Playstation 2
Developed by Sony and released on 24 November 2001, the Playstation 2 has sold around 70 million units so far and currently retails at around £104.99.
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Can this demolition derby based racer demolish the competition?
 The Test Drive
game series has been around for many years, and up until now, has been
associated with muscle car racing. While
games in the series were not always the highest quality games, they were fun
excursions that had potential (but were brought down by the controls, among
other things). However, with Driven to
Destruction, Atari and Monster Games are taking the series in a new direction, basing
the game on demolition derby events. But
the real question is; does it live up to the potential of the series?
The car models in the game look great, and are very nicely
detailed. Your car starts out undamaged
(and with a nice shiny paintjob if you shelled out in-game cash for it, or just
a dusty look if you have a generic car), and as you take and dish out damage to
other cars, your car’s look will change, and parts may even fall off. The damage models are fairly realistic, and
your car’s graphical appearances show off the full effects of breathtaking
crashes. You can tell that the team at
Monster Games really put a lot of work into this aspect of the game. It should be noted though, that the character
models (ones you see off to the side in Career mode, and also once your car is
damaged) look a little flat, and not as realistic as they could be. It’s only a minor detail, but it looks kind
of weird. Draw distance is decent (with
the occasional car popping out of nowhere during a jump, but this doesn’t
happen too often), and the frame rate manages to stay consistent. Overall, the game is graphically competent,
with a few minor glitches here and there.
Driven to Destruction’s sound is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the sound effects of the
cars and the collisions are authentic, and sound great, even if the sound by
default is a good deal louder than everything else when this happens. Now, the game has an announcer that says
things as you race, but what he says is so muted that it is often hard to distinguish,
and just ends up as a background nuance.
Test Drive’s soundtrack consists of popular rock bands such as
Hoobastank, among others. While this
type of music is decent, in my opinion it does not match the style of the
game. When you think of demolition
derbies, the type of music that typically comes to mind is hard rock (such as
Pantera etc.), so perhaps it would’ve been better if this type of music had
been included.
Driven to Destruction has two main gameplay modes, Arcade,
and Career. Arcade Mode is divided into
two sub-modes, Race and Dare. Race
allows you to select Eves, which is basically series of several events, and the
person with the most points at the end of these events wins. Points can be acquired by winning races, as well
as intelligently smashing into rival racers to cause damage. During an Eve in Race mode, you can control
which events you wish to play, and you can choose from a significant variety. It must be said that some are better than
others. There are some very fun events
(School Bus Races and Red Rover are quite fun), and some very frustrating events
(the Trailer Race is particularly frustrating due to slippery control). Not only do you get points towards your Eve
score for collisions, but also earn points that allow you to earn unlockable
vehicles (such as an ambulance and a hearse) as you progress. The other sub-mode of the Arcade
mode is Dare, and in this mode you complete certain objectives in multiple
circuits. These objectives range from
winning a certain event in first place, to completing a race with a Post Office
truck. The variety is nice, and the
difficulty is fairly consistent (though some of the events are too easy). Overall, the Arcade
mode is a fun diversion that will keep you entertained for a short amount of
time, but what will keep you playing it is the Multiplayer option. You can play any of the Arcade
mode events in multiplayer, with up to 4-players on one split screen.
The second major mode in Driven to Destruction is the Career
mode. In this mode, you start out as a
new driver who ranks dead last overall, and your goal is to buy new cars and
win races to improve your ranking.
Although at first it seems as if exploration is encouraged in this mode,
you soon realize that there are only a few places you can actually visit. So it ends up that you’ll be visiting these
same places a lot throughout this mode, and the Career mode only hints at a
sense of exploration. In order to
succeed, you will need to purchase new cars as well as repair your current ones
at the Junkyard, and earn cash by beating competitors, as well as competing in
Eves (similar to the ones in Arcade mode). Once you do an Eve, you can race a competitor
to the race track in order to possibly gain more respect (if you win). These are a good way to test out your current
car before you actually start the series of events. After you’ve won some races and improved your
ranking, you can then purchase upgrades for your existing car and add more to
it, as well as unlock videos of real-life demolition derby events. This is a mode that is fun to play, even if
you are limited in options.
Controls in Test Drive
are relatively good, with the exception of a few minor concerns. Cars are fairly responsive in almost any
event you play, and oftentimes you will not need to use your brake. However, there are two major flaws that stick
out. In the Trailer Race event, you pull
a trailer behind you, and if your trailer is destroyed, you lose the race. Now, this is a good idea in theory, but half
the time, the trailer has a mind of its own and pulls in the opposite direction
that you are going. This oftentimes
results in your car spinning out as you take a turn, and can also cost you the
race. This ups the frustration factor,
and makes what should be a fairly competent mode into an exercise in
frustration. Second of all, some cars in
the Career mode have next to no brakes, making the Whiplash Race frustrating
(in the Whiplash race you need to do a 360 degree turn each lap, and with no
brakes on some cars, it makes everything feel very unresponsive). Finally, while collisions are pretty, if
you’re not careful they can spin you out very easily and cost you the
race. These minor things add up, and
bring the game down a bit.
So, how does the game stack up to the competitors in the
genre? In the demolition derby racing
genre, it takes the current crown in the next to empty genre (at least for this
generation of consoles). However, when
compared to other popular racing games (such as Need for Speed Underground or
even games like Colin McRae Rally), Test Drive
lacks the tight control and sense of depth its competitors provide. While Driven to Destruction is certainly a
highlight for the series, it needs a few more tweaks if it hopes to smash into the
top spot in the genre. CD
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Monster Games
UK Release: 24th September 2004 |
Nice variety of events.
Graphics are pleasing to the eye.
Spectacular collisions. |
Slippery controls in some events.
Limited depth in modes (mainly Career mode).
Puzzling soundtrack choice. |
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