Top 10 Most Played Games of 2011
2012 is here and plenty of new games will come with it but, since I am a bored soul I thought I would share with you my 10 most played games of 2011 and why I played them so bloody much! Just a note: I personally kept track of all my hours on each game NOT some site of some sort (I have been asked a lot) I do this for no reason other then as a simple enjoyment/hobby. Times are accurate to the minute because that’s how I roll 
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#10 – F1 2011 – 39h52m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 33rd
Number of weeks played – 11
First week recorded – Oct 2nd
Record most time played in a single week – 10h45m (Oct 16th)
Most played game of the week – 3 (Oct 9th, 16th & 23rd)
Most played game of the month – 1 (October)
Most played game of the quarter – 0
Now I am a big racing nut and you will see this repeated throughout the top 10, but you would think that now that the Codemasters F1 series is an annual game that I may not played this game as much as the previous. While in fact I have now played this game over 45 hours to date. Even if your not an F1 fan you should give this game a whirl. It is fast paced, amazingly well designed and a whole lot of fun. With a long campaign and great online. I keep coming back for more to place this at #10.
#9 – Driver: San Francisco – 41h44m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 37th
Number of weeks played – 4
First week recorded – Sep 4th
Record most time played in a single week – 20h08m (Sep 11th)
Most played game of the week – 3 (Sep 4th, 11th, 18th)
Most played game of the month – 1 (September)
Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q3)
Shocking huh. The Driver series has an old and well, frankly, crappy history. Ever since Driver 1 and 2 back on the PlayStation it has been nothing but bumpy roads for this series. But that all changed with this game as now it was Ubisoft’s chance to turn this series around; and boy did they. With licensed cars and an amazing new shift mechanic that allows players to teleport to any car on the map the game was able to work with something it could call theirs. The problem is very few people saw it coming and even when the scores were good the sales were not, making this a game that was never really given a chance. Which was a pity because this game’s insane, yet enjoyable single player and addicting multiplayeris what makes this game one of a kind!
#8 – Need For Speed: The Run – 42h17m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 34th
Number of weeks played – 7
First week recorded – Nov 20th
Record most time played in a single week – 8h46m (Nov 27th)
Most played game of the week – 1 (Dec 18th)
Most played game of the month – 0
Most played game of the quarter – 0
Now, this is the game I don’t think anyone would expect in my top 10 most played, including myself. Keep in mind that just because they are the most played that does not mean they are great and this game is anything but great. EA Blackbox is (lets face it) not very good at making games. The previous games they made (NFS Carbon, Prostreet and Undercover respectably) were far from great. In fact, all featured rather bland concepts and were riddled with bugs from start to finish. So why would I spend far to much time on The Run (which also was one of the worst selling NFS games in a while). The simple answer is: it was fun, well most of the time. Although the online was unplayable due to countless problems and the AI was cheap in single player the core driving was fun. It was easy to enjoy the driving even when you were constantly interrupted with problems. This is by far the most confusing game in my top ten just simply due to the mediocrity that the game is at the core, but I had fun and that is all that one ever really needs.
#7 – Mass Effect 2 (PS3) – 44h29m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 36th
Number of weeks played – 12
First week recorded – Feb 13th
Record most time played in a single week – 11h50m (Apr 24th)
Most played game of the week – 2 (Apr 24th, Jun 5th)
Most played game of the month – 0
Most played game of the quarter – 0
No explanations are really needed here. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games I have played in a long time. It is also the longest game I have played (single campaign) since Ratchet and Clank Going Commando back on the PS2 which took somewhere around 45 hours to complete once. You just don’t see games like this anymore. This is a LONG game with no fake padding for content. This is simply an amazing and addicting game that will keep you playing over and over and pulling yourself deeper and deeper into this real and believable universe. My only complaint is that I didn’t play it more so far! Now if you’ll excuse me… I need to go finish reading my Mass Effect novel.
