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So So

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: March 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

So far I have played this game for about 4 hrs. It's pretty good but it's definitely no NFS. The graphics are fairly good and the music is ok. This game is all about the cars, although I did read you get to purchase and ride motorcycles later on as well. Nice. =) They have some really cool cars from muscle cars to exotics and concepts. When you purchase your car, you choose the exterior paint job as well as the interior color scheme for your seats and carpet and dash areas. You can choose from several rims as well. Later on, you will be able to go to upgrade shops and upgrade your car's performance as well as looks from what i've read.

It's awesome to drive from the in-car view. To be able to look around inside your car while you are driving is very cool indeed. You can even roll your windows up and down! =) You can also change your radio stations. I read that the windshield wipers work but I haven't encountered rain yet to see that in work. Also, the in-dash gauges actually work. How cool is that?! You can also watch your avatar shift gears! =)

Traction control can be turned off to allow for more realistic racing. As far as the actual racing goes, it's not too shabby and is enjoyable. You can set the difficulty for each race on 3 different levels..easy, normal, hard. If you set it to easy, you will earn less money but are pretty much guaranteed the win. The harder you set the race, the more money you earn.

You use the money you earn to buy more cars and houses. When you first start the game, you purchase one car and one house b/c you are given a certain amount of credit to begin your game. The houses are on different locations on the map and can hold a specified amount of cars. A number of them only hold 4 cars, but I saw one you can buy later on that holds 10 cars. So looks like you will have to purchase a number of homes in order to store all your rides. And the rides you get are purchased from dealerships located around the map.

If you have driven to a specific location, you can later use your map and basically warp to that location without having to drive there again. But at first, you have to physically drive to the spots. The warp ability was a nice touch because it would stink to have to drive every time to locations you have been to a number of times already. For example, you can warp to one of your homes and save your game at that spot. You can save anywhere though. I just like to save at the home because I can check out my cars in my garage before I head out.

If you encounter an event and race it and it unlocks another event in that same spot, keep on racing until you totally beat that location because you can unlock cool stuff..won't say what though because I don't want to spoil anything.

Now for the bad. After purchasing the game, I found out you cannot choose your own avatar and you cannot customize him. I restarted the beginning like 4 times trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Well I got online finally and did some digging and found out that they did away with some of the options that are available in the 360 version. So if you are thinking you will be able to pick male or female and customize their clothing and accessories and their appearance like in the 360 version, think again. It's not gonna happen. I was pretty disappointed once I read that detail after having already bought the game. But all in all, I do not regret purchasing it even with that disappointment. I don't really see why they had to do away with avatar customizing though b/c the PS2 is completely capable of handling that.

As far as game length goes, I am not sure yet. I played for 4 hrs and am 6% complete. Most of that time, I was racing and driving from race to race. I didn't really do too much dilydallying.

To sum up, I definitely recommend this game to car enthusiasts. I think $40 is kinda high though. Later on for $20 it would be a no-brainer. But at some point this is a worthy purchase.

OK game, a number of downgrades from 360 version

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: April 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The concept of the game is great, drive exotic cars freely around the entire island of Oahu. It is executed well on the Xbox 360, however the PS2 version falls short in areas.

I will start with the pros. I am very impressed that they were able to make travel around the very large map seamless and without numerous load points. Before I bought the game I never thought that they would be able to stream the whole map with such a large world to explore. I though it would be similar to the grand theft auto series on the PS2. Several longer load points to access certain point of the island. But they were able to seamlessly stream the whole map as you explore. Sadly for me that is the only true positive point.

