Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Xbox 360, 2011)

Like a tricked-out SUV, this game is massive, great to look at, sometimes loud and clunky, but ultimately fun to play with! The island scenery is phenomenal with plenty of cool stuff to look at while your racing or just cruising around at your own pace. This combination of racing to the finish line or taking a slick car out for just a joyride on your own helps elevate the replay potential tremendously and makes this game an OWNER and not just a LEASER.

Aside from the great look of the islands, it is ultimately a flat-out fun and open-world race and explore game that has massive online potential, solo career competitions, and free roam exploration. So, you can do it all or just the parts you gravitate toward. Yes, it reminded me somewhat of Burnout Paradise (which was an awesome game!), but TDU2 adds better scenery and cooler leveling capabilities. For example, I was cruising around and found new roads and different upgrade shops which allowed me to earn Discovery Points. Exploring the spectacularly beautiful islands is how you also find various showrooms that are necessary to compete in a race. This also gives you a way to expand your car collection which also gives you Collection Points.

But wait -- there's more! Discovery Points and Collection Points are linked together with community and competition challenges so you can gain XP in four categories which makes up your total game rank. With extra stuff like social interactions, photo ops, buying houses, and all kinds of other stuff, this gives the game it's replay value on solo player a much higher potential than I had anticipated (I feel much less a freak now for making this a DAY-1 purchase). Now, throw in the MASSIVE Online potential and it's a radically cool game for 40 to 50 bucks.

That's not to say that TDU2 has its hiccups, it does, like I am finding out that the game wants you to explore and not just race, race, race. So, for those who do not like open-world environments BEWARE: This game is NOT FOR YOU!!! You will spend at least some time exploring open-areas for stuff that you need and want to have when you are racing. This is fine with me because I like this RPG aspect, but it does seem a little forced at times. Also, for hard-core racers, the difficulty may be too easy to master and the A.I. is a little timid.

Bottom line . . . It's a 4 star game for it's mechanics, but so far it gets a 5th star for allot of little extras that shows that the people who made this care and WANT ME to have fun and have fun for a LONG TIME. Factor in the ONLINE potential and the price with the breathtaking graphics and a wealth of things to do beyond just racing, and this game is a WINNER!

I rated this one as Good

This is a game I want to keep playing for a long time! I waited for a great racing game from NFS but since it didn't happen I decided to try this one. I wasn't a fan of the first installment but this one blew my mind! The graphics were amazing and gameplay was steady. Fun and challenging. It opens up literally, THE WORLD as your playground! The visuals while driving weren't just one long blur but constant and easy to watch. I recommend a custom soundtrack as the music wasn't great. Absolutely worth the $55 we paid!

Cons: The car handling left a lot to be desired. It was inconsistant from level to level. There were some glitches with the online play but not enough to cause me any real frustration.

This would be appropriate for ages 10+

Overall rating is: 5 of 5!

Now, I will start off by saying that I will be comparing this game, Test Drive Unlimited Two, to its predecessor: Test Drive Unlimited.

Warning! If you enjoyed the first game, you will not enjoy this one nearly as much!

TDU2 is a horrible game in comparison, in this game, they tried to step away from the arcade style racer, and tried to have the game become a simulation racing game, to compete with Forza or Gran Turismo. The cars handle very differently in TDU2, in a way that makes no sense. Randomly cars will just spin out, and this can become very frustrating. In TDU2, they tried to innovate some new features, such as weather. All the weather does is make it harder to handle your car when it rains, nothing else.

Unlike TDU, TDU2 does not let you race anywhere/anything/anytime you want. You have to obtain licenses to race certain cars in specific races. This really takes the fun out of the game, as you will be forced to race cars that you have no interest in racing in.

TDU2 also added another usless feature, dirt on cars. Yes, that's right, if you go off road at all with any car, you will accumulate dirt on you car, and over time the dirt will really take away from the beauty of the car, so you have to go to a car wash in game and wash it off for 1,000 credits. Just a waste.

Repeating races: In TDU1, because it was an arcade racer, you were able to compete in the same races and earn the same amount of money each time you raced. Not anymore! With TDU2, after you have completed a race, you are still allowed to compete in it, but for substantially less money, about 100% less or so.

Story: Yes, there is now a story. Imagine if a four year old wrote a book about racing cars, and people with English as their second language read the book. No emotion, incredibly unoriginal, and just plain stupid.

Some Pros: A few cool cars, graphics are a little updated, 2 islands to drive around on, homes you can walk around in. That's all.

The games system used makes for good game play. There is lots of gaming stuff in the game.The personel with on-line community play is mad able enjoy. The game is withlots of fun party favorites in single player.

Among one of the BEST racing game I've ever played in my life. So many new cars to chose from & a 3000km of open world, That is insane!!! not to mention the cars are bullet prof eg.falling from a huge mountain & your car is doing fine exsept its all dirty & wacked but still standing. The graphics are awesome specially when it rains, looks better then any other racing game & the THUNDER actually lights up the sky. Test Drive is a Bridge between "Need For Speed" & "Grand Turismo" -_- therefore the handling is a bit weird ^_^ but its forgiving considering its giving you soo many features & soo many houses, cloths & some never before seen cars to buy. All the cars are respectful enough from the inside & out, Well detailed & looks decent. And for the Houses, They all look great as if you wanna have them all at once~ Ending: Test Drive Unlimited 2 might not have everything but has enough & is worth buying because the career is about 25hrs long. I just hope that the Dlc's keep this game alive for a long long time.