Test Drive Unlimited Preview
- Platform: PC, Xbox 360
- Published by: Atari
- Developed by: Eden Games
- Release Date: 360: June; PC: Fall '06
- Genre: Action
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Online: Yes
Test Drive Unlimited Preview
-- March 17, 2006 by: Chris Remo
Test Drive Unlimited, being developed by Eden Games for Xbox 360 and PC, is first and foremost a racing game, but it's also an MMO--well, sort of. The main draw of the game is that, when played online, every single other online player is driving within the same world you are. Eden has recreated the Hawaiian island Oahu to a high degree of congruence with the real world version, including some thousand-plus miles of drivable roads. Though the game is indeed massively multiplayer, it does not contain many of the gameplay trappings of the MMO genre; again, this is first and foremost a racing game. Atari calls it M.O.O.R., Massively Open Online Racing, which, despite possibly being a PR term invented so that Test Drive Unlimited can be called "the only game in its genre!" or something, is actually a pretty good description.
Though all players coexist in the same world--that is, the playerbase is not split up among multiple realms--your screen will not be filled with hundreds of cars bumping and crashing left and right. Since the point of a racing game is generally to go fast and drive relatively uninterrupted, that probably wouldn't end up too fun, even if it is slightly amusing just for its novelty value. The online model is much closer to that of Guild Wars rather than most massively multiplayer games. At any given time, the game will block out all but seven other players that you can see in relatively close proximity. A set of 
personalized filters determines which seven players the game will select. These filters include such traits as player rank, car type, whether or not the player is in your club (clan), and so on. For example, you might choose to be rather picky in terms of with whom who you'll share your roads, filtering out everything but players in red Ferrari Enzos. Or, if you've just started the game, you might simply say to filter out everyone but players in your own skill class. As you drive around the island, the list of eight players you can see is constantly being updated, so when one is no longer in your viewing proximity the game will seamlessly replace it with another that fits your criteria.
When you create a character, you'll go through a fairly standard avatar creation process, choosing various visual characteristics or simply selecting a preconfigured avatar. You'll also receive a starting sum of money, which is used to buy your home and your first car. Since you actually have to drive to the real estate office to purchase your home, you'll first select a rental car and head on over. Your home is where you can modify your avatar's clothing and, more importantly, the site of your garage. You'll probably be getting a lot of cars, so you'll be needing that garage. One of the Achievements in the Xbox 360 version of the game is awarded for the first time you attain one hundred cars. Now, I don't know if that refers to owning all of those cars simultaneously or not, but either way, that's a lot of wheels. After the purchase, you'll ditch the rental and head to a dealer to buy a car for keeps. All of the vehicles in the 
game are licensed from real-world manufacturers, ranging from domestic brands like Ford to exotics such as Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Jaguar, and so on. The game also includes a range of motorcycles.
Once you're done with all the initial creating and buying, it's time to actually start racing. Test Drive Unlimited's actual gameplay is largely made up of hundreds of challenges--most of which are, of course, races. Each challenge originates from an actual location on the island, so in order to discover a challenge you'll actually have to drive to it. After having found a challenge, you will always be able to return to it instantly by selecting it on your map, if you wish to try again for better results. Early on, you will be lead to various challenges which serve as the game's learning curve. The game features a vehicle driving direction feature similar to that found in some modern cars, with a female voice telling you things such as "Turn left" and "You are going the wrong way, please turn around." There seems to be a huge amount of user-determined options, so I assume this can be deactivated if so desired.
As soon as you first hit the road, the entire island is available, so it's definitely possible to just ignore the tutorial stuff and get right to doing challenges and spending the money you receive from these challenges. In addition to races, challenges can take the form of time trials, Speed-like scenarios requiring the player to maintain a certain speed for the length of the track, delivery missions, and more. 
As with challenges, buildings are discovered first by actually encountering them while driving, after which they can be returned to at any time from the map. Buildings house such facilities as car dealerships, tuner shops, clothing stores, and other businesses. One main reason for requiring the player to first drive to a challenge or building to be able to access it is simply to encourage exploration. Since the game's island is in fact a recreation of a real-world island, it has all of the diversity that real-world geography has: highways, mountain paths, coast roads, major and minor city streets, and so on. Part of the intended enjoyment of Test Drive Unlimited, aside from its goal-oriented aspects, lies in simply being able to drive seamlessly through the game's huge environment. While doing this, you will encounter other players based on the previously mentioned filtering system. By flashing your headlights at someone driving near you, they will be challenged to a one-on-one race. If they accept, you will plot the course you want the race to take on the island's overhead map, and you'll get to it. During my time with the game I happened to drive by a tester from one of Atari's testing facilities, who challenged me to a race. I won, but I'm pretty sure that's only because he went easy on me.
Turn the page to learn more about challenges.
