Test Drive
- Test Drive (2002 on PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox)
Description official descriptions
This mix of racing simulation and arcade game consists of driving a choice of 5 sports cars on a mountain strip at the fastest speed possible without getting caught by the cops. To avoid them, use your radar detector -- or just try to outrun them if they spot you. Manual stickshift only, so make sure you don't redline or you'll blow your engine.
Spellings
- 试验驾驶 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
Groups +
Screenshots
Credits (DOS version)
11 People
Design and Programming | |
Art | |
Sound and Music |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 69% (based on 18 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 91 ratings with 8 reviews)
Poor controls and monotonous scenery didn't stop this one from becoming a classic.
The Good
Test Drive what what the PC gaming community needed in 1987--a racing game that was both "serious" enough to be passed off as a simulation (barely), and "fun" enough to breathe some life into computer racing games. Racing games up to that point had been arcade toys, and not seriously considered.
A smattering of things I liked about the game: You can choose from a selection of 5 cars, all equally capable of blowing the police away. The "cutscene" graphics have very nicely-drawn side profiles of each car. The music over the PC speaker is pretty good. The transitional "dissolve" effect from one screen to the next is really neat, considering it's CGA.
The Bad
The scenery is extremely monotonous and boring--you're climbing up the side of a cliff for the entire game. It looks great initially, but a change in scenery would've been nice; roadsigns are sparse, and there's no underpass or tunnels to go through.
Another small gripe is that Test Drive is single-player only. You can't race a friend, even if sitting at the same PC.
(For the record, they did improve the scenery and 2-player options in Test Drive 2.)
The only real gripe I have with Test Drive (and all Distinctive Software, Inc. racing titles) is the controls. They all use an eight-way directional control, much like an arcade game. It's not quite as bad as a gamepad--your hard-left and hard-right motions aren't directly interpreted, but rather are applied to the wheel's overall position. Even so, it's very hard to drive a simulated car when you have pseudo-arcade controls to work with. I found myself constantly under- or over-steering. As a keyboard control mechanism, this is expected; for an analog joystick, it's completely unacceptable.
The Bottom Line
Test Drive spawned a sequel that adds scenery changes and 2-player options. First play Test Drive for a couple of minutes, then find the sequel and play that instead.
DOS · by Trixter (8952) · 1999
Not a very good game altogether.
The Good
Hmm -- well, the car selection is really, really cool, and I did play the game quite often on the 8088.
The Bad
The controls are sheer horror, the graphics are just crap (besides the car selection), the music/sfx (or lack thereof) doesn't add much to the general atmosphere either.
The Bottom Line
Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap. And a bit more crap. Stay the hell away from this one.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4538) · 1999
Driving For The Computer Impaired
The Good
Accolade hit pay dirt with this game. The forefather of the Test Drive series, and a few sub-species (Test Drive Off Road), this legend introduced the in-dash perspective to DOS gamers. A choice of the hottest cars at the time, a beat-the-clock ordeal, and plenty of traffic and cops to dodge, this game was a favorite of mine when I had my 386.
The Bad
The problem is I no longer own that 386, or most of the games that went with it, save the possibility of Lemmings. Compared to the games of today, you're looking at horrendous CGA or EGA 320x240 graphic modes, drive-you-nuts PC speaker audio, and a linear plot that after about two hours of playing, gets real boring next to the possibility of playing GTAIII.
The Bottom Line
If you're a classic nostalgia gamer, or you still have your 386, Test Drive is great. The rest of us can find a better DOS (or Windows) alternative.
DOS · by The Cheshire (5) · 2003
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
the father of the 90's racing games¿? | juan gabriel zelada vargas | Apr 5, 2023 |
Version 1.1 broken on DOSBox? | Daniel Saner (3503) | Oct 28, 2012 |
Weird screenshots on the cover art | 1xWertzui (1135) | Dec 1, 2011 |
Trivia
Commercial success
The game was awarded with an American Software Publishers Association's Gold Award for selling more than 100,000 units.
Awards
- ACE
- October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)
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Related Sites +
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IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Olivier Masse.
Amiga added by EboMike. Commodore 64 added by Quapil. Apple II added by Servo. PC-98 added by Unicorn Lynx. Atari ST added by Belboz.
Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Victor Vance, Jo ST.
Game added May 5, 1999. Last modified August 17, 2023.