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By: Nick
Who are you in Test Drive? You are Dennis Black an independent street racer, that doesn't have much money or a set of wheels. You have just been asked to prove yourself to Donald Clark a wheel-chair bond Englishman of few words that doesn't have much good to say about you. The most important thing about Clark is he's providing you with all your sets of wheels. There are a few others you will meet but we will get to them later. Test drive is an adventure all over the world's famous cities such as London, San Francisco and more.

Features

That's the story behind test drive, lets get to the features in this game. There are many game modes in this game one of yet the most important,…the underground. The underground is an illegal... may we say racing group that races to take you out and get new people involved. Clark as I talked about earlier, is the leader in this group. Some of the racers you might run into are: Lisa Lux a flirtatious girl whose driving skills are questionable. Big T, A star in the music industry, this thuggish rapper takes out his aggression on the streets. While some racers make veiled threats, Big T is blatantly confrontational and anything but subtle. Another is Skeeter Grimshaw; this backwoods boy from the Midwest makes his living off doing what he has always wanted to do. Also Vasily, you will meet him towards the end of the game. He drives the Concept Viper gtsr, and he's the best in the group it will be hard to take him out when your racing him one on one. Reese Weston drives his painted flame Camaro, he is in this for the sport, the adrenaline, and the rush he gets from driving fast cars. He's just out to have fun. Theirs is one last one Nells Von Stadt, two words sum up this wealthy German playboy: arrogant narcissist.

Well enough about the racers, do you even know what the under ground does? It's a group where it races in famous cities and moves on, as it moves on racers get knocked out and beaten until there is only one racer left, the best one! There is also single player where you can pick your car and drive any roads you have passed in the underground and have beaten, in single player you can drag, or race a circuit. The only thing I wish they had added is more multi player modes then just one.

-Game Play-
If you have played test drive 6 or ridge racer, then you'll be totally familiar with this setup. Throwing the newer fad of accelerating and braking via the shoulder buttons out the window, the latest Test Drive goes classic with a standard face-button configuration.

All cars are different at steering. Hop into a Lotus Elise, its light horse power goes 155mph, very light, it will feel like your driving a feather. Then try going into a big fat Dodge charger, you will feel heavier and not as light and fast as the Elise. All cars are different and have different speeds and steering control. Some of the cars in the game you may drive are: The 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 454 to the Dodge Viper concept will be available. We all know the Jag-xj220 is fast, but try taking the Viper concept gtsr for a "test drive" you'll be amazed at its handling and speed. Although the only way to get the car is…..well hey I'm not going to tell you your going to have to find out how you get in and what you have to beat.

The city streets are superb. The first city you will be introduced to is San Francisco, but don't worry you should be quite familiar with theses courses in San Fran, after all it's your home turf. From the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge and all the spots in between. You'll have to weave in and out of traffic when you're speeding on the Golden Gate. Although don't think San Fran is a cakewalk, the police will be out at full fource all around the city in these tracks. Dont forget They are going to get worse as you go on to later cities. Tokyo is the next city. Talk about a speedster's paradise, long wide roads, under tunnels keeps it fast and fun to race in. This jewel of the far east in ours for the defiling. With large thoroughfares and a maze like freeway system. There will be a lot of traffic that will get in your way but if you're a good racer you wont have a problem, when I played it was fairly easy to Cruise and avoid the traffic. Although the cops are even more relentless in this one, they will ram you, bust you, and try to knock you on your butt. They will do anything to get you busted. London will be the next track. This track has very sharp turns, cops that wont give up, and the worst traffic congestion around, with double busses, to slow cars, watch out. And don't let the dreary weather mislead you. These tracks will provide you with more then enough excitement, and if the dense cross-traffic wasn't enough, you also got narrow streets. Monte Carlo last city you will race in. You'll have to contend with the stiffest test of pure driving of any ungodly number of slow moving tourists buses and sharp pitiless S-curves will keep you yelling at the road. To win in Monte Carlo you'll have to bring your skills to a higher level.

Graphics

The graphics are superb, the lighting effects and backgrounds are extremely well done with a realistic lens flare approach that has rarely been matched, and the car models are very well like there real life bodies. You can even see the reflection on them as you fly by lights. You can easily recognize landmarks from the Golden Gate to the Embarcadero, Nob Hill to Geary and Fisherman's Wharf. This game is just plain good all around.

Presentation The game story is very well setup and developed. There is not a time in the game were you dont know what your doing.	9.0
Graphics The graphics are very alike to Project Gothem, looks like the same editor. The games graphics are sleek and realistic.	9.0
Gameplay Most of the cars are easy to controll and you should have no problem with any of the cars.	9.0
Overall Overall this game is fun and great to add to your Xbox racing game collection. A must have for any Xbox owner!	9.0