Could have been the best racing game ever made. If only they made a version for the PS3 and added a few more modes.
Okay, first off, I will moan about some of the things I dislike about the game.I bought the PS2 version BEFORE I knew that you had to spend around £20 on a network adaptor as well to get the best out of the game and BEFORE I knew that you could not play with someone in the same building as you unless there are two PS2s, two network adaptors and two copies of Test Drive Unlimited. I also bought it BEFORE I knew it would not be able to play on the PS3. How frustrating. So I can't play multiplayer and I can't play on the Internet. Above of all that there are only two modes - the main one without a proper name and Quick Race. In Quick Race, the track is selected for you and you have a random selection of all the cars to choose from - all the cars are available without you having to win them in the Main Mode. That is ridiculous, and gives the sense that this is a pointless game.
However, I still love it. The Main Mode is the whole game and it is to die for. You have about 1000 miles of road to race in amazing cars such as Koenigseggs, McClarens, Lamborghinis, Paginis and even Spykers. Of course, before you can acquire any of these cars, you have to earn money by racing. The race types include circuits, speedtraps (like in NFS Carbon) and series races. Seriously, this is enough for me. You can also roam around freely and also buy upgrades and houses (which have repeated designs placed in different places, so I'm not that bothered about them - you can only see the garage and living room anyway). There are also cops that chase you but they are easy and don't really have much of an impact of the game. Even though you can do all this, there is a pointless feel - what are we actually racing for? There isn't even a story line. This doesn't matter, though, what matters is racing on the beautiful unlimited roads of Hawaii in a supercar for miles and miles.
This is probably my favourite racing game in terms of gameplay - it is better than Need For Speed, Toca and Rush. Graphics is not as great as you would expect. The cars are presented almost perfectly, but there are issues with other things. There are a lot of lapses, like a massive black dot appearing on the screen when you crash in a certain corner. The scenery in the foreground as well as cars take time to appear, as if they are in a PlayStation One game. Vey rarely, you can go through road objects such as the lamposts as well. The inside of the buildings you enter (apart from the showrooms) have very jagged outer 3D lining and the character you play with does not even look near real. As for the sound, the music is not great and but the cars sound good. It is very good value for money, but there should be normal Multiplayer Mode and atleast a few differently styled challenges.
I know the Xbox 360 version has a lot more than this one, such as more cars, more houses, interchangeable clothes and motorbikes, but I am quite happy with the PS2 version anyway. I have not yet played on the Internet with other races, but I look foreward to doing so.
Thaks for reading, Jem.