Can this TDU game be crowned the ultimate open-world racer?
A driving and lifestyle experience unlike any other. The brand new Test Drive Unlimited keeps the DNA from the first games, and revamps it for the modern era. You have the freedom to progress however you like, the classic open championship concept returns too. Live your best life. Race, cruise, and hang out with your friends until the sun goes down and even after!
It’s been 13 years since the last Test Drive Unlimited game and 12 years since the last in the full series, which was 2012’s Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends. So I was surprised to see the racing series return after such a long hiatus, but I was always a fan of the old TDU titles and had high hopes that it could give the Forza Horizon series a run for its money…
My hopes were quickly dashed when I first opened the game and was forced to make a Nacon account before I could even play, which took more time than I would have liked. Still, I can’t hold one false start against it entirely, so after this I was approached with a cutscene outlining the whole premise of the game as you selected to compete in the “Solar Crown” tournament, alongside getting to design your racer avatar.
I have to say, it’s not the best character creator out there. Facial features like beards look quite bad and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with a character that didn’t look a bit weird. Your character will pop up during cutscenes, but these are rare and they are always mute, which can be odd when being directly spoken to, but how about the racing itself?
The controls are solid, driving feels natural and smooth. The world itself is full of events that you can compete with players online and offline against AI, all while raising your reputation which nets you more races, cars to buy and upgrades to install. It doesn’t matter how good/bad you are, you’ll always get something from a race, which helps open it up to everyone regardless of skill level.
There are a few technical issues that hold the game back, but hopefully will be polished over time with patches. The visuals themselves aren’t the best, they aren’t terrible…they just lack that polish that you would expect, even the damage to cars doesn’t look great. Hong Kong itself has plenty of neon lights, but feels otherwise empty in terms of atmosphere. The soundtrack is decent though, so it’s not all bad news.
The Verdict
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown feels like a missed opportunity at this point. It has weak visuals, technical issues and just doesn’t have the same level of fun that you would hope from a game like this. The good news is that it handles well and it will no doubt get better with updates, but it’s going to be tough to win back this crowd.