Test Drive Unlimited 2 Review

I had referred to a global level earlier in this review; the global level is a new concept which consists of four levels social (community challenge), discovery (Photographic assignments), competition (Defeating other racers) and collection (purchasing new houses). Since each of them have a very important role to play on you global level, they have to be constantly updated as they also decide your overall rank and hence the items, locations and vehicles accessible. At times it’s almost like the game pushes you to go get into a race with another driver or go exploring.

The game has a huge map and consists of two islands Ibiza and Oahu, both of which are very beautiful and kept me engaged for a while when I got bored of races. There is a lot to explore and the changing environment in itself is reason enough for wanting to spend a majority of your time in the open-world. The details of both the vehicles and landscapes are phenomenal, although the cut scenes could have been better.

The races did lack difficulty but not variety and the inappropriate controls as well as the really confusing road layout do make it hard to race with ease. The multiplayer is very interesting and allows you to challenge almost anyone in the open world scenario; you can also create clubs or join them and have a race between two clubs. There is ‘follow the leader’ (which is basically what the name says, follow the one in the front of the pack). I wouldn’t say that the online multiplayer was able to do complete justice to the game and the lag really got to me at times. But when it did work the way it should, the experience did bring the fun and the challenge one would expect.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 does fall short of expectations at many points but overall Atari and Eden Games have done a great job in fixing many of the shortcomings of the previous title. I do hope that the developers manage to back up this wonderful title with better DLC’s and more classy vehicles.