After what has been a lengthy break for the franchise, Test Drive is back with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. It’s been roughly 13 years since Test Drive Unlimited 2 released and fans of the franchise, including myself, were eagerly awaiting Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s debut.
Does this racing game bring the iconic Test Drive Unlimited goodness back to the table and proudly wear the Solar Crown though? The answer to this is unfortunately not what you’d expect.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown
So now that Test Drive Unlimited is back, what exactly is the Solar Crown? The Solar Crown is the name of the racing championship that takes centre stage and is the star of the show. A very well-equipped racing organization has invited you, the player, to take part in their upcoming championship against numerous other pre-selected racers to win the Solar Crown title. The organization behind this championship has spared no expense in flying you out to Hong Kong and setting you up at an extremely glamorous hotel. Money? Apparently it’s not an issue at all for these guys and they take racing very seriously.
After a brief introductory sequence where you create your character, you’re introduced to Vivian Hughes, the glamourous boss in charge of the Solar Crown championship, you’ll be brought up to speed with how to drive by your trust A.I Alyss and off you go. Time to rack up some reputation and possibly join a racing clan in a 1:1 scale replica of Hong Kong island. More on the clans later.
First let’s dive into the racing.
When it comes to gameplay, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s racing feels quite fun when you’re driving at high speeds. Controlling the different cars on offer here is enjoyable and you do have to brake and control your acceleration when heading towards turns and bends. With that said, braking seems like it’s way too strong in-game and you should definitely be able to drift a bit more though that doesn’t seem to be the case here at all. I’ve played some terrible racing games over the years but at least Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s controls are serviceable.
However, while the basics are there, the rest of what makes Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown a Test Drive Unlimited game is nowhere to be seen. Gone are the police chases, gone are the hitchhiking missions, the deliveries, the fancy houses… You get the picture. The core identity of Test Drive Unlimited from yesteryear is blatantly missing from the game and while there is a lot that’s still enjoyable here, the most important things are bafflingly omitted.
While the cars and racing are fairly straightforward and enjoyable once you get the hang of it, there’s a system in the game which rewards you with more reputation and money if you handicap yourself. This honestly feels rather annoying more than anything else given the fact that the opponent A.I is lacklustre in general, it’s something that I don’t recommend bothering much with. Just take your time and enjoy the game at your own relaxed pace.
Gameplay in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown involves driving around the 1:1 scale Hong Kong Island while discovering gas stations, races, collectables, and more. There’s a lot to do in the game world and honestly, the best part about the Hong Kong Island in-game is that you can freely explore and discover things. If you haven’t been to Hong Kong Island before, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s replication is fairly accurate.
I noticed some big landmarks that I’ve personally visited before and they seem faithful enough. However, once again, the game is a bit of a letdown because everything seems devoid of anything that identifies the region as Hong Kong Island apart from the landmarks. The game world just seems dead and lacking in the actual culture of Hong Kong Island. There are a lot of copy-paste assets here too with multiple of the same type of shops or stores showing up on the ground floors of buildings and it completely ruins the immersion of the game.
Graphically, despite the game world and the cars looking visually pleasing, a lot more work could have been put into the game. Don’t expect mind-blowingly amazing graphics here. Even on the highest graphics settings available, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s visuals aren’t going to blow you away. Character models also look rather dated and the in-game character creator is not exactly the best out there. I would have liked some more customization options especially when it came to hairstyles.
Circling back to the cars and driving itself, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s car roster features over 30 different manufacturers. However, there are some big-name omissions here and this is disappointing to see especially when the game is set in Asia and has both street racing as well as professional style racing as an emphasis with the two clans in the game.
Speaking of the clans, the Sharps are the more sophisticated racers while the Streets are all about that flashy underground racing vibe. Players will have to get their attention by gaining a reputation and then take on specific challenges offered by the clans for unique rewards.
Getting around Hong Kong Island can be done in a breeze thanks to the fast travel system or alternatively and way more fun in my opinion, you can just drive across the island. Discovering new locations and taking in the sites is one of the best parts of the Test Drive Unlimited franchise and that holds true here in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown too.
The game does feature a photo mode but the options available to you are extremely disappointing. This is a barebones photo mode and you can barely do anything with it. If you want colour filters or options, you’re out of luck. There’s no such thing here and it was incredibly disappointing to see especially since the car models in the game look quite appealing.
Moving around showrooms on foot is done in a first-person view and honestly, this feels extremely lacklustre too. Showrooms are disappointing and walking from car to car is quite annoying when you should also just have the option to access all of them available for purchase straight from the front desk. How this wasn’t implemented in the game already is beyond me.
Moving onto the biggest gripe I have with the game. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is an online-only title. There is no offline single-player mode and this is honestly infuriating. It’s been more than a week since release and I’ve been thrown out to the lobby a few times when racing due to server disconnects.
The game’s performance also seems to be affected by the server since while racing, I’ve encountered inexplicable sudden frame rate drops which have cost me the race since one moment I’d be on the road and the next I’d be driving into a wall. KT Racing needs to implement an offline mode ASAP to the game and hopefully, this resolves the issue.
The gameplay loop in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is also not as satisfying as it should be. Trying to get new cars is a tedious grindy process and when a lot of the cars handle very similarly, the incentive just isn’t there to get anything new right now. Some major tweaks really need to be applied to the braking, turning/steering control here to differentiate the cars from each other a heck of a lot more.
The soundtrack in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown will definitely not be to everyone’s tastes. There are a few in-game radio stations and I particularly liked Retro Wave FM. Most of the music seems to be from smaller indie artists so don’t expect some big-name bangers here. The cars in the game sound great and the voice acting from Vivian and Alyss is not bad either.
Final Verdict
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is by no means a truly atrocious game. It’s just a game that needs a lot more work. It was previously delayed and it feels like it should have been delayed more to iron out the glaring design faults in it. Given the fact that a statement was already issued on the state of the game and that there’s an extensive roadmap planned, this is a title that you should probably only look at a few months down the line after all the problems have been solved. With all that said, I did actually have fun playing the game and I’m hoping to dive back in after a while to see how it’s faring.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Trailer
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