What's that smell? Another stale bargain bin racer? No. That's Test Drive: Eve of Destruction and it smells awesome.
Why am I reviewing a game released 6 years ago for an obsolete system? Because this game begs for an update. Maybe it's just me begging but I'm going to forget that fact for a moment. This is an amazing, unique game that deserved a better score by GameSpot back in '04. In a sea of street racers and shiny simulators comes Eve of Destruction. It was a perfect change of pace at the time.
You're down and out. Fact. You're living in a trailer with your me-maw. What's a me-maw? Forget that. Fact. All you have are your chickens and me-maw's car. You've got to do something to save yourself. You look at the chickens. You look at the car. A very good game starts here. You take your Ford Festiva (except the cars aren't licensed) down to the fair under the big lights and you make a name for yourself. Or at least you'd better or me-maw is gonna get pissed.
You've got a small diner you can take local challenges from, there are time trials at the track, a junk yard to rummage around in and the fair to change your luck. And there are a ton of different races - most of them extremely unique. As unique as the atmosphere we haven't seen since this game.
Take a weekend. Rent or buy this game and find you a copy of Carpocalypse seasons 1 and 2. If you don't get the game after that you just may never, sadly. With Empire gone (no more FlatOut series - which really didn't replace TD:EOD anyway) there's not a racer left that fills this niche. Sure there's DiRT but it's not this. This is a simple all-American formula that can do well time and time again. Go back and play this game again, trust me. Maybe then there will be two of us clamoring for a sequel.