Developers seem keen on using the PS2's hardy hardware set to render bigger, more interactive environments than ever before. The recent barrage of takes on the off-road racing game serve as evidence of this--ATV Offroad Fury and Smuggler's Run being recent examples. Seeing a good chance to get in on the lucrative subgenre, Infogrames is hard at work promoting Test Drive: Wide Open--Angel Studios' (of Smuggler's Run fame) most recent PS2 development.

Though anyone familiar with the previous Test Drive Offroad titles will know just what to expect, they'll also be somewhat pleasantly surprised with what Angel has done with this current installment. The game's play mechanics are entirely Angel's own--they seem to focus on a dirty kind of racing, with an emphasis on powerslides, high jumps, and lots of friendly bumping. The Test Drive branding only seems to strengthen what Angel Studios appears to be in the process of building: a distinct, tangible gameplay "feel" in off-road racing.

In particular, the association with the Test Drive series has allowed Angel to tinker with a host of licensed vehicles: Various versions of AM General's Hummer, Ford's Bronco and F150, Dodge's RAM, and Jeep's Wrangler are available for play, along with many, many more. Hidden somewhere in the game will be a variety of special vehicles: Dodge's 6X6 T-Rex, a genuine monster truck, and an actual military-style Humvee will be buried within the game, awaiting unlocking by persistent players.

In the game's current state, most of the vehicles handled rather well, though there were some that Infogrames admitted were in need of tuning--our experiences with some of the less standard vehicles confirmed this. Some vehicles seemed to be showcased by the current build, however, and these behaved nicely. Both of Ford's cars--the F150 and the '79 Bronco--can be counted among the stronger vehicles, and the physics on each of these trucks were surprisingly realistic.

The game's control scheme seems to be tight in all areas, we're happy to report, and its setup should prove familiar to anyone acquainted with modern racing games. Aside from featuring the standard functions--acceleration, hand and foot braking, and gear shifting--Test Drive: Wide Open lets you control your vehicle's pitch in-air, as per the direction the genre's recently taken. Because you're likely to spend lots of time in the air throughout most of the courses, the ability to plan for a safe, permissive landing seems of paramount import. The scheme set up by Angel for this purpose will seem familiar to anyone who's played Smuggler's Run or Offroad Fury. By using the L1 button in tandem with the left analog stick, you can manipulate your vehicle's positioning in-air, so as to help it land effectively and minimize recovery time. This adds a level of depth to the gameplay: You will expect high jumps, and you'll factor them into most races. Also, many of the game's numerous shortcuts will involve driving off a cliff or placing yourself in another high-air situation. More simply, though, indulging in the game's high-air aspect is lots of fun--this sort of thing is what off-road types must certainly fantasize about. You'll really need no further form of coercion.

The game's races take place in three distinct locales: Moab, Utah; Yosemite, California; and the Big Island of Hawaii. Three types of races will be possible in each: standard linear circuit races, spastic blitz races, and unordered checkpoint races. The circuit races are your standard races--sets of checkpoints are arranged linearly, with a focus on out-speeding your opponents in a traditional racing manner. The blitz races stir things up a bit; the checkpoints in this mode are somewhat scattered, with the next only becoming apparent after you've reached the previous. Finally, the unordered races let you plot your own path through an entire map, with checkpoints scattered throughout and the winner being the one who reaches them all first. Regardless of race type, the game's environment will be replete with all manner of shortcuts and sometimes-scripted environmental hazards. In Hawaii, for example, volcanoes will erupt, dumping lava on unsuspecting racers. In a particularly scorched stretch of Yosemite, on the other hand, conflagrations will dot the area, while aircraft randomly drop kilos of flame-retardant materials on the track. All in all, TDO: Wide Open's environments are a far cry from the impressively expansive yet ultimately static environments of Smuggler's Run. It's tempting to say that they may well represent the next logical step for the subgenre.

In general, our impression of TDO: Wide Open is favorable. While the game is in need of some overall graphical polish, the foundation as a whole seems to be in place and is largely impressive. Even in terms of frame rate--where most pre-alpha builds tend to show their weakness--TDO: Wide Open seems surprisingly solid. This is partly due to the relatively modest visual production, but if it means improved in-game performance, it's an easy blow to take. Textures seem a bit simple, and Infogrames admitted that some of the particle effects are still in the tuning phase, but we have faith that the game's remaining development time will allow Angel Studios to polish it into a very satisfying product. Needless to say, we'll stay on top of it. Test Drive Offroad: Wide Open is slated for release this summer.