Test Drive Unlimited 2

TDU1 was great fun. I did all the challenges and enjoyed nearly all of them. To keep me interested I applied a little hack to give me a ridiculous bank balance so I could buy what I wanted and just enjoy driving like a looney in cars or on bikes. TDU1 was graphically excellent...so what about TDU2.
Graphically excellent, cars good, bikes non existent until the latest updates and then you have to pay extra for them, real money too! this is bad.
The latest updates have also prevented easy hacking of the in game bank balance. This is good to make online gaming fair but at the end of the day it means you have to play the game until your sick of the challenges to get the money to buy the things you want, and then your so bored you can't be bothered and stop playing. As I don't care for online competition and I just want to enjoy driving around in nice cars with nice scenery dreaming of winning the lottery, Atari have ruined the game for me. Firstly the bike issue and then the anti hack update.

As I bought both games when they were released I can say with confidence I should prefer this over the first but It's no better and the first gives me lots more bikes

Graphically not much better than the first one, I have ALL settings on MAX and it still looks rubbish.
YES the controls ARE RUBBISH, nothing to do with user error at all and they are an absolute pain to try and re-assign, I have a 360 pad and a PS3 pad and I have used the keys, it makes no difference, the cars still handle like cardboard boxes.
I loved the first outing of this game, I played it every day for weeks, I played this for 2 days and I hate it, this game looks and feels like it was ported directly from the Xbox360, that system is nearly 6 years old now and boy does this game look like it is too.
If you liked the first game, DONT buy this one it is one big let down, if you have an Xbox or PS3 rent it for a week and then you will understand.
People worry about gaming on the PC going into decline because of the consoles, nope sorry, its because of games like this.

This game is a beta, it's big pile of bugs. I loved TDU 1 but this is nothing like the first.
I regret buying this game, before making the same mistake take a look at the official forum to see how many people are complaining about every sort of problems.

Good game, good graphics and great details of the cars, houses, etc..and among other things we can do in the game!

If your buying this game expecting the average racing game such as Need For Speed, then it isn't for you, TDU2 is more a social driving game with racing elements. It has a moderate amount of vechiles available with brands well known to most folk and a large world to drive around in with your pals.
However after a very rocky launch and fiddling with my router for several hours to get past a NAT issue, I was finaly able to start enjoying the game, the controls arn't very realistic which is good for the socialistic type,but not so good if your looking for a real driving experience.
The Casino is avilable for purchase in the DLC Store and will cost you just under 10 pounds which opens up access to the casino on both islands, giving access to Slot Machines, poker and roulette offering the chance to gain some extra cash.
Car customization is very low. You can add some stickers using a very ackward and annoying system which once a sticker is in place you cannot delete it without deleting all previous stickers placed in that session.... and will take a good hour plus.
You can adjust paint jobs with glossy carbon matte and metalic effects.
Not to mention there are clothes and houses you can buy clothes from once you have gained the correct level; houses give a minimal level of customization all furniture is static and you can adjust the colors and designs of some items not all.

Overall: Good for the social gamer, not so good for the hardcore racing gamer. Customization is very low on cars, And once on the second island no new vechiles apart from 3 treasure hunt cars, become available. It has a nice blend of off road and concrete roads and tracks with some proper race tracks dotted around for you and your driving crew to practice on.
The housing is a good idea with some moderate amount of customization with the furniture and wallpaper/flooring (roughly 4-5 different options for sofas chairs tables floors and cielings) but nothing to make you go omg that is amazing.
I'd only recommend this game if you play it with friends.

Thankfully, as a PC owner I can tell that the graphics are better than the first outing.

Feedback about the controller not working should be ignored. It is true that if you have an Xbox 360 controller that it does not set it up by default...you need to go into the options and select it.

The graphics are stunning. The selection of cars on offer (excluding Lamborghini sadly) is mouth watering. The driving experience is slightly more realistic than TDU1. The police seem to care about traffic violations in this version though and not just crashes as in TDU1 (i.e. run a red light and you start to attract attention). Offroad is an interesting add-on and compensates for the lack of motorcycles. You can open/close the top of your car, lower the windows, honk the horn and even indicate!

I would have given this 5 stars but for two things. Firstly, you get a taste of Italian exotica at the beginning and then need to lower yourself into one of three truly miserable cars...from which it takes a long time to earn enough money to buy something 'respectable'. Secondly, the driving schools for acquiring licences to enter championships is ridiculous and detracts from the 'pick up and play' ethos of the original.

All in all, I will probably lose several weeks of my life playing this.

I initially had problems setting up the controls. A little persistence eventually had everything working fine with an X-Box 360 controller and subsequently with an old Logitech Driving Force wheel.

This is not a simulation so some like myself are going to be disapointed with the car physics. That said its not a bad game.

The game now works fine and my son and daughter both love it so I'm buying them a second copy.

Firstly, not sure what the first reviewer has done but can confirm it is 100% user error. With a 360 controller the throttle and brake are progressive, better with manual gears.

The new island looks nice, graphics are good. There is some pop-up and minor bugs. But on the whole a nice place to explore. The change of light and weather is good too.

Cars aren't bad. For some reason the sound has taken a step back from the first game. Some of the cars sound real bad, as if they were from a 10yr old racing game. While others (Ford GT40) sound good. The modelling is good, the cars look nice, interiors look good.

The racing is okay, although i tried to do some racing with the Alfa Brera and it was highly frustrating. Not sure if the Brera is really that rubbish in real life but it has some serious lack of go and absolutely no torque.

But off-roading rally style with the Subaru Impreza WRX was great fun. It's one of the better cars so far, nice model and sound.

Menu's are better and the map is better too. And the first person walk about is a good idea.

Personally for us this is a good game. It's perhaps not as good as we hoped. But we like the free roam aspect, just exploring the islands with the occasional race. Like a spiritual successor to Midtown Madness. I have F1 2010 for proper track style racing.