The negatives; One of the major drawbacks for me is the lack of a manual transmission. Being that this is a RACING game, not having the ability to change gears takes something away from the experience. Another drawback is the lack of ability to sell cars that you aquire. The only way to get rid of a car that you don't want is to go shopping for a new car that you can't afford and trade in the unwanted car towards the purchase price of the new one. Being unable to sell cars means that you will aquire cars and run out of space to put them and need to continuously buy new houses for a place to store your new rides. Another downfall for me is the lack of motorcyles and the Ferarri license in the PS2 version. The developers use the term "modify" loosely. You can upgrade your car one of three levels. However they are already predetermined packages that you buy. You cannot pick specific suspension, engine, or aero parts. You just buy package one, two, or three. There are no exterior mods to speak of. When buying a new car you can choose the exterior and interior color, and sometimes the wheels. But that is the extent of the exterior modifications. The graphics are OK, nothing spectacular to really speak of. As noted above, in the PS2 version of the game you are unable to create your own avatar you are stuck with one stock guy. For me this is not really a negative point, I care more about the cars than the character driving them.

Overall the game is entertaining but falls short in areas to make this only an OK game for me.

A good time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I think this is worth picking up. It's a fun game, not something that's going to keep you on the edge of your seat. It starts off a little slow, and my roommate asked me a few times why it was so easy. But once you get some money and some faster cars (and a few houses to hold all your cars) it does pick up and the races get a little more challenging. I finished NFS Most Wanted and Carbon...both of those games had places I was sweating and just wishing I could get through this or that section. There is none of that "pressure" with this game. If you're a die hard racing game fan you may not enjoy this as much as someone who just wants to sit down a have a good time.

Great game....Highly Recommended!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Loads of cars...not as realistic as GT4 but pretty close...definately one to get!!!

Twas Ok.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game was ok. It wasn't all it was crocked up to be. I thought it would be much better than it was. But, it was still fun!

Best Car Game Ever !!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Test Drive Unlimited is best car game EVER. You can drive around Hawaii with your favorite (dream) car with perfect image and sound. I bought so many car games before and after TDU but still....I have to come back and continue playing this game. Play it yourself and you will know.....REAL GAME....REAL FEELING.

Better on X-Box

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is an awesome game. I have played it on PS2 and X-Box 360 and there is no comparison. The 260 is much better. You get motorcycles and more cars along with better graphics.

CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Whoever reads this review DO NOT buy this game. Pros-Cool cars and the ability to buy property and upgrade interiors. Cons-Set button configuration;I always try to set my button config. the same way but on here you cant even change it from automatic to standard and the way they made it really really sucks. Crap soundtrack contains a bunch of artist I've never heard of and they just suck.This game blows, playing N.F.S Hot Pursuit 2 is more enjoyable and more realistic, and its 5 years old,you can be goning top speed and slam into anything and have nothing to show for it.Overall I Wish I had just stayed with Need for Speed the graphics and the gameplay are way better. All in all if you are gonna get a racing game stick N.F.S, Gran Turismo and Forza and don't waste your time(or money) on this sorry excuse for a game.

Wait for this to hit the bargain bin...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Sadly like oh so many other driving games this appears to have been developed by people who've never seen a real sports car let alone driven one. The cars all drive alike and sound alike. They drive like the tires are greased and the roads are ice. Steering is as typical pivot point (you steer with the middle of the car, not the wheels). The AI on the other hand has a car that not only sticks to the road but even when it's the same car you're driving it can SOAR past you at the last moment as if you were standing still. Like, again, most racing games the 'bootlegger reverse' is not a maneuver you can accomplish. Turning around then becomes a pain in the butt. It's been a long time since I had a driving game (back in the Sega Saturn days) I'd hoped they'd improved the genre. Herein it seems they haven't. The physics are a joke. Your car cannot sustain nor will it show any damage. Head on collisions at 150 MPH simply stop you immediately. Vehicles you hit bounce away from you as if made of rubber.
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Didn't meet expectations

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Playstation version of this game didn't even come close to meeting my expectations. After the first week, it became routine and boring. There wasn't enough variety and the graphics were not that extraordinary by today's standards. It was enjoyable for the first couple of hours.

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