It's a huge week of games for PSP, and one of the more hotly anticipated titles in the Infrastructure-enabled Test Drive Unlimited. The game, which should be in stores today or tomorrow, has the potential to deliver an incredible experience that simulates the experience of a next-gen game. TDU promises to allow players to jump in anywhere at any time within the virtually recreated island of Oahu.
Cross your fingers: we want this game to be good.
Aloha to one more Test Drive trailer
Test Drive Unlimited trailer
You've seen all our coverage so far: Test Drive: Unlimited attempts to recreate all of the functionality, online and off, of its console brethren, and from what we've heard so far: it's succeeding. Being able to drive anywhere, anytime, in Oahu certainly sounds ambitious, but does this first trailer carry the same excitement that the concept does? You be the judge by watching the trailer, after the break. The (delayed) game is now coming out April 17.
Test Drive Unlimited is un-limited on PSP
"God knows how they've done it, but they've done it. Melbourne House, that sage studio of Australian game development, has crammed just about all of the features of the Xbox 360 version onto Sony's handheld. What's more, while the graphics engine lacks the sophistication of the full-sized version, it still captures the lush palm forests, beach fronts and rolling hills of Oahu. The roads, all 1000-plus kilometres of them, are populated by plenty of traffic and the draw distance is mind-boggling. Truly, this is a faithful representation of the Unlimited world. Insane."
IGN's preview of Test Drive Unlimited on PSP is more than glowing. To think that the game's free-roaming, Infrastructure-enabled, racing game would work on the PSP is mind-blowing. Although IGN notes that the framerate suffers when there's a lot of cars, this is an impressive feat, and I can't wait to see more. Test Drive Unlimited races to the PSP on February 20th.
Test Drive Unlimited's Infrastructure multiplayer excites
Publishers have been slow to embrace Infrastructure multiplayer on the PSP. However, recent releases like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Medal of Honor: Heroes have opened up the portable to truly exciting online worlds. Atari's upcoming Test Drive Unlimited will attempt to bring the console's massive open internet world over to the portable. IGN's Developer Diary (please take with a giant grain of salt) explains the team's ambitions: "You can race around the entire island in a single session without seeing a loading screen... Once you go online you'll be seeing other PSP players immediately in free-ride, no need to set up complicated sessions or looking for servers, we look after that for you."
If the development team can deliver on such an incredible premise, Test Drive Unlimited may be worth a look. The game will hit PSP in February.
