Test Drive Unlimited 2

[nonny]

Sounds like a game I'll pick up once it's patched up and half price, or more accurately when it's been tested by the community and is ready.

[elaniel]

I know the game is still broken at the moment, but every time a friend and I join each other's games it lasts about 10 minutes and we get disconnected from each other (with no notice) Is this happening to all?

[Neon Ignition]

So far the server has been offline all the time for me, the frame rate often dips to 20-25fps, slightest collisions cause a 180 spin, slight oversteer takes ages to recover from, story sequences are appalling and unskippable, brake line is massively inaccurate, radio cancels at new events a lot, screen hangs on black before a race start a lot (seems to kick start the race if you go to XBM and out) and the menu system is a mess. That'll never get patched out.

It's like i'm waiting to see if the whole is greater than the parts. No custom soundtrack is criminal also

[Strider]

Where's the casino>? Downloaded the DLc and can't find it anywhere.

[Corranga]

Hmm, everything so far sounds pretty bad, and pretty much exactly what I remember the first game being like. That was patched up as bit, but the main handling model was still fairly flawed. Shame as I did like TDU, even through it's faulty online / buggy / crashing the xbox / dodgy handling model. You think they'd learn after 1 though, pretty pathetic.

Chris

[Neon Ignition]

Where's the casino>? Downloaded the DLc and can't find it anywhere.

Not sure where the option is but I know you have to be online for it to display which is awful.

Last night the server kicked itself back into life and I finally got to properly experience the mmo side. Yeah, not really any different. IGN likened it to making the game world more like the real world which is true as in it's suddenly populated by prats who can't drive. I spent 15 minutes trying to get a location with a virtual chav stalking me across the mountains and trying to ram me off a ravine. I have to admit though a small amount of joy when he tried speeding off in his sports car and my lumbering 4x4 trailed behind. Naturally I veered off road and cut straight through the rough ground as he zipped down the sig zagging road until he skimmed in front of me and I rammed him off the cliff where he got stuck.

Other than being a necessity to 100% the game I'm struggling to see being online anything other than a distracting nuisence to the main event. There were the first moments last night of this clicking with me though my main warning so far would be:

If you're the kind of gamer who often complains about racers that aren't 60fps, stay away from this game. As you unlock faster cars it gets worse, I even had moments of 15fps last night.

[elaniel]

The Casino is the bottom right of the Ibiza map.

[Family Fry]

Played it almost all day and night yesterday, unlocked Hawaii, unlocked photo album missions and the metal detector for the hidden car parts. Loved the original and bar the awful story this game has pushing you through there are lots of stuff to do, casino is an added bonus and good fun too, got addicted to the slots already. I would say its better than the first...although I haven't had any save bugs or game breaking issues yet so maybe I am lucky.

[Riskbreaker]

Played a fair bit over the weekend and I have to say, as someone that loved the first TDU I was really tempted to chuck this in after the first hour. The storyline is mind boggingly poor, and the whole license BS to access racing events is a complete put off. The lack of events outside the competitions kind of defeats the original game's appeal of just roaming around the island and doing as you please. Now the only way to make any significant amount of cash is to enter the championships and put up with all the rubbish that entails.

Still, I stuck with it and after completing the first competition it's started to gel again. The opportunity to free roam around such a large environment is still worth investing some time in, especially now that they've added the weather and night / day cycles. The driving model is still a bit on the twitchy side, despite that I'm managing to cope without the driving aids well enough. Finished the Ibiza Cup island tour last night using the Impreza, it amazes me that I'm prepared to spend 50 minutes on one particular event driving round a virtual island but what the hey If I'm prepared to do that the game has still got something.

I've been fortunate enough not to hit the save game bug or any other game crippling bugs and I'm backing up my save games after each session just in case.

Not had much luck with the Casino, it always seems to be offline and other players show up intermittently, for the time being I have enough to do solo that I'm not too fussed. This stuff should all have been up and running day one though, having the game sit at a loading screen on launch day because it can't see the servers is retarded. If it didn't click at the time that the first TDU did something similar and so disconnected Live to play offline I'd probably have traded it straight back in. There are probably plenty of players that did.

[MartyG]

I've had no end of glitches; cars randomly disappearing in front of me. My car falling through tarmac in to water and last night what I can only describe as "The beam me up Scotty" bug, where I was just randomly transported to another part of the map, miles from where I was previously.

Shame there are so many issues with this game, not least of which is the very broken multiplayer, as collecting the cars and discovering the roads around the two islands is a good laugh otherwise.

[DaRockwilder1]

To say this game is buggy is an understatement; these are the problems I?ve encountered so far on the 360 version.

Unable to start game initially at title screen.
Unable to play in casino due to server and when I eventually get in, it crashes and deletes all my winnings.
Buy a house and it freezes my 360 all the time.
Unplayable frame rate now and again.

Despite all that, I still love driving around discovering roads and wrecks.

[Flabio]

Several sites are refusing to even review this at the moment until it's made more stable.

[Neon Ignition]

To be fair, they should put out the reviews now and maybe do a follow up article later on. It's all well and good reviewing it once Atari has patched the life out of it but those reviews will be worthless as they don't represent the actual product that people are going out and buying right now. In fact, it's a pretty disgusting stance from the reviewers as in a way they're putting the publisher before the consumer.

[BaronSqwelch]

er....is it actually posible to invert the y axis or am I being stupid?
if its not its traded in instantly....

[Neon Ignition]

Sadly, they've omitted the Y axis option. It's annoying but I'm coping given how little time is spent on foot. On the flip side last night offered another massive dose of frustration. Had another few races were it was all ok and clicking and then my car has suddenly decided it's on ice and spins on the slightest turn. Hawaii's open but I haven't been as according to the stats I've only seen a tiny amount of Ibiza. That said, if it doesn't sort itself out soon I can see me jacking this in. It's easily 9 months early release wise.