GamersMark was sent a demo of Test Drive: Eve of Destruction from the people at Atari, and naturally I got to play it. Is it looking good so far, or does it look like it’s going to be a complete miss? Read on.
I wasn’t too excited about Test Drive initially. Races were easy to place in first, and enemy cars couldn’t wait to crash into each other (in the Suicide Race; check it out below). But soon I realized that the point of the game wasn’t exactly to finish before everyone else. You’re supposed to crash into others. You’re supposed to wreck their vehicles until they can’t run anymore. Once I found that out, I started having a little fun.
Here’s what I mean. There’s a little bar on the bottom of the screen that says "Hits". You need to crash other cars to fill up that meter. Once it fills up, you’ll have one hit ("Hit x 1"). Repeat, and get as creative as you like. In each stage, you need a certain amount of hits which are combined to make Reputation Points to get an "unlockable". And that, my friend, is your incentive to completely trash the opposing cars on your way to stardom.
Test Drive: Eve of Destruction emphasizes the "destruction" aspect of the game. Obviously, your car won’t become crippled and beat up, but you do have a damage bar. This bar decreases as you take more hits, and when it does, well, you lose. I did once, but only for the sake of confirming my prediction. So that’s my excuse.
The Test Drive demo offered four games, the one standing out the most being the Demolition Derby. I’ll tell you about that one, but first...
Figure 8 Jump
You’re racing on a track shaped in a figure-eight. The catch is that there is a jump in the center of the eight. When you fly over that pit, other cars might crash into you in mid-air, which is, by the way, what the game wants to happen. So that’s it - nothing else here.
Suicide Surprise
You’ll be driving on an oval track. Yes it’s a regular race. But here’s the catch (yes, again). While you are going in one direction, another group of cars will be traveling the other way, towards you. Therefore, there will be chances that you will crash into other people. The computers certainly did. I found that this mode was the easiest to rack up hit points. And by the way, I’ve found the secret to getting first place--just make sure you wreck everybody else’s car.
Jump Race
A regular race, except the track is a bit different. First, there’s the Hump, simply a hill angled slightly to one direction. If you go too fast, your car could flip over on its side. Next there’s the jump, where if you go over it too quickly may result in your vehicle spinning. Pretty easy, not too difficult to place in first if you set your mind to it.
Demolition Derby
This was my favorite mode out of all four. As you can see in the name, this is self-explanatory. It’s not? Ok, fine, let me tell you (sigh). You’re in a closed ring with a bunch of other cars. You have to crash other people until their car stops running. Last man (car) standing (running) wins. This mode was fun, although I’ve seen something like it before (in a game called, uh, Destruction Derby for the Playstation).
The handling of cars in Test Drive isn’t too great, but it’s acceptable. But anyway, it’ll make you be careful of spinning out on turns and the like.
After finishing all four events, I formed a slightly negative impression of this game and predicted that it is probably going to be just average. However, it could deliver a few surprises that will appeal to many people. We’ll see.
Test Drive will include 24 events, including ones such as soccer and school bus racing. It will also have special cars like the ambulance and hearse among the 26 vehicles that can be chosen.
Test Drive will feature a career mode, where you have to earn money and respect. There are also 14 stages that you can race on in the game. Add on a multiplayer option with four players, and that’s the whole game in a nutshell.
That’s about all I learned from the demo, and now you know everything I know. I have to tell you though - I wasn’t fully impressed with this game, and it might just receive about a 7.0 (or lower) as a final score from GamersMark. However, being priced at 40 dollars, there is a chance that it could be worth your money.
Wait for a GamersMark review before you do anything with this game.