#6 – Killzone 3 – 44h33m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 35th
Number of weeks played – 5
First week recorded – Feb 27th
Record most time played in a single week – 14h02m (Mar 6th)
Most played game of the week – 5 (Feb 27th, Mar 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th)
Most played game of the month – 1
Most played game of the quarter – 0
Beating Mass Effect 2 to 6th by a mere 4 minutes this series is back for it’s 3rd run. Killzone is a great shooter and I love it. The story, however, was easily the most disappointing thing about Killzone 3 and actually manages to be worse then the already dismal story from it’s predecessor. The online was the best due to all the tweaks that were implemented since Killzone 2. With a far deeper and more enjoyable experience it was really hard to let go of the game causing me to lose a bit of sleep as I played it nonstop for 5 weeks. The main thing that makes Killzone, well, Killzone is it’s feel. This series does not feel like anything else and that is why I love it. Most of the time you hear a person say they can play multiple types of games simultaneously. For example I like to pride myself in being able to play many types of racing games all in the same day/week and not really lose feel on any of them despite they may all feel/handle differently. With Killzone however, I really cannot and that is just a testament to the uniqueness of the feel. It may sound like a silly thing to base all my experiences with, but that simple feel makes me want to see more!
#5 – DiRT 3 – 60h48m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 26th
Number of weeks played – 16
First week recorded – Jun 5th
Record most time played in a single week – 13h19m (Aug 7th)
Most played game of the week – 2 (Aug 7th, 28th)
Most played game of the month – 1
Most played game of the quarter – 0
I love motorsports and not only in game form. I follow F1 and the WRC (World Rally Championship) which are 2 huge racing championships. You have seen my love of F1, now you see my love of rally. True that DiRT is not as much of a rally game as it was back in the day when it still held the Colin Mcrae name, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hold some of his ideas. Simply put: this is a great game for anyone who wants to get their tires a little dirty. Needless to say this game is all about the dirt, but if this is what a dirty game is like I would love to see a filthy game as everything about this game is beautiful. Although it is nearly identical to the previous game it is still amazing. It took me a while to get into 3 due to the similar nature from the previous game (hence the 16 weeks that passed by before I finished it).
#4 – Starcraft II – 68h32m (102h13m all-time)
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 14th
Number of weeks played – 24
First week recorded – Jul 25th 2010
Record most time played in a single week – 13h23m (Jul 25th 2010)
Most played game of the week – 5 (1 this year – Feb 13th)
Most played game of the month – 0
Most played game of the quarter – 0
As the only non-PS3 game on my list of most played it shouldn’t be surprising that this game was played a lot. With it’s deep online, great story and addicting nature and action this game is easily an instant classic and despite the first played sessions were well into 2010 this game still managed to be played enough to place in 4th the very next year. A testament to the longevity of the game. I am sure I will still play it loads more to come as the online community develops more and interesting ways to do battle.
#3 – Motorstorm: Apocalypse – 112h53m
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 10th
Number of weeks played – 18
First week recorded – May 1st
Record most time played in a single week – 11h41m (May 15th)
Most played game of the week – 10 (May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, Jun 12th, 19th, Jul 10th, 17th, Aug 21st)
Most played game of the month – 3 (May, June, July)
Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q2)
Motorstorm is my game and it has been since the first game came out. I love the series manly because it hits certain key elements square on the head. The style for one is second to none. Every time you enter one of these games it doesn’t take long for you to get fully immersed into it. Apocalypse didn’t sound good on paper. Motorstorm? Enter the city? I have to say even I had my doubts, but they were all put to rest as I sunk my teeth into it. I would even argue this is the best Motorstorm ever. The online as well is deep and everything just works. True there were some complications, but then again what game doesn’t? Simply put: this is one of the best games of the year and the time I spent playing it really gives the game justice. I suggest all racing fans go get it now…. MOVE!
#2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 142h28 (155h19m overall)
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 7th
Number of weeks played – 9
First week recorded – Nov 6th
Record most time played in a single week – 36h33m (Nov 6th) (Note: That is one week… 7 days)
Most played game of the week – 7 (Nov 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, Dec 4th, 11th, 25th)
Most played game of the month – 2 (November, December)
Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q4)
With Call of Duty being arguably the biggest name in gaming is it any wonder I put a lot of time into this game? What you do need to keep in mind however is this game only came out in November. Meaning this game placed 2nd in the whole year with only 2 months time. If it wasn’t for Gran Turismo 5’s massively time consuming endurance races I am pretty sure this game would have been on top. I have always like the Modern Warfare games far more then any of the Treyarch games. Not sure why, but I just feel their style in games is just not as amazing as it could be and with me playing Modern Warfare 2 out the year before no other COD game makes the list.
