The best feature is the 'get out' option; use it.
Graphics: 4
Sounds: 2
Value: 3
Tilt: 3
The Test Drive series has certainly come a long way since the early days of the original Test Drive back in 1987 where you get to race the hottest cars for that time. It was positively an exciting game and brought me good (yet frustrating) memories. Actually my first 'Test Drive' experience was Test Drive II as I'm a lover for Porsches and considering my friend loves Ferraris it was a good game to play (I thought the Ferrari was slightly the better car but that's another story). Also when it comes to racing games, my preference is off-road over tarmac therefore I couldn't resist playing Test Drive: Off-Road 2 as I didn't have a copy of Off-Road 1 and besides I have a habit of playing the sequels first.
The concept behind Test Drive: Off-Road 2 is to win races; and to win races you need to earn cash to buy cars; and how to earn cash is to win races. As you can see, it's a compelling argument as the premises ends where it starts. You start of with 24k and considering all 20 plus vehicles are open to buy (yes there is absolutely no unlocking feature here) naturally you can only purchase to what cash you have. In addition there's no stats on how each vehicle performs (e.g. handling, speed, acceleration etc) therefore you can assume that the more expensive the vehicle, the better. This was a disappointing feature as previous Test Drive games display all the cars in detail therefore can sway your purchasing decision.
As with many racing games, there is an option to play Time Trial, World Tour or multiplayer. Majority of your time is located in the World Tour option, earning the big bucks and having the opportunity to unlock more tracks as initially six are open. Now here comes the 'exciting' part and possible spoilers for which I will spoil for you regardless; there are actually six additonal tracks (making a grand total of twelve) and four of the newly discovered six tracks are the same tracks in reverse so did I spoil this for you? If so then good and you owe me big time. If you do choose the multiplayer option be prepared for the game to crash as it really struggles to understand the term 'multiplayer'.
The controls are stock standard as far as an arcade racer goes as you have the choice between keyboard or joystick controls yet regardless what you choose there is no options to optimise the controls and to add salt to the wounds, the display is locked at whatever resolution; that said you'll be racing at a cool 13 FPS with plenty of screen shacking as your beast of burden looses control more times than the amount of sand located in the Sahara desert (I'm not sure what the last count was but I can imagine it's a very high number indeed). Yet with all this havoc driving if you manage to grab that glorified first position (and unlock those reverse tracks) there is no replay option therefore you need to bask in your own glory; but of course you can install another program to record your victory but sorry to burst your bubble I really don't want to see it – it will cause me a headache again but I trust you regardless.
Visually Off-road 2 is a pixilated mess as it doesn't help being a ported Play Station console and probably explains the very limited optimisation. The vehicles come across as something from the early 90s as they have very little features. The wheels don't turn that often (as a matter-of-fact your car spins more often than the wheels), no real smoke affects coupled with 'cartooned-like' landscapes will guarantee burnt eyes. If anything good arrives from this is the choice of colours; all things vibrant as the water is blue, the sand yellow, the snow bright white and so forth. As mentioned before, very cartoon-like for something that tries to represents a life-like off-road experience. Considering the wide variety of landscapes (e.g. snowy Switzerland, rocky Morocco, sandy Mojave and so forth) I guess viewing the different landscapes does add a little excitement.
When viewing the all exhilarating intro cut-scene where the off-roaders smashing their way through trees and splashing through the riverbanks it was advertised some top-notch rock bands play as the musical scores in this game (e.g. Fear Factory). Well, this is a little of a misdemeanor as there are only four scores in the entire game with no options to add your own. In addition, the off-road vehicles all sounded like different variances of Victor lawnmowers and that idiotic speech of 'punk', 'oh no' and so forth makes you want to switch off the sounds altogether (this time there is an option for that – surprise, surprise). The only sounds I quite like is the squeal and strains from the axel as all the vehicles bounces around like a jack-rabbit on heat and swerve around like scurried ants.
There is very little of replay value when playing this game. Considering all off-road vehicles can be driven manual or auto my advice is to play on auto as you really cannot hear the engines when revving up hence that 'you did not finish' remark will arrive quite often. Of course you can try and achieve that 'top ten' list of drivers but who really cares – maybe your ego perhaps but that's about it. Multiplayer/LAN – nah as it will crash the program and besides you need another 'human' partner and please don't look at me; I'm glad I finished it and lastly as far as the manual goes, it resembles like someone from the sixth grade written it as a school project.
It's a total shame that the 'Test Drive' name is tagged all over this product as it now placed a sour taste in my mouth. Once it brought me good memories and now shivers. I guess the Test Drive logo wasn't meant to be for off-road racing and really the developers should either stick to what they done best or don't release incomplete products. I guess the only best feature for this game is when you press the 'exit' button there is a choice between 'get out' or 'stay'. Guess what I have chosen…