Test Drive Unlimited is very much a cult game for many people here, so it's with much anticipation that we just received the official announcement of its sequel, simply named Test Drive Unlimited 2. First screens inside, and a few informations on what's new: Vehicle damage, weather effects, day and night cycles, and a brand new island to explore.
Update: Images on the official site seem to indicate the new island would be Ibiza.
All comments (21)
The original had some very nice ideas, I'm just hoping the developer adresses the real issue with the first - the social features were lackuster. Having some great social features in a game like this is crusial.
Ofcourse better vehicle physics and handling will be appreciated too.
Looking forward to updates.
cheers.
I hope they improve on the online features it had, something akin to Burnout Paradise would be ace.
Please, please improve vehicle handling. This game was so close to greatness that it was such a bummer that it sucked!
YES!
I've always loved the idea of Test Drive Unlimited, but first and foremost Atari needs to remember that it's a driving game. And in the first one, the driving mechanics sucked balls. Everything else about the game was perfect (for it's time), but the driving mechanics were completely awful and need a serious overhaul if they expect TDU2 to be taken seriously - especially after the next to Godliness that is Forza Motorsport 3.
If they can get the driving mechanics overhauled into something approaching a quality racer, then I will forgive them for recycling their old graphics engine.
As for social networking features, I think it'd be cool to have a Google-styled map in-game, complete with geo-tagging and all manner of stuff you get to do in the real world with mobile phones and such. Some form of OnLive-style, in-game brag clipping would be fun too. A real-time, in-game radio courtesy of Pandora or Last.fm would also kick ass. There are veritably a bazillion things that I could think of which would be great additions to a game like this - many of which, have never been done in a game before. I just pray that when it comes to adding value to TDU2, they really push the boundaries, and think outside of the box for a lot of cool, new features.
Between that and getting the driving mechanics right this time around, they could have a real contender on their hands, even lacking the graphical upgrade.
My second thought was: Hmm, it looks like TDU1. And what's up with the cars? The Gullwing is nice if not a bit conventional, but the Gumpert is not my idea of a good cruising car. There's nothing wrong with the Viper, but SRT-10 is a bit old now. I'm also a bit disappointed by Ibiza. I'm with Sarunas, Southern France would have been much nicer.
So I come off as a bit disappointed perhaps, but I'm really looking forward to this game, make no mistake about it. The pictures and info just didn't get me on the hype-train.
Important thing is, how much new stuff is in there. aka g a m e p l a y. The idea is awesome but the execution in TDU1 was kinda "meh" after a few hours. Was really low on stuff to do and considering it was a "online sandbox racinggame" the world was REALLY empty.
More car customization please!! alot more...!
If we could have people to run over too, that would be great (although you'd have to steer clear of the beaches at night - the chlamidya count would be far too high for safe travel...)
:o)