#1 – Gran Turismo 5 – 335h25m (370h49m overall)
Over all position in time played (all-time) – 2nd
Number of weeks played – 16
First week recorded – Dec 26th 2010
Record most time played in a single week – 65h15m (Feb 30th)
Most played game of the week – 9 (8 this year – Jan 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, Feb 6th, Jul 24th, 30th)
Most played game of the month – 3 (2 this year – January, February)
Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q1)
I guess it is a given. With me being a racing nut it was rather inevitable that I would play the crap out of GT5. Just how much was rather hard to know, but GT5 is a great game regardless on how little it has improved of the the last decade. Although many parts of the game could have been far better (not to mention more competitive) when compared to Forza which at this stage has better online, damage modeling and community the game none the less is more then a worthy game to sink countless hours into and I did just that. GT5 is a great game and all these games are worthy to play, because I sure did.
Cheers, Brrnout
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Game Title: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Genre: Shooter
Platform: PlayStation®3
ESRB Rating: Mature
Developer: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 8th, 2011
Overall Score: 89/100
Review Author: Brrnout
<< 
WARNING >> This review contains spoilers
You had a long day and you just got home. Your tired and stressed out, but have no fear as Modern Warfare 3 is here! The action packed first-person shooter series that has sold enough copies to cover the surface of the moon is back with another copy of it’s planet covering creation. A new game comes out every year, so the question is: can this series keep this pace up without tiring the masses?
This is the third series game to this series within a series and it’s apparent right from the get go (if you still follow me). Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t take any chances as everything you see here has likely all been seen before. Even a building in a later mission was 100% identical in every way to a building from the Call of Duty 4 map “Pipeline”. The game looks, feels, sounds and wows the same way we all know and love. This could be a bad thing or a good thing according to how picky you are. Need less to say Infinity Ward did not want to take any chances and it shows in the games strut; but rather then damper one’s spirits I felt nothing but excitement as I opened my new copy (at 12:01 naturally). The thing is Call of Duty does not need to explain itself because… well, it’s Call of Duty! It sells more copies each year to cover that aforementioned moon and when it comes down to it. Who cares?
The campaign itself continues right where MW2 left off. With a critically wounded John MacTavish bleeding on the floor after shoving his weapon of choice in an unlucky souls eye at the end of MW2. The problem is, the world is still screwed up. Makarov is on the loose and his plans to create chaos in the world are on a 6 o’clock train to WW3. Needless to say (to anyone who watched the trailer) it happens and your thrust into the boots of yet another new character, Yuri, as you try to help the old timer’s keep the world from going to hell. Most of this you’ve now heard before: stuff blows up, people die, revenge is taken, and cake is eaten as your twisted and turned down this roller coaster ride. Once again it is a pity it is so short, but the game makes up for that by being awesome for every short second that it is around. But my biggest annoyance with the story is WHY does Infinity Ward need to make Russia look more evil. I mean, really? Invades Europe, uh, right… anyways let’s just say that anyone who followed the story through the 3-game trilogy will feel rather content with the final result.
Then again, how many people REALLY care about single player. We all know that half the world lives on the servers so lets talk about multiplayer! Giving people nothing better to do since 2007! The biggest problem is that not a whole lot has changed. Sure you have new guns, maps and a few new modes but the core game is basically the same. Of course the formula was selling well for a reason. So why fix what isn’t broken? With that being said there are many minor tweaks. Killstreak rewards are now called point streaks as you can earn credit to your next one by completing objectives as well. Another thing is that you can choose how you want to play with point streaks. you now have 3 types of point streaks. Assault, which are you traditional style rewards where the reward dies with you. Support, where you keep the credit you have earned, but most of the rewards are not as lethal. As well as specialist, who can earn more perks rather then munitions. This change is massive because now if you choose to help your buddies all game you can opt to run and gun and still help out with a support package. Allowing you to claim the objective and still get a potential game-saving bag of ballistic vests. This single change makes the online feel truly different. As well, Infinity Ward has opted to remove such annoyances like last stand, stopping power and juggernoob; creating for a less annoying warfare experiance. The problem is, many may not think new maps and modes are enough to warrent a new purchase and it is an easy argument. Nearly everything here you have seen before. So let’s try to look at some other things.
