Test Drive Unlimited 2 starts like a dream... turns into a potentially bland driving game
How much progress has been made since TDU?
Test Drive Unlimited 2 starts off like a dream. No, really, it's an actual dream sequence. It's the life you're supposed to be aspiring towards. Pool parties, fast cars, beautiful girlfriends who like to buy you fast cars... It's like they looked into the minds of our teenaged selves and sellotaped those adolescent aspirations to a Blu-Ray disc. Check this out:
Above: Everyone's getting down to some phat beats at your pool party. You get control in a sec...
Above: Which means you get to check out the 'hotties'. There's plenty of erm...physics modelling going on
Above: Uh-oh - it's your girlfriend. She wants to talk to you. Maybe it's about your lecherous ogling?
Above: No, she actually wants to give you a car. A Ferrari California, to be precise. Honestly, it's like a dream
Above: You slide into the stitch-modelled driving seatand start the engine purring with a gentle squeeze of R2
Above: And away you go, out onto the open road. Clear skies, exotic foliage... This is surely too good to be true
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Above: Ah, Ferrari, open road, glare from the setting sun, and not a single cop to make you check your speed
Above: Which invariably means you're going to crash any second. Sure enough, over we go... You know, at this point it would be really nice if this wasn't real. Oh, but what's this?The screen's fading out...
Above: Oh, it was just a dream! And that's not your girlfriend at all. You're a valet and it's her car you're in. This doesn't look good
Above: Wake up, buddy. Time to get out and accept it. Your life sucks
Which is where the real game begins. The girl lets you drive her to a TV studio for some quick filming (where you find a picture of her on the wall, in exactly the same dress she's wearing now - lolz etc), before some weird chap called Jude is greeted with the words 'Hey, Jude!" (groan) and you'reallowed to buya crappy car. And that's when the game changes from a dream to... something a little less perfect.
Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.