An idyllic Hawaiian paradise
When you hit the streets of Oahu is when you fully start to realise just how incredible Test Drive Unlimited looks. In fact, I’m almost at loss to try and get across just how gorgeous the environment is… all I can say is that the screenshots, as amazing as they are, just REALLY don’t do the game justice. Graphically, Test Drive Unlimited could well be the most visually jaw-dropping bit of software on the Xbox 360 we’ve yet seen. It really is that good. Sure, with this being early playable code, there was the odd glitch here and there, but we’ve still got a few months of development time to be spent on the game, so the odd texture flicker here and there will be ironed out but even in its current state Test Drive Unlimited is gob smackingly good to look at.
Click for larger imageWith the satellite mapping that Atari have employed, you get a model of Oahu that’s a faithful to the real island as possible, though a few roads have been changed a little to give a better driving experience. But beyond that, the key buildings, houses and general roadside paraphernalia are all as they would be in the real world… even the dealerships in the game are at the same locations as the real dealerships selling those cars that have been so brilliantly recreated. So if you ever go to Hawaii, make sure you check out Oahu and see if you can find your way around from your Test Drive Unlimited experience… Atari reckon they’ve got it cracked.
Click for larger imageSo once you’ve gotten over the incredible detail in the roads, the towns and villages, the city areas and the lush roadside vegetation, how about taking another look at the cars? This is another area where Test Drive Unlimited jumps up and smacks you in the mouth because as nice as it was to see all that wonderful detail in the car showroom, where you’d expect to be able to see it, its even more stunning when you get out on the road and see that the full 3D interior you were enjoying at the dealership is still there when you’re out driving! Using the right joystick you control where your character is looking, meaning you can pan around inside the car and admire your Recaro seats, or muck around with the fully functional ICE.
Click for larger imageBut the detail doesn’t stop there. You can raise and lower the windows, drop the top (if you’ve gone for a drop-top model), play about with the lights and even work the wipers to clear the windscreen off from the bugs that splatter there… and yes, bugs DO splatter onto the screen. The wipers do more than the cosmetic function of adding in detail, you’ll need them for when it’s raining too, just as you’ll need the headlights for night driving as Atari have coded in weather and daytime/night time effects too. And of course they look as good as the rest of the game.
Click for larger imageSo now we’ve gotten over how cool it all looks, let’s get some bangin’ choons going, (maybe by streaming them from my iPod through the Xbox 360 and into the game, or perhaps just from the Xbox 360’s HDD, or we could settle for some of the in-game tunes), wind down the window, drop an arm out and go cruising for a race…