Spec Ops mode is back and this time he brought a friend: Mr. Horde-mode! It is true this is not really a new concept and it’s probable I do not need to explain this to half the people reading this, but for those who don’t. On top of the similar style spec ops missions we had with MW2 players now get to play survival which puts either themselves alone or with a buddy against increasingly harder waves of AI controller characters. These enemies will be anything from Russians (as this series hates them so much), Dogs, Suicide Dogs (really?), Suicide Russians (I see a pattern here) Juggernoobs, and a few vehicles tossed in for good measure. Although this sounds bland it is anything but as all this missions are played on multiplayer maps! Playing on maps you know really well against AI while with a friend is a real thrill as well as addicting to play; even though a single match averages around 20 minutes. With many difficulties to choose and the waves getting harder you will see the enemies using better tactics and number in an attempt to over whelm you. But as well as being with a buddy you also have access to several vending machines in order to survive. These machines include one for ammo and guns, one for air support, one for explosives and of course one for pastries (Cheesecake is on sale).
The graphics in MW3 are near carbon copied from the previous Modern Warfare game but are still nice to look at even if you have seen all these textures before. The sound is still top notch delivering the same great sound of gun fire and explosions we have all come to enjoy. Although some signs of cheating have been spotted such as the PM-9’s exact same report AND reload animation as the UZI bringing up the question as to why they bothered to replace it at all if they kept everything else. So there are for sure many short cuts, but nothing that will truly damper your experience of destroying lives.
The problem is, since this game is so similar in nature to the last one I have run out of things to talk about. So I think I will address something rather important: why is Modern Warfare 3 so popular if it is such a clone? Well, that is easy. It is because you pay 60 bucks for a game many people will spend half the next year playing. Why wouldn’t you enjoy a product like that? Bringing up the question: is it fun. Yes, it is really fun and you should buy it because we all could use a game that we can rely on for months to come. Either that or get Battlefield 3… or some cheesecake, or both!
Verdict: RENT – BUY – SKIP
Graphics – 8.10
Gameplay/Controls – 9.10
Story – 7.10
Atmosphere – 10.10
Funfactor – 10.10
Longevity – 10.10
SFX – 9.10
Soundtrack – 8.10
AI – 8.10
Online – 10.10
======================
Overall – 89/100
The Good – Great coop, intense and addicting multiplayer, short but sweet story, amazing longevity
The Bad – Short story (no more then 4 hours), we have seen it all before, graphics and animations are near carbon copies from MW2
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Tags: call of duty modern warfare 3 infinity ward sledgehammer games cod mw3 mw2 fps shooter first person ps3 xbox 360 review
Well the PSN Burnout game is out and the first thing I have to say is that this is not Burnout. This is a top-down arcade smash n’ crash racer. You try to keep a crash going as long as possible using the famous crash breaker. Although those are well known Burnout ideas this game is all about strategy and luck. Unfortunately when you throw luck into anything it becomes frustrating.
You drive a car down a simple road into a simple or elaborate intersection in an effort to cause the biggest crash you can with the time or cars you have in that particular level. The cars do come from the same location each time you reset so you imagine some trial and error is all that is needed to accomplish a perfect score and with it all 5 stars that level has to give; however, as all the cars can dodge traffic in inconsistent ways and explode in erratic fashion no crash is ever alike. Which is a good thing, but trying to reach each of the levels 5 goals can become frustrating as many of them expect you to be perfect or attempt to perfect it. So perfect it you will in the form of many restarts. After a while you will start seeing the routes of the traffic, but this will not save you from random explosions and inconsistent traffic weaves.
Although the traffic does not dodge wreckage to whole heartedly they do many times accomplish amazing feats of stunt driving that will leave you chewing the furniture in frustration. This does not help as many modes cause you to fail or lose multipliers if you lose a car off the map. Making it all about crowd control!
Overall Burnout CRASH! is a really fun game, but to put it simply: it is not Burnout. This is an arcade strategy style game rather like tetris except here things crash and explode. I would recommend it, but be warned that this is not the Burnout game you may be expecting. Rather like a smell of burning rubber that turns out to simply be your bad cooking on the stove!
