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100percentgamesave commented:

Great game. Very repetitive. I had to turn off the music because JaRule's voice over and over gets super old. This is not as memorable as TD4 or TD5 tracks or the music. But this game nails one thing right, You can remember each part of the course until you pretty much know what is coming next. The game builds you up to where you know what each section is going to be. It is basically 4 big "Open world" racing maps but are broken down into sections that you can easily memorize. And the dev's are stupid to not allow an open world exploration mode. They just did not realize at that time these maps can be played with open world type modes. There is also Yellow Arrow barriers in the race events and if you drive fast and miss the required lane or ramp. You drive right through the barriers and hit the red checkpoints that disqualify you. The stupidest thing they ever put in a Test Drive game. You have to restart the entire race and make sure you do not drive through the barriers. If you are going to make the game suck that bad, atleast block me from driving through the barriers because I would rather crash into an invisible wall and still race instead of getting disqualified because I passed the red checkpoint, that "Makes Sure" you cannot explore the open world at all because you got disqualified.

It has the classic problem like in TD4 or TD5 where you need to choose the "Fastest Car" with the highest max speed to win or choose the "Best All Around Car" because you are going to race in tight turn tracks and you are never going to be at fullspeed, you just need a car to quickly pick you up with good acceleration or horse power after doing a hard turn.

There is one case in the drag race event in London that you need to choose the Skyline GTR (176 MPH) to pass the Dodge Viper because the Skyline has 6 gears instead of the Muscle Car that goes (185 MPH) that only has 4 gears. Because it takes a long time to reach full speed quickly on 4 gears instead of the Skyline that can go full speed quicker in 6 gears and reach the finish line faster. The muscle car will reach 156mph when you finally hit the 4th gear and takes a long time to reach 185mph - then the Viper kicks your ass and passes you with a huge gap of distance to the finish. However, the Skyline only goes 176mph but you can reach that max speed faster and get a 1 second difference finish from the Dodge Viper because the last 2 gear allows you to reach that final top speed 176mph faster. Its something that blew my mind because you know that you have only 2 cars that can win this event, but the car with 6 gears is better than the fastest car you have that only has 4 gears.

Here is a video of someone playing this game years ago with using the skyline to beat only this event - its literally the ONLY way to beat this event
https://youtu.be/EsTHdaUkC9c?feature=shared

Besides that,
There are stunt jumps in the map that makes no sense because you lose speed every time you land. Instead of taking the jumps, you are faster if you drive around all the stunt jumps because more grip is more speed. The opponents taunt you and say things to make you feel like a loser and then 2 seconds later they crash their expensive car into a city bus. Then 10 seconds later in the race that same driver passes you again and taunts how stupid of a driver you are. Lol dumbest thing ever to witness in this game. The devs could have added variety to the taunts because in Monte Carlo, the taunts are 5 sentences long and you get tired of hearing the same taunts.

There is no rubber banding, but you have the opposite. You can crash your car and be in the worst situation, but around the corner the drivers are driving slowly enough for you to catch up to them. Then they drive very fast. It's weird to see this reverse rubberbanding but when you notice this, its hard to ignore. Stop taking it easy on me and finish the race, dont wait for me to catch up to you??

There is parts to the story where your opponents tell you to watch out because this event coming up might lose your life because you might get your car sabotaged or something bad is going to happen. And then you race the course, there is no sabotaging, there is no cops that are going to take you down, there is no sudden event that makes it impossible for you to drive, there is no rivals that jump in the race and try to take you out. The story and the threats you get from the opponents have nothing to do with the actual race events. It's like nothing ever happened. They could have told you that you are going to lose or your driving is trash and then you prove them wrong. That is more accurate than a British bloke telling you "This might be the last race you ever had m8, watch yourself out there" lol

Then in Monte Carlo, the final boss is really the man driving the Jaguar XJ220. Because after you win his car. Then the rest of the game is extremely easy with the Jaguar having the best grip and speed. Well not until, during the last part of the game I was forced to drive the Ford GT and that car was way worse than the Jaguar. This game has a flaw with forcing you to drive a car you do not want, instead of you knowing what car works and what doesn't. After winning the Jaguar in Monte Carlo, I would have stuck with that car and beat the entire game. But no, you are forced to drive the Ford GT that easily whips out of control if you brake too hard or drive too fast around a corner. I already know what the 4 tracks look like and I do not need a Ford GT to finish the last 2 final boss's when I can use the Jaguar because I already know what to expect from the tracks. The "Forced" story ruins the roots of what Test Drive is supposed to be. TD2002 tried to be a story focused game when TD4 and TD5 was pure racing and level design with you choosing any car that you want to drive. Even if the car was the worst choice, you can find that out when you race in the tournament - realize the car is slow and try again with a better car. That's what made TD4 or TD5 great.

This game failed with it trying to copy the Fast and Furious lifestyle or the CannonBall Run atmosphere. Instead this should have been a straight forward game like TD5 with More tracks and Cars. No story, just more driving. More variety. NO YELLOW ARROW BARRIERS THAT YOU CAN DRIVE THROUGH and get disqualified.

After I finished this game. I did not care to drive in quick race and try the other cars. You win the other cars, but you already raced the best vehicles. There is no need to test drive those other cars you win after you beat the game with the fastest cars - the Jaguar XJ220 and Ford GT. In TD4 or TD5, I actually wanted to try the other cars I won on the most unique tracks. There is lots of replayability in those games. But this 2002 release, you lose interest because there is only 4 open world maps. And spoiler alert, Tokyo is the best map out of all the tracks.

But even with Tokyo, I have to choose a specific "Race Event" in the Tokyo Map and still have to focus on not driving through stupid yellow arrow barriers. TD4 or TD5 did not have yellow barriers but did have invisible walls. I would choose those invisible walls any day and get rid of the yellow arrow barriers because then I can Test Drive the game like its supposed to be.

Sorry for the long review, but no one is getting the reviews right about this game on the internet.