Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2
European cover art
Developer(s)	Eden Games
Publisher(s)	Atari
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)	Driving Sandbox
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, COOP

Test Drive Unlimited 2 (TDU2) is a racing video game developed by Eden Games and published by Atari. It is the sequel to Test Drive Unlimited and the tenth game in the series. The game was released on 8 February 2011 in North America and was released on 11 February in Europe.

The game suffered from a very poor launch, particularly on PC, due to lack of sufficient server testing, which resulted in frequent server downtimes making the game unplayable (as the game relies heavily on online functionality) for several hours during the first week of launch.

Gameplay

There is a storyline in Test Drive Unlimited 2 for the player to follow. To progress through the game, the player has to earn experience points to level up through the 60 levels. These points can be earned via 4 categories:

• Competition (racing, completing challenges)
• Social (making friends in the game, race against other people, joining clubs)
• Discovery (discover all roads, take photographs of specific locations, find all car wrecks)
• Collection (buy cars, houses, furniture, clothing/basic needs)

There are an additional 10 Levels available to those who acquire the TDU2 Casino Online DLC/Pre-order Bonus, these levels are achieved within the casino itself.

The player can earn extra money depending with how the player drives. Driving like a daredevil and performing stunts, drifting through turns at high speeds and evading crashes and the traffic will earn the player extra cash. Exploring the island lets the player find vehicle wrecks which will unlock exclusive vehicles at the dealerships on the island. The player can also walk out of the car in vehicle shops,player houses, clubs and the optional casino DLC. The player's avatar can be altered by changing hair, clothes, physical appearance and their attitude and facial features, and they can also buy houses. Co-op will also make an appearance in the game including a Follow-the-Leader mode. In this mode, players will have to complete a route by driving through checkpoints. When a checkpoint is passed by the leader, the game promotes one of the other drivers as leader. Working together properly is made even more important as only the leader can see the route on his GPS display.

Location

The game is set upon two islands: Ibiza, and Oahu (the setting of the first game). Both islands have been modeled very accurately by using satellite data. Each island has both asphalt roads and off-road routes, translated to roughly two-thirds of all roads being asphalt roads, and the total amount of roads exceeds 3000 kilometers. The islands have new challenges and races to earn extra cash, and also the roads on Hawaii have been modified to make the location interesting again for players who played the previous game. Hawaii has also been renewed graphicswise to stay up to date for the new game, and each island will feature the 24-hours cycle and restricted to online mode dynamic weather.

The player can travel between the two islands by driving to the airport on one island, where a cutscene shows the character taking off as a passenger on a plane, flying to the next location on the other island. This air-commuting ability needs to be unlocked by reaching level 10 out of 60 in the game.

Vehicles

New vehicle classes are included, such as SUVs for off-roading. Not all vehicles are obtainable however; clubs can get exclusive club cars when reaching high ranks. These exclusive vehicles can be driven by any member of the car club, and not by players from other clubs. The pre-launch game sported motorcycles that were quite hard to control, and also hard to win races with. They are not present in the launch edition, but may be added in later on.

Vehicles feature cosmetic damage which does not affect the behaviour and technical aspects of the vehicles. There is no option to manually repair the vehicle; the car may get fixed by resetting to the road or visiting a house. Rainfall does affect the handling of the vehicles though, and also influences the appearance of a vehicle as rain washes off dirt. Eden has also spent years working on a new physics engine to ensure each vehicle has its own driving behaviour. New details and functions have been added, such as different headlight modes, turning signals and working convertible roofs. There is also a vinyl-editor which is similar to that of Forza Motorsport.

When pre-order information was revealed, it became known that pre-orders in the United States would get additional bonuses. Among these bonuses are bonus cars, such as special Carbon-edition Aston Martins, an Audi Q7 concept car, Ford Shelby GT500 and Alfa Romeo models.

During E3 2010, Atari released the first part of the list of cars that are available in the game. The list includes various models of Aston Martin, Audi, Dodge, Lotus, Mercedes, and more. All of these vehicles will be purchasable in the final game.

As confirmed on the Official TDU2 Forum, Lamborghini will not be making an appearance in the game, due to licensing issues. Lamborghini made an appearance in the last game.

In December 2010, Atari released the official car list for the game, containing 101 cars.

Multiplayer

Test Drive Unlimited 2 has a similar online mode to the previous game. During free roaming, up to 8 players can join in a session at the same time. Improvements to the online aspects have led to the fix of people quickly disappearing just after entering a session. In shops and clubs, up to 8 players can walk around at the same time. The ability to walk is also present in the new racing lobby. When waiting for every player to be ready to race, cars of the other players can be examined. Also, players can be in the seat of another player's car to show or be shown different shortcuts.

With the launch of the new Test Drive Unlimited 2 website, the FAQ section confirmed that like in the previous game, the game will not require a subscription fee to play online.

Development

System requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
Microsoft Windows
Operating system	Windows XP SP2, Vista SP2, Windows 7	Windows XP SP2, Vista SP2, Windows 7
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 4400+	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 4400+
Memory	2GB
Free space	14GB of free space
Graphics hardware	Nvidia GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3870	Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 / ATI Radeon HD 4870
Sound hardware	DirectX 9.0c compliant sound card
Network	Internet Broadband Connection

In December 2008, Atari stated that various series, including Test Drive, would be revisited after 2009. Test Drive Unlimited 2 features dynamic weather effects(the dynamic weather though at present is not available when in Offline/Single-player mode along with the absence of clouds), day and night cycles, and vehicle damage. The game takes place on the islands of Ibiza and Oahu. After enough gameplay, players will be able to return to an expanded and updated Hawaii from the previous game. Test Drive Unlimited 2 will feature SUVs.

Soundtrack

Test Drive Unlimited 2 features two in-game radio stations. Seven songs have been announced for the album which include artists Daughtry, Linkin Park, Lamb of God etc.

Marketing

TDU2 Casino Online

Atari will release TDU2 Casino Online on the same day as Test Drive Unlimited 2, which can be downloaded on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace. TDU2 Casino Online includes casino games like poker, roulette, and slots. The player will have a chance to unlock exclusive cars (Audi R8 Spyder and Spyker C8 Aileron) while playing these casino games.

TDU2 Casino Online will also include a track for player to try out the exclusive cars that were won. All prizes and cars won in the casino can be carried over into Test Drive Unlimited 2.

TDU2 Casino Online was also available as a Pre-order bonus at select retailers.

External links

• Official website
• Test Drive Unlimited 2 Car List