Cheers, Brrnout
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Tags: arcade, burnout, crash, crashbreaker, criterion, games, psn, racing, review, xbl
Game Title: Motorstorm: Apocalypse
Genre: Racing
Platform: PlayStation®3
ESRB Rating: Teen
Developer: Evolution Studios
Publisher: SCE
Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
Overall Score: 75/100
Review Author: Brrnout
When the first Motorstorm game came out in 2007 it was a revolutionary concept to what was a rather standard racing genre. Driving on a closed circuit was a concept we have all seen before. Then came Motorstorm, a game about crazy people racing in a crazy as hell environment. Now 4 years later we have a game that is not only as intense as the first game, but feels just as fresh.
Despite the Motorstorm name you would not think it when you first glance the box. This game takes place in an urban environment, which, unlike the previous games, is far more familiar then ever before as the previous games took place in a dry canyon, a tropical jungle and an ice storm respectably; here, however, we have concrete and lots of it! So you would think the experience will not live up to the last games since the environment is not in par with the previous. That, however, is where developer Evolution Studios shines. As the game feels familiar right from the get go despite the man-made infrastructure all around us.
Motorstorm Apocalypse shows just how far the series has come by having a narrative in the single player career for the first time. You follow the lines of Mash the rookie, Tyler a returning ‘stormer, and Big Dog the veteran. Each character plays as a different difficult and each goes through the 3 days of the festival. Although each has a story, the narrative is rather shallow giving the player nothing more then a cartoon-style cut-scene between each race and although the way the cut scenes are portrayed is interesting, the story is to short and to shallow to give a real sense of weight or concern for the player and you forget it really quickly once you get down to the racing.
The city itself however is far from being simple and boring. Since this is a Motorstorm game you know there has to be some reason the attract the stormers to it and you would be right. Turns out the city is on the verge of the biggest earthquake known to man. So as everyone else runs, the stormers move in! As you race the 20+ tracks you learn this is a city with some serious bite. As you race in the earthquake ravaged city you see the tracks change before your eyes thanks to the earthquake. Routes will change, buildings will fall and chaos will reign and I would not have it any other way.
Racing in ruins has never been so fun
The single player is your normal deal: time trail runs, races, eliminators, and the new chase thrown in for good measure. The career set-up should feel familiar to anyone who ever played a Motorstorm game or in fact a racing game in general. The difficulty, despite being separated by the 3 characters, feels rather two sided. Either being to easy or uncomprehendingly impossible. Some of Big Dog races in fact were littered with so many cheap AI that it got to the point of controller snapping frustration. Then again this should be no surprise to anyone who has played a Motorstorm game as all the past Motorstorm games hav
Car customization is one the strong points of Apocalypse
e suffered from what I like to call Motorstormer’s on crack! As many of your AI nemesis will over take you with the slowest vehicle going, uh, the slowest possible route… Right on!
Although some AI issues are hard to fathom the game never stops being insane fun. Jumping fro
m building to building with a monster truck, crushing bikers that get in your way and racking up wins as if they were skittles is what makes Motorstorm great. The controls only help this experience by feeling tighter and more responsive of those of Pacific Rift, yet drifty enough to enjoy the occasional slide around a corner at mach 1!
The online is probably the finest part of Motorstorm Apocalypse as not only does it give you an addicting experience time and time again, but also builds on the previous games in almost every possible way. Joining friends is now far easier then ever before as all it takes is a simple button press to join. Multiplayer also features 10 times more content then any Motorstorm games before. As you race with each of the 13 car classes you earn parts for all you accomplish as well as chips according to your position.
Online ranks are far more fluid and well developed then ever before.
These chips you can then use to bet. According to your skill in the last few races you are set up on a list. The better the player the more likely they are going to be on top of the list. The higher they are the more you can make, but the harder they will be to beat. This is a great feature as it makes every race far more interesting. You have to win but out of the corner of your eye you need to keep track of your bet as many times your bet will be worth far more to you then a win. If you win your bet you then have the option to keep it all and double your multiplayer for the next race. If you then win another bet your pot will increase and your multiplayer will as well, but beware lose but one bet and you lose it all.
The online would have been one of the best things in a while if it were not for all the problems. The game suffers from many bugs and with inconsistent servers causing you to get kicked for no reason what so ever. Since your pot does not follow you out of a room you will lose hours of work if this were to happen. The game also freezes at bizarre moments forcing all recipients to quit; once again losing your pot. It got so bad in fact that I could not race more then an hour without losing all my work. In fact I had a stretch where I lost more then 50,000 chips in a one week period! Yikes!
