Test Drive Unlimited (Xbox 360)

Graphics

There are a few noticeable issues with the graphics right away. They’re gorgeous graphics but they’re often plagued by some obscure tearing effects and definite cases of pop-up when the road’s being rendered at high speed. None of these are sufficiently bad to spoil the gameplay but they do put a dent on the suspension of disbelief as a few trees appear as if by magic.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of slowdown and the game features some dramatic lighting, shadow and metallic effects. The smoke and particle effects from dust and exhaust fumes as well as the burnt rubber are all done extremely well and the cars themselves look absolutely stunning.

The other vehicles and buildings, as well as the various people and avatars look fairly decent, they’re not as impressive as the amount of graphical detail that’s gone into making these 200, 300 bhp monsters come alive however.

Models

TDU is a car enthusiast’s wet dream. From the exterior modelling of the vehicles to the lavish, fully working interiors, each car has been realised and created with loving care. You can inspect these vehicles in your garage, in the showrooms and even open the doors and windows. You can only open the windows when you’re in the car and you don’t walk around the island on foot, to clarify this question that someone asked.

The other models, avatar and buildings are of sufficient quality but not as detailed as the cars/bikes themselves. The avatars of people are pretty much simple and it’s obvious to see there are a lot of repeats in terms of character style and design for the AI and challenge mini-scenes.

Fortunately in your house there is a fairly in-depth character tweaking tool and you can also outfit your avatar with new clothes, these avatars appear in mini cut-scenes as you get in and out of the car, park up at a house and so on.

You can also see the driver behind the wheel of the car and the model operates the car’s steering wheel and various features, like the gear stick.

Animation

As previously mentioned, the animation of the game is perfectly married to the models. Your driver actually operates the car; they change gears when you do if on manual setting or when you hit the correct speed on auto. They have a set of facial expressions and emotions through the various mini cut-scenes and interactions. You can see them moving their hands, talking and so on, when in a club house and it’s all animated extremely well.

Island design

It’s huge, it has a lot of small cities on the map and there are hundreds of miles of winding road. The biggest problem and best feature are all in one, it’s huge, but that’s the problem as well – once you’ve driven down the same stretch of road more than once the wide open spaces don’t seem all that fun, there’s just something that seems to be lacking in that respect.

Apart from this the island is extremely well designed and there’s a lot of fun to be had trying to off-road a vehicle just for the heck of it.