Atari crashes and burns again in this ambitious, yet unpolished, “racing” game.
First thing is that loading screens occur frequently. From the opening cut-sequences, you’ll have gone through at least 7-10 loading screens because Atari can’t create an entire cut-scene without breaking it up into 30-second segments. Throughout that sequence, you’re subjected to looking at one of the unattractive characters you have to pick at the beginning of the game as your Oahu persona. Which brings me to Atari’s next error. The only graphically pleasing part of the game is the cars. The scenery is bland: green trees all over the place that look the same, streets, buildings that can stop your car on a dime (as well as poles, fences, and the ugly green trees), beach. All of it is an eyesore. Then your character doesn’t help matters any. I always imagined a Hawaiian island filled with awesome looking women, and guys trying to hit on them. That could be true with TDU, but they’re the ugliest bunch of island people I’ve ever seen. Then there’s the map… which looks like it was ripped off of Google Earth. There are parts of Google Earth that are pretty sharp and clear, and others are just blobs of green, gray, brown… just can’t tell what it is. Same with the TDU map… its those parts of Google Earth that look like a kindergartener finger painted all over the screen, with the icons being the only crystal clear objects.
Speaking of questionable display problems, did everyone at Atari create and test this game under a microscope? The text in the game is practically impossible to read. I have 20/20 vision and a 32-inch TV, so it isn’t me. Most of the time, I don’t know how much money I have, what that junk is that flashes on the screen from the left about some song that’s on the radio (that isn’t even PLAYING… I haven’t heard any music yet, but apparently the game thinks I hear it). However, I can barely make out the “competitor” names and distances from time to time.
Then there’s the focus of all the “Unlimited” frustration you could ever want in a racing game: the gameplay. That’s right, if you enjoy driving tanks at 150mph, then this game is for you. But that’s only once you’re up to speed. Before then, you’d better not turn, or otherwise the only thing you’ll be doing for the next 20 minutes is spinning out. Even before that, the car doesn’t want to go until about 10 seconds after you push the gas, brake, or combination of both because you want to go, but the car just isn’t ready yet. Once it decides it would like to move, and you take it beyond 100mph, you’d better not decide to make any sudden turns… because you’ll be plowing through the forest about a half of a mile in the same direction you were going until your car begins to go the direction you want it to go all that forest ago. And don’t even think you’re going to dodge those pesky slow-moving cars at 100+ mph… you’re going to plow right into them, and then the ridiculously irritating cops will be alerted to your reckless driving. One cop you can avoid. Two is a little more difficult, but possible. But if you have three cops chasing after you, you’re better off paying the fine while its cheap. Otherwise, all you’re going to do is obtain a higher bill by plowing through more cars to try to get away from the cop behind you, only to have one spawn in front of you. You’ll never get away. And hiding in the ugly forest doesn’t help either… because if you thought you crept away through the foliage and get back on the highway, the magical cop cars are right on top of you for some retarded reason, when they were miles behind you.
This game’s online features may redeem it, but since I don’t have a Gold membership, then I’m content with returning this rental early. I’ll just have to wait until Need For Speed: Carbon comes out to satisfy my racing needs. Stay away from this one, though. Its not worth your green for even the rental fee.