TDU2 wraps massive islands, over fifty cars, integrated multiplayer, and endless exploration into a fun racing package.
I am re-reviewing the game. I installed TDU2, patched it to the latest version and started fresh with a brand new career. Then I proceeded to put over 20 hours into the game before making my final judgments. I also played the game with both a gamepad and a Logitech G27 steering wheel, which I highly recommend over a keyboard. At the very least, use an Xbox 360 controller. The game is almost unplayable with a keyboard.
Frankly, TDU2 has a very poor introduction that does not capture the robust and highly diverse package that is actually in front of the player. The game starts with the player choosing an avatar, the selection being very politically correct (black, white, and asian in both male and female.) All the choices are rather bland and no further customization is possible at the moment. After the avatar is selected, a cheesy cut-scene rolls with a girl giving the player a birthday present, a Ferrari California. The player tests drives the car for awhile before going to more corny cut-scenes (taking the Ferrari away from the player) that finally leads the player to buying a first car and running some license tests.
This whole process is very forced and rather confusing at first. After getting past the first 30 mins, the world opens up and the player can finally see how large this game really is. The main focus of the game is winning tournaments in each car class and gaining licenses for higher classes of cars, but the game offers much more than simply running races. The first thing I noticed was how big the island really is! To get around the entire parameter of the island is over 75 miles, real miles and that's only the first island! Hawaii is even larger at over 125 miles around the outside.
The game does a good job promoting the exploration elements. To race in a tournament, the player must actually drive to the location or the player must have already driven on the road where the race is. If the player has already visited that road, then they can fast travel to the location. This works out really well for the game, making the player explore, but it does not make them have to back-track dozens of miles just to take another license test. It's not to say the player will need much incentive to explore though, the islands are beautiful and have a good level of diversity. There are mountains, lakes, twisty roads, interstates, small towns, cities, and everything in between.
Promoting exploration further are the photo, wrecks, and side mission events. Photography is introduced at a studio about two hours into the game. The missions have a player flip through a photo album and, with the image and a small description, they must figure out where the location is and snap a picture similar to the one depicted. Wrecks are broken down cars that are littered around the islands. Once a player finds a wreck, the player credited with the wreck in their personal file. After all the wrecks are found, a new car is unlocked for the player to drive. Side missions are small events such as take a car to a certain location in a certain amount of time or get the car somewhere undamaged. These award cash and the gold DLC missions show where wreck locations are.
When not exploring the island the player will be participating in licensing and tournament events. The licensing is very painless. No license takes longer than ten to fifteen minutes to complete in full. This is actually TDU2's greatest strength, the pacing. No race is over around eight minutes except the very last races in the game. The tournaments are five to eight races with a cash prize for each race and an overall event prize. The tournaments are restricted to a certain car rank and the races consist of point-to-point, circuit, elimination, speed, and a few others. The race types are diverse enough to not feel repetitive, and you never drive the same course twice, which is quite an achievement. By the end of the game, with over twenty tournaments, the limited event types can start to get tiring but never feel tedious.
On top of the exploration and racing aspect of the game, there is a rather deep leveling and customization portion that can be a good way to break up the constant driving. Buying houses is a necessity as the number of cars the player owns keeps increasing. Each house unlocks more storage space. Every time the player buys clothing, houses, cars, wins races, plays multiplayer events, finds wrecks, etc experience points are gained that unlock more dealerships, upgrades, clothing, and more.
Finally, the multiplayer of the game is slightly different from other racing games. Other players show up on the island while the player is not participating in single player events. You can challenge and place wagers against other players, jump into match making, or join car clubs and race other clubs for money and fame. The game also has an integrated friend system that keeps track of the people you enjoy playing with.
There are still some bad things that need to address such as there being a delay in the acceleration of the car when the light turns green. Some times, although rarely, the car will simply sit on the line for five seconds before it will finally launch after the green light. This is somewhat rare and requires a restart of the race, since all you can see are the distant taillights of your competitors. Although the graphics are nice, they still aren't up to par to newer games such as Shift 2 or NFS: Hot Pursuit. It being a large open world game, it is easy to over look the lowered graphic fidelity. When using the out of car camera, the cars seem to float above the surface and slide around through turns. This looks strange and makes it hard to know how to handle the car if racing from behind. The in-car view feels great with fun and exciting handling. Without the sliding effect of the outside view, the game handles wonderfully and feels like a great cross between a simulation and arcade game. Another complaint is how easy the AI is. In some events I would be twenty seconds ahead of the other racers without any modifications to the car. You should expect to very rarely place less than first place on the first try.
Overall, this game offers A LOT of content. For the racer that is drawn to a grandiose experience with lots of open road, many exotic cars, and huge islands to explore this is a must have game. Racing fans that prefer the traditional single player campaign with set events, simulation physics, and hundreds of cars, you may want to skip this game. Arcade racers should give this one a try as well.
This game is huge, trying to do many things all at once but it never does anything outstandingly well. However, viewed as an entire package, I wouldn't pass it up!