On the bright side the game does features online co-op competitive multiplayer as well as we as 4 player co-op split screen. Then on top of that Evolution keeps adding new weekly content making sure that there is never old content. Its just a pity the problems from day 1 still remain unfixed.
Motorstorm Apocalypse is a great game with great action. Although the story is a rather simple and the game has many problems with connectivity and glitches the game is still an amazing example of a racing game done right. I will still be playing this game for many months to come!
Verdict: rent – BUY – skip
Graphics – 8.10
Gameplay/Controls – 8.10
Story – 3.10
Atmosphere – 9.5.10
Funfactor – 9.5.10
Longevity – 8.10
SFX – 8.5.10
Soundtrack – 7.10
AI – 5.10
Online – 8.10
======================
Overall – 75 / 100
The Good – Addicting fun, amazing vehicles and environments, great atmosphere, addicting online, great player and vehicle customization tools
The Bad – Cheap AI, simple single player narrative, irritating online bugs and glitches
Cheers, Brrnout
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Tags: motorstorm apocalypse review gaming playstation 3 ps3 racer racing sony sce scea scee evolution studios brrnout gaming
Test Drive Unlimited 2 Review
By Brrnout
Developer: Eden Games
Publisher: Atari
ESRB: Teen
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a free-roam driving game, which takes you to the exotic islands of Hawaii. As you progress through this extensive game with thousands of open kilometers of driving terrain you will find that this is a game that will push you away but compel you to keep coming back for more.
You play as a valet parking attendant gone big time and that pretty much wraps up the whole story right there. You get challenged to enter a TV show about racing cars called Solar Crown and that is where the problems start to set in. The career is basically a hollow shell. You do tournament after tournament in an extremely monotonous fashion and after a few hours you will wonder if there is not more to the career.
If only Zonda's were cheaper... *sigh*
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is basically PlayStation Home meets MMO and the racing genre. It has many Home inspired gameplay mechanics thrown into the mix such as customizing your character, driving to the store, and trying on clothes. Would you like to drive to the hairdresser and change you hairstyle? You can do just that in this video game! You can then use your avatar to meet other drivers and interact with them. The problem with this is that all of the characters have the same basic shell. No matter how much you tweak them they will always look the same. Although there are 6 basics starting styles of avatar you will still be able to tell all 6 apart at all times. I met this hilarious circumstance in the career when I walked into a store to talk to the hairdresser who was giving a hair cut to himself! When I left the shop I received a call from another incarnation of him! Sure they all had different hairstyles but it was still obviously the same character! What is more is that these characters are a pain in the neck to deal with in the career. Their terrible dialogue and laughable interactions with the player make you want to reach through the screen and slap them.
“Test Drive Unlimited 2 is basically PlayStation Home meets MMO and the racing genre. It has many Home inspired gameplay mechanics thrown into the mix such as customizing your character, driving to the store, and trying on clothes.”
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is – as the name suggests – an open world racing game. It is only fitting that the game is a decent size so it is impressive to see the game does not disappoint. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is HUGE. You start the game on the island of Ibiza, which has countless roads and paths to take. With another island available to visit later in the game it is obvious that this is no small area to explore. After most events you can free roam these massive islands. Although you can instantly travel to your destination via main map display it should be noted that you can only do this if you have already driven on that road once before. Forcing the player to cruise the whole map in order to use it is both smart and irritating but someone like me does not mind it. I like games that have huge worlds. FUEL for example was a terrible game yet I enjoyed it for its immensely huge map. With all of this exploration ahead you would need a lot of collectables in order to make such a massive world interesting. This is where FUEL failed. Although Test Drive Unlimited 2 does feature certain activities to do while cruising (such as taking photos or finding collectable car parts) the game does feel rather hollow either way. Despite the presence of other players you still feel somewhat bored as you cruise the islands. One thing you can do while cruising is given to you early in the game. It is called F.R.I.M. and it allows you to earn instant money for stunts that you perform while in free roam mode. Attempting near misses, drifts, and jumps will fill up your F.R.I.M. bar and once it is full you can either cash in you earnings or keep going and do another bar. Every time you complete a bar you earn more and more money. However, the minute that you hit something you lose it all. The thrill between keeping what you already have or pushing on and earning more can be a real thrill and it can be really rewarding to earn a lot and cash it in.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 comes alive with other players while you are connected to the Internet. Whenever you are in free roam you will find other players cruising around going about their objectives or just simply showing off their own machine. You then have the option to start an instant challenge with any of these drivers and make a wager. You can also drive co-op style. Bringing the other player into your car and you can drive around as a team. This is one of the places where Test Drive Unlimited 2 really shines. Just being able to interact with every player around you makes the gaming experience that much deeper and it makes the world that it takes place in that much more real. As well as instant challenges you can also host events online and make your own routes and checkpoints. One of the most amazing parts of the race is before you get into your cars. The pre-race lobby is like nothing ever seen before. Your cars are parked on a section of road and you can interact with all of the cars and all of the other drivers’ characters. This deep interactive experience makes it so much fun to wait for a race to start.
