Atari
Eden Games
It is not often I find an open world in a racing game. Test Drive Unlimited 2 (TDU2) offers just that, and it actually feels awkward. From bad, unresponsive controls to horrible, unskippable cutscenes, you will count yourself lucky this game is fun at all, but overall, it is a cool experience for racing veterans who want a sense of freedom.
Similar to Need For Speed, TDU2 offers a chance to challenge other racers while you drive around in the open world. Unlike Need For Speed, TDU2 has an actual world to explore and not just a bunch of roads.
There are many backwoods areas and even places where you can drive into the water - and respawn on the road, of course.
There are also many other opportunities, including the ability to walk around in buildings and buy clothing. You can buy cars, too, but as far as customizing the cars, you're out of luck.
Racing is a little bit of a pain in this game, at least for me. Turning is horrible, and the cars take forever to speed up, unless you're in a Ferrari, which you get a glimpse of in the very beginning of the game, as a sort of dream. You get a chance to drive it around for a few minutes before you get awakened, only to find out that for the next few hours, you would have to drive horrible vehicles with absolutely no turning ability and very little acceleration. My Dad's old SUV accelerated faster!
That said, the game is so more fun just to drive around in. I like the sense of freedom, that sense that I can go wherever I want, whenever I want to. That freedom plus a very fast-paced travel system and world map makes this game a technical marvel.
The visuals are not as impressive, but when you're driving around the environment at somewhat fast speeds, you don't pay much attention to detail, anyway. The biggest complaint anyone seems to have is that the game does not go full screen. However, it does go full screen. Just press "alt+enter" and you're done. You only have to do it once, as well. Every time you load the game in the future, it should stay in full screen unless you press that shortcut again.
Sound design is fairly good. You get a radio to listen to, and it works fairly well, but I have to warn you that the radio gets repetitive. You are better off just playing your own music in the background, which is easily managed in Windows 7 using the "alt+tab" shortcut.
Replay value is rather low, and there are not many players online, but if you just want a free-roaming game to drive around in and having friends play with you, TDU2 gives you what you seek.
When we refer to PC, we mean personal computers, so be sure you read what operating systems support this game. Currently, we review games for Mac, Windows, Linux, and DOS.Another thing to look for when browsing PC games is the system requirements. There are really 4 things you need to worry about: RAM or memory, processor, video card, and finally, the hard drive space. Memory can be upgraded fairly easily, and it shouldn't cost much. We recommend having at least 1GB memory, 2GB if possible. Your processor needs to be fairly modern, and a Pentium 4 probably won't cut it. We recommend a 1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo or better. Your video card should support DirectX 9 (or higher) and have a minimum of 256mb memory attached to it. We recommend 512mb or greater. Hard drive space is subjective, but we recommend having a fairly large amount of space. You could settle for as little as 40gb and be able to play most games, but we recommend having 80gb or more space to make sure you have room for multiple games at once. Most PC games don't run straight from their disc. They usually require an install process, and most modern games require around 8gb of free space to install.
PCs are the ultimate game console, because they can be upgraded, and they will never go out of style. PCs can also play most old game systems through emulators, so if you lose your Playstation, you can just play your games on your PC. You can also play classic arcade titles and have infinite coins!A lot of people complain about having to use a mouse and keyboard to play PC games. This isn't a requirement, fortunately, and we have what we call gamepads or joypads. Yes, we can use game controllers! We can even use Xbox controllers! That said, it's not as plug-and-play as a game console, and some games simply will not work with your joypad. Fortunately, Steam tells you if games support controllers, and if your favorite game doesn't support them, you can map the controllers to keyboard and mouse controls.
Just be careful when buying PC games. Read reviews carefully. If a game gets a 1/5, don't buy it. If your PC is a cheapie, don't expect modern 3d games to work. Read the system requirements very carefully. If you don't know anything about your system, you can find help in the PC Stuff forum.
