegal high-speed racing
through city locales, avoiding the police and the heavy traffic patterns
trying to slow you down. This is where TD returns again, with some minor
wrinkles to the same basic arcade racing as in previous Test Drive
incarnations.
There’s
a good selection of sweet-looking and fast-moving automobiles in
Oh yeah, you can unlock and ride some of Detroit’s finest power cars of years gone by including a customized Camaro, GTO, and Chevelle in addition to some older and newer Corvettes, Mustangs, and Vipers. Also available are some exotic cars ranging from the Shelby Cobra to the Jaguar XJ220 and XKR. The cars and the levels of San Francisco, Tokyo, London, and Monte Carlo that you race through are accurately detailed, much better than what appears in TD’s PS2 version. Even though graphically TD isn’t as polished as PGR, the game takes advantage of the rendering abilities of the Xbox, with the cars having that metallic shininess and closer attention to minute detail.
The
levels you traverse in the dream machine of your choice are of a
satisfactory length, although London is much shorter than the other
three. Rain, nighttime racing, and fog effects all add a pinch of
realism to TD’s arcade racing action. A missing touch is any type of
damage inflicted on your ride. You can smash the hell out of your TD
power vehicle and nary a scratch will turn up. This is in direct
contrast to PGR, where damage appears in the form of twisted fenders,
crushed side mirrors, and a malformed chassis depending on how much
crashing you do. Considering that ramming into your opponents and
interfering police vehicles is part of TD’s charm, it would have been
nice to have some type of vehicle damage gauge factor into the gameplay.
One
of TD’s best features is the tight and responsive driving controls,
set up identically to PGR’s with the left analog stick handling the
steering and the two triggers serving as the brakes and accelerator. The
controls handle much better than PGR however, because in TD all you
worry about is driving instead of PGR’s kudos scoring system, which
relies on a lot of sliding through turns. In TD, you will be comfortable
with its control schematics after only a race or two. Another
improvement over the PS2 version is the quicker load times between
races. To alleviate the waiting period, there’s a mini game of the
classic game Pong to entertain you. But since most Xbox load times will
only be approximately 5-10 seconds at most, don’t count on getting
hooked on Pong anytime soon.
A
big plus with TD is the many different modes, both single-player and
multiplayer. The main component of the game is the underground story
mode. You take the persona of Dennis Black, hotshot street racer hired
to take the place of Donald Clark, the mysterious recovering-from-injury
driver in the illegal worldwide underground racing circuit. The
underground mode story is actually better than you may expect, keeping
you coming back for more fun racing action. Each of the almost 50 races
that make up the underground story mode get you closer and closer to
Clark’s true motive for hiring you. There’s also a circuit race,
linear race, multiplayer, and once you unlock them, a drag race and cop
chase mode. You can’t win actual pink slips from your adversary, but
the drag race mode brings some bragging rights gaming to your Xbox and
comes in handy for quick home dispute settling. (Tired of arguing
who’s turn it is to do the dishes? Pop in Test Drive and drag it out,
the loser in store for a Palmolive hand soaking.) Another Test Drive
tradition is the cop chase mode, where you take on the role of one of
the police car drivers that try to stop you in the underground mode.
Your objective is to track down and pull over six illegal Test Drivers
before they reach the finish line.
Music
featured in the game comes from some big-name artists, including Moby,
Ja Rule, and DMX. Unfortunately for me, that strays from most of my
musical tastes, and compounding this is the fact that only one song
plays for each of the levels, continually looping until you complete
that particular level. Even worse, you have no control over which song
plays during your driving. But all is not lost for gamers like me who
aren’t fans of many of TD’s musical acts. More and more games are
taking advantage of the Xbox soundtrack feature, where you can rip your
own favorite tunes to play during your gaming time. Fortunately for me,
TD is one of these titles. But if you can get down and funky with Ja
Rule, Moby, or DMX, Test Drive has a varied selection of tunage for your
listening pleasure. One little disappointment was the sound effects of
the car’s engines. Most of them are inadequately low-key, not what you
would expect to hear from vehicles motoring upwards of 200 miles per
hour. By the way, especially when zooming at close to 200 in Tokyo, you
really can get the exhilarating feeling of furious fast speed thanks to
TD’s high frame-rate.
The
audio effects heard when you pass other vehicles, especially in tunnels
or enclosed roadways, were a pleasant surprise. One audio element that
can become particularly grating is the phrases thrown your way in the
underground mode by your opponents when either they pass you or you pass
them on the way to the finish line. They become highly repetitious,
especially if you continually jockey between positions during the race.
In one unbearable Tokyo race, within a minute time span, the underground
opponent that kept on overtaking me, let loose with the same exact
comment at least 10 (TEN!) times. It almost made me want to ditch the
goal of finishing first and ram full-force into his car just to shut him
up. But otherwise, the dialogue of the underground mode, while a little
stereotypical to each character’s persona and slightly over-the-top,
moves along TD’s single-player gameplay at an intentionally
black-humorous and amusing pace.
Two
factors really detract from all the good stuff under Test Drive’s
hood. First off is the game’s artificial intelligence of the competing
racers, primarily in the underground mode. You can have all the
competing cars in front of you, especially after you crash. But if you
look closely, even if you take 30 seconds to get your bearings right
again, the game’s AI will actually slow the other racer’s cars down
to a crawl until you can get within range of them again. I can guess
that the developers did this to make sure you never completely fall out
of a race, but it can be almost downright ridiculous. These are supposed
to be cutthroat racing opponents but instead they act like sympathetic
buddies. (You can almost imagine them saying to each other "Hey
everybody, let’s wait for up for Dennis!”) I’d
rather have a better and faster car at my disposal and improve my
driving skills to compensate for the inevitable crash or mishap suffered
while learning how to race a particular track than have the AI take pity
on me for my driving misfortunes.
It
would have also elongated the somewhat short underground mode by
requiring more dedication to becoming a better driver instead of having
the AI’s help. And finally, I was severely disappointed in the
multiplayer mode of the game. While PGR allows for four player races, TD
supports only two competitors. With the excellent frame-rate and anti-aliasing
that saturates the Xbox version of TD, it is inexcusable not having the
opportunity to race against more than one human competitor. The single
multiplayer mode that doesn’t suffer because of this is the drag race,
which can only support two players anyway.
Weak
CPU AI through most of the game is what really holds Test Drive back
from being a Ferrari amongst Xbox racing games. Also Test Drive’s
underground story mode is a little on the short side, but it’s a gas
while it lasts. The novel cop chase mode is another nice touch and any
fan of the movie “The Fast And The Furious” will get some decent
replay value out of the drag race mode. Even though it isn’t on the
same overall quality level as either PGR or RSC, TD is another good
addition now parked in the Xbox driving game garage. Xbox owners looking
for more of a smash-‘em-up arcade racer that satisfies the need for
speed and destruction compared to the truer simulation-type racers that
PGR and RSC tend to be, should steer Test Drive’s way.
-
Lee Cieniawa (July 10, 2002)
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