When you do achieve something in the game the game will reward you with its leveling up system. You earn points in four categories and as you earn points you level up. There are four categories including social, discovery, collection, and competition. You earn social points by meeting people and interacting with them in races, you earn discovery points every time you find something hidden and drive on new roads, you earn collection points for buying all of the things in the game, and you earn competition points for completing cups, races, and online competitions. These four categories show you what needs to be done and what you have done and it increases your level accordingly.
A little mud never hurt anyone... did it?
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is about racing so what would it be without good cars and good driving controls? Unfortunately, this is where the game hits a speed bump. It seems that Eden Games spent so much time working on the whole world that they forgot that this is a racing game. In Test Drive Unlimited 2 you have three types of driving controls at your disposal including full assistance, sport, and hardcore. With hardcore type controls you have no assists and are driving without any help whatsoever, with sport type controls you have some assists, and with full assistance type controls you have all of the assists. I seldom drive with assists on racing games but this game is one that you need help to drive. In other words, the controls are terrible. All three of the handling layouts are hard to get used to and even when you master your preferred type you still will have moments where you lose control for simply no reason.
“In other words, the controls are terrible. All three of the handling layouts are hard to get used to and even when you master your preferred type you still will have moments where you lose control for simply no reason.”
After playing with full assistance for over 10 hours I was still losing control and losing races because I could not keep my vehicle straight through corners. Some cars handle better than others but when you are worried about spinning out going 40 km/h you know something is wrong. It is a pity that a racing game had to have such bad controls. You may get used to your selected vehicle choice but you may never feel fully connected and this may negatively influence the immersion that you experience. Fortunately, the vehicles are amazing. There are over 50 licensed vehicles in this game. All of the vehicles fit into one of three classes including asphalt, off-road, and classic. These cars range from Volkswagens to Ferraris and all are well detailed both inside and out. When you arrive at the car dealer you can walk around the dealership admiring and interacting with all of the vehicles using your character.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is an example of a game that does a lot but never does anything well. You constantly get let down but oddly enough you cannot stop playing. Perhaps it is the attractive online interactivity or perhaps the impressive lot of exotic cars but the game never hits you at any point as being an amazing game. Perhaps one could look past these many flaws and enjoy the game but for me I could never get past the small things that made it feel so bizarre. Why do the police not care about you until you hit them 3 times in a row? Why do you lose control at slower speeds but not as much at higher speeds? Why are the characters in the game so obnoxious to listen to? These minor things really got in my way. Even if you can look past all of these problems I still would not recommend buying this game but I cannot say that it was a total waste of time either. Is it worth playing? Yes. Is it worth keeping? Not so much. Perhaps Test Drive Unlimited 2 has driven its final miles?
Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay/Controls: 3/10
Story: N/A
Atmosphere: 5/10
Fun-factor: 7/10
Longevity: 7/10
Sound effects: 7/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
AI: 7/10
Multiplayer: 9/10
Overall: 64/90
The Good: Great online integration; great range of vehicles; surprisingly addictive; F.R.I.M.
The Bad: Terrible driving controls on all three fronts; annoying and obnoxious career characters; bizarre gameplay additions; boring career structure, and occasionally players may experience severe online lag.
Verdict: Buy – Rent – Skip
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