TEST DRIVE

Rating:
Summary: hot wheels on speed.
Review: Let me start by saying that I did not finish this game. After 38 races in the underground mode, I felt I had seen everything this game had to offer.
What it offers is average graphics, atrocious physics and boring music. I was a little tired to listen to POD for fifty times in two hours. You can have as much fun listening to an hard rock radio, playing with your kid's Hotwheels cars (well, almost).
The driving mode is very "arcadey". Your opponents are always not very far. They are right behind you, AI cheating, or, if you had a mishap, waiting for you around the next bend so you can catch up to them.
This game is perfect to have some good mindless fun for a few hours but you will not find here a replacement for Need for Speed or Midnight Club.


Rating:
Summary: If you just wanna race, this is your game
Review: This game is an incredible piece of work from Atari. I played it on my bro-in-law's PS2, and was blown away. So many things about this game are awesome, it's hard to tell you all of them.

You assume the role of a street car racer needing some dough. A mysterious man in a wheelchair (I forgot his name) offers you a job racing cars for him. He explains how he's part of a racing group that calls their races "Test Drives" to throw off the cops. He tells you he got injured in the last race and won't be able to race again for some time. He tells you he wants you to race for him. You race in 4 different locations: San Francisco, Tokyo, London, and Monte Carlo, with several Test Drives in each city. The Test Drives themselves vary; sometimes they'll be standard Test Drives against many people, sometimes they'll be Test Drives against just one other person, sometimes they're drag races where you eliminate people as you move on. You get different cars when you win Test Drives. Sometimes your employer will buy new ones; sometimes you'll win cars from people. Eventually, you'll race against Vasily, the top dog in the Test Drives, for his customized Viper in all 4 locations. These races are four of the eight hardest races in the game, with the final four being against your employer after you race Vasily and win. All in all, this games is all about racing in the streets for cars, cash, and respect.

Sound: 4/5 The music in the game is catchy and you'll often times find yourselves singing along with the songs. The car sounds are fairly realistic (it's always fun to hear a car's engine at full power while stopped). The voices in the videophones give each driver uniqueness. Very well done acting.

Graphics: 4/5 The customizable color cars add a new realm of depth to the game. If you get metallic colors, during the replays, you can see your car change colors as it races in the sun. Very cool. The backgrounds are spectacular. Pedestrians don't look quite real, but hey, the game's about cars, not people. The videophone graphics for the drivers aren't very realistic. People will do the same motions over and over again in the exact same way while they talk, and when they stop talking, they stop moving, and don't start moving until they start talking again, leading to them looking like they're in a poorly edited movie.

Story: 3/5 Story could have used more work. You get hired by a guy in a wheelchair who wants you to race for him. You get distracted by side stories with other drivers. Things pick up when you start the storyline with racing against Vasily. You go through several Test Drives to earn a spot in final qualifying rounds, and then you race several times again before you can finally race against Vasily. Then, the typical storyline "I want all the cars for me, you can't have any" comes out with your boss. Mostly a slow story, but it does pick up.

Gameplay: 4/5 Yes it's all about driving, but there's actually a fair amount of variety in the driving. Of course there's the story mode Test Drives where you need to finish in certain spots to move on. But there's also multiplayer mode (at least for the PS2) where you can go mano-a-mano in linear, circuit, and drag races. Or, if you don't have friends, but you just wanna race without conditions, there is exhibition. And, while the tracks are loading, you can play the classic Atari game "Pong" against the CPU or against a friend.

Overall, I give this game a 4/5. Definitely a great game to have.

Rating:
Summary: Test Drive
Review: This game is the worse racing game ever. The only good thing about this game is that you can put your favorite mp3's in the custom music folder and then it will play it during the game. Everything else [is bad] in this game the graphics are really bad, I've seen better graphics on the GAME BOY. Don't bother buying it cause it's a waste of money. It also takes up 1.5GB HD on your computer.