TDU 2 has a lot to offer once you get pass the annoying bits. Full review inside.
The Test Drive Unlimited series is all about collecting real-world classic and exotic cars, building a real estate empire, accumulating a wealth of accessories for your avatar and most importantly, experiencing it all on two massive open-world islands. And just like the first TDU, this game does deliver on this promise despite some annoying issues. Ok, on to the review.
Presentation and Graphics
Whenever a game boots up and asks you to press the "start button," you know it was designed and build for consoles. This leads to some awkward menus and huge ugly UIs, especially if you are running this in high resolutions (I'm running at 2560x1600).
The graphics range from impressive down to pure ugliness. The cars in general are well modeled and look great. The environment varies massively. The cities and towns look dated and lack good texture work. The outskirts such as forests and canyons tend to feel flat. Random street traffic cars are boring and badly textured. But when the lighting is right, some parts of the island do look impressive.
The player characters and NPCs still look like zombies (though much better than TDU1). There are still no NPCs walking around the cities so there's a weird sterile feeling to the world (it was also lacking in TDU1). The lack of NPCs is more likely a design decision to avoid turning this game into Crazy Taxi.
Sound design in this game is down right terrible. The engine noise sounds more like samplers effects pulled off of free CDs. None of the cars sound aggressive or heavy. I'm currently driving a Mustang, but it sounds more like a Honda Civic. NPC voice acting sounds like outsourced work by inexperienced actors.
Gameplay
Buying houses, dressing up your avatar and collecting random "stuff" is still fun. Going to car dealerships to view exotic cars never gets old. Driving around randomly on these two massive islands remains relaxing and enjoyable.
But then, there is the car handling. My biggest complaint of this game is the way the cars behave. The controls feel very awkward. I tried using my G25 wheel as well as a XBOX gamepad, but neither helped. The cars almost feel like they lack physics. If you press left, the car would shift to the left slightly and then auto correct itself to face the front again. In games such as Dirt 2, you can use the car's momentum to round out a corner. In TDU 2, there is no momentum. Everything is based on button pressing. As a result, the cars lack weight and driving is not very rewarding. I know TDU 2 is not trying to be like GTR2 or Dirt, but the driving model still needs to remain fun. Currently, car handling appears to be the biggest complaint on the forums.
That being said, racing and driving is still satisfying. Once you get used to the awkward controls, the game does open up and become addicting. TDU 2 also added in some small game enhancement. I really like the Burnout Paradise inspired point system. By driving dangerously or doing cool tricks, you can collect money. This elevates the cruising portion of the game to a higher level. So now you can make money simply by driving around.
Getting licenses (a new feature) would be ok if not for the terrible controls. It took me several tries just to do the simplest maneuvers – this coming from someone who obtained all the licenses in GTR2 and Gran Turismo. Passing the tests became more of a button timing mechanism than using real-world maneuvers. It strangely reminded me of the punishing Super Ghost and Goblins on the first Nintendo – play, fail, play, fail, rage quit, play, fail, play.
Performance
On my system this game ran well and smooth on maxed setting. With vsync on, the fps always remained at 60. At times, when entering a crowded town, the fps does drop a bit down to the 50s. Thus, you will need a powerful system to fully enjoy this game. I have a 3-way SLI 480 setup and strangely, the game ran just as well on a single 480 GTX. I've read that this game does not take full advantage of SLI or Crossfire systems.
I've also ran this game on triple screens at 5760x1200 with Nvidia 2d surround. The menus are horribly stretched but everything else seems to look ok.
Overall
If you enjoyed the first TDU, then you will most likely enjoy this game. But if you are expecting a pure racing game with solid handling, then you will get frustrated. Drop your expectations and playing TDU 2 more like an experience. This game has a lot of cool things to offer if you give it a chance.