Test Drive Unlimited 2
I'm too early in the game to give it a rating that would really come down to my entire gameplay experience once I have finished the product. It has been a up-down experience since the game kicked in, it is easier to appreciate as you progress, but I'll get on a few points that makes this game so bad and yet very interesting.
I do feel however, that every time I'm starting to experience something great with the game, it gets taken away by so many things a few moments latter.
Introduction:
The initial presentation is Abysmal, it's dreadful, terribad. It makes you think what you are about to play is aimed at typical tanned club douches, as it's presentation probably was designed by the same type of people. If you did not appreciate TDU1's introduction you are in a world of pain on this one. Simply put, completely annoying and disengaging characters that will force you to endure them as you progress in the game.
Driving:
I drove about 20 different cars in the game so far, I can say the most you progress the more interesting and spinning-out driving gets. I'm playing the game with Sport setting, I do believe it takes out computer-assisted mechanism, especially in exotic cars, as they can get ridiculously hard to handle if you do not have a pedal. The driving experience is pretty much like the Original TDU - It is good. It's much closer to realism than arcade racers.
AI:
Not feeling challenged. Experienced settings.
Ai seems to make some mistakes, it doesn't drive ace, but it brakes and cut the speed too often.
Visuals:
Not a huge difference from the first TDU except for cars and some interiors. They are extremely well detailed and you can tell that one of the game's strong aspect and main focus, definitively are the cars.
Characters/(Story???):
They follow you trough the game, even on the second island, they are... words can't even explain how fail the person who managed the whole "more-in-personal-take-on-competition" is. So here's a picture I think suits perfectly how the game characters are based on.
I'm not even close to kidding, get that idea out of your head.
The new stuff
-Driving license. Hey there kids how ya been? We know you have played one thousand racing games before and you can beat our in game AI +13 seconds no ****ing probelmo! But we FIRST want to make sure YOU to get past our driving tests in order to decide if YOU are able to play this game.
Yeah.
-Racing events are now put all together in one pack of event. This is the part where you are in some kind of really oddly-made tournaments, simply because as you progress inside the "tournament", you are able to restart any events as you failed them, yet there's a leaderboard that keeps a track on who's in the lead, just like usual tournaments. And you also get to decide which race you do and in what order. Makes the tournament impossible to lose unless you do it on purpose.
-Hawaii is back. I have just poked around it a little, they brought it back from the first TDU, I imagine they've made quite a few changes to the island as well. Obviously. So there is a lot to explore.
-You move freely around every interiors, makes it more interesting for players who would have appreciated that, I like it. Though, it's not really like it is going to change anything really, and as far as shopping goes (that's the part where it would have made a good difference) instead of shopping items in the store, you just go talk to the sale person and from there a menu pops up. So, not really a major improvement.
-Bikes are out. Replaced with offroad driving, which really sucks. Offroad driving is a odd approach from the developer, and in my personal opinion, it should have been voided. It's one of those gimmick things they felt in need to bring in the franchise, when I think the game mostly relies on Asphalt driving. What they should have done instead is IMPROVE on the bike aspect.
Conclusion
You can see their budget hasn't really been profitable in every area during development, but it still is a game people should check out, exploration and cars are the huge part of the "why", and hopefully you don't get too distracted by the very annoying things this game forces you to go trough.
I'm too early in the game to give it a rating that would really come down to my entire gameplay experience once I have finished the product. It has been a up-down experience since the game kicked in, it is easier to appreciate as you progress, but I'll get on a few points that makes this game so bad and yet very interesting.
I do feel however, that every time I'm starting to experience something great with the game, it gets taken away by so many things a few moments latter.
Introduction:
The initial presentation is Abysmal, it's dreadful, terribad. It makes you think what you are about to play is aimed at typical tanned club douches, as it's presentation probably was designed by the same type of people. If you did not appreciate TDU1's introduction you are in a world of pain on this one. Simply put, completely annoying and disengaging characters that will force you to endure them as you progress in the game.
Driving:
I drove about 20 different cars in the game so far, I can say the most you progress the more interesting and spinning-out driving gets. I'm playing the game with Sport setting, I do believe it takes out computer-assisted mechanism, especially in exotic cars, as they can get ridiculously hard to handle if you do not have a pedal. The driving experience is pretty much like the Original TDU - It is good. It's much closer to realism than arcade racers.
AI:
Not feeling challenged. Experienced settings.
Ai seems to make some mistakes, it doesn't drive ace, but it brakes and cut the speed too often.
Visuals:
Not a huge difference from the first TDU except for cars and some interiors. They are extremely well detailed and you can tell that one of the game's strong aspect and main focus, definitively are the cars.
Characters/(Story???):
They follow you trough the game, even on the second island, they are... words can't even explain how fail the person who managed the whole "more-in-personal-take-on-competition" is. So here's a picture I think suits perfectly how the game characters are based on.
I'm not even close to kidding, get that idea out of your head.
The new stuff
-Driving license. Hey there kids how ya been? We know you have played one thousand racing games before and you can beat our in game AI +13 seconds no ****ing probelmo! But we FIRST want to make sure YOU to get past our driving tests in order to decide if YOU are able to play this game.
Yeah.
-Racing events are now put all together in one pack of event. This is the part where you are in some kind of really oddly-made tournaments, simply because as you progress inside the "tournament", you are able to restart any events as you failed them, yet there's a leaderboard that keeps a track on who's in the lead, just like usual tournaments. And you also get to decide which race you do and in what order. Makes the tournament impossible to lose unless you do it on purpose.
-Hawaii is back. I have just poked around it a little, they brought it back from the first TDU, I imagine they've made quite a few changes to the island as well. Obviously. So there is a lot to explore.
-You move freely around every interiors, makes it more interesting for players who would have appreciated that, I like it. Though, it's not really like it is going to change anything really, and as far as shopping goes (that's the part where it would have made a good difference) instead of shopping items in the store, you just go talk to the sale person and from there a menu pops up. So, not really a major improvement.
-Bikes are out. Replaced with offroad driving, which really sucks. Offroad driving is a odd approach from the developer, and in my personal opinion, it should have been voided. It's one of those gimmick things they felt in need to bring in the franchise, when I think the game mostly relies on Asphalt driving. What they should have done instead is IMPROVE on the bike aspect.
Conclusion
You can see their budget hasn't really been profitable in every area during development, but it still is a game people should check out, exploration and cars are the huge part of the "why", and hopefully you don't get too distracted by the very annoying things this game forces you to go trough.
