Test Drive 6

"Is that it?"

First off, let me say that I really enjoyed Test Drive 5 for the Playstation. It had a plethora of cars, unlockable super vehicles, an ass load of tracks and a great soundtrack. When I purchased Test Drive 6, I had high expectations, which was perhaps the reason I was so disappointed.

GRAPHICS 7/10
I might as well start with the good. It looks nice. This is an early Dreamcast game and it looks great. The cars all have their own distinctive look and the tracks are pretty detailed. You can paint your cars any color you want (but you better not get tired of that color, because you can't re-paint), which is fun at first.

GAMEPLAY 7/10
Basically you start with enough moola to buy a cheap car, you use that car to win races, and you earn more money, which you use to buy upgrades or buy new cars. The upgrades have a very noticeable effect on your vehicle, so that's something. It includes a a couple of extra modes such as Cop chase, and Stop the bomber (in which you try to ram into a car while it drops explosives.), but these get very boring. The game something like 5 or 6 different tracks, then those same tracks in reverse. Nothing fun or zany to unlock. No secret cars. nothin'.

SOUND 6/10
It has music from actual musicians, but unfortunately not very good ones, and they are set up on a loop, so you will get very, very sick of them very, very quickly. I found myself turning off the music entirely and just listening to the rev of the engines and the squeels of the tires (which are preferable to half an hour of the same EVE 6 song). The actual sound effects are good. Sounds like a bunch of cars.

CONTROLS 7/10
Not a whole lot to it. You accelerate as much as possible, and the only other button you will probably use is the hand-brake, Which will automatically make you go into a power slide. Once you get the hang of things, it's pretty easy to navigate the semi-linear tracks (there are alternate routes, but they slow your car down too much to do any real good).

Overall 6/10
Not a very good game, but it's fun for a little while. It gets boring, and it's pretty easy once you get a handle on the controls. Don't buy it for more that $9.99.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/01, Updated 12/26/01