Test Drive Unlimited

"To much for the UMD to handle."

Test Drive Unlimited had the potential to be a great PSP game. Im a fan of arcade style racers and sim style racer however this racer just left me feeling frustrated.

GAMEPLAY: 4/10: You play as a man who lands on an island of Hawaii and starts by renting a car. From there you purchase your own car and then a house to store your cars. From here you can do different challenges which award you credits. You can use these credits to buy more cars and bigger houses. You drive around very much like Need For Speed: Underground to different locations. This is however where the game falls flat on its face. The loading times on this game were enough for me to turn off my PSP. Its frustrating have to go through 3 to 4 different loading screens just to drive for 4 min only to hit another loading time. When you go into the options sub menu there are even two loading times. This game gives you a lot of room to explore however if you off of the route recommended by the GPS the game continues to remind you of your wrong direction.

Graphics: 7/10: The graphics on this game are very clean and pretty good given it's a PSP game. The game does however suffer from some pixilation during some scenes. All and all it's almost PS2ish.

Car Balancing: 6/10: The game suffers at the beginning buy only offering you two to three cars to purchase. After renting out the Ford GT1 for 30 min I only had enough cash to buy a Ford Mustang GT. This game lacks a variety of everyday cars and focus only on high end super cars. Don't get me wrong I loved being able to drive a Lamborghini Murcielagos and Aston Martians but where are the Porches and Ferraris? I want to drive my 911 Turbo! This game does not offer a very balanced selection.

Music: This game offers you a lot of music selection however you can NOT drive and change the radio station. You must pull over. I mean you could drive and change the radio station but you will almost certainly crash you car as the music menu takes up over the half the screen when you get deep into menus.

Closing Thoughts:
This game could have been great but it's almost as if they tried to strip down the full console version instead of building the game around the PSP. If you have Gamefly or a Rental store near you feel to pick it up. I however wouldn't spend my hard earned cash on it. I give this game a 6 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/07

Game Release: Test Drive Unlimited (US, 03/21/07)