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By Lonnie on October 24th, 2001
Introduction While the Playstation 2 has GT3 the Dreamcast has Test Drive Le Mans. TDLM is one heck of a game. While it is far from being as detailed as GT3 it is probably the best you can get on the Dreamcast, and after a very lacking Sega GT Dreamcast owners all around the globe are in need of a decent racing game. It may not be the most polished but it manages two things, first it adds features not seen in other racing titles, and still manages to look good doing it. Presentation Everything is laid out, as you would expect from most Test Drive games. However TDLM has a lot more depth to it allowing you custom options to tweak to your hearts desire. Again while it does allow you to play with settings, it is not a tweaker’s fantasyland such as GT3. What really sets this game apart from the rest is the official license of the "24 heures du mans," what would a racing game be without the inclusion of the world-famous Le Mans Circuit, as well as 9 other ACO approved tracks.Graphics & Sound Without an emotion engine, Infogrames has pulled off a lot of detail from our dying white box. The tracks are very detailed with all the things you would expect in high resolution too. While in my opinion it does not look near as good as GT3 its pretty damn close! The cars are well modeled too. You can see the headlamps, tires, rear spoilers, and so on with great details. More importantly, you can see your driver in detail. When you bump into an opponent you can see him waving his arms as if screaming obscene gestures towards you. Which brings me to another feature that only TDLM has, that is 24 cars on screen at one time, why didn’t the developers of GT3 think of this? The engine sounds are real enough for me. I really don’t know what a Le Mans car sounds like up close but in all respects this is a lot better than recording a playing card clipped to the rear wheel of a bicycle. Tire screeches, Wall Rides, and the occasional bump-n-go all sound good as well. The music however is a lot of techno beats, which keeps you motivated during the race, however some more music tracks or a little variety would do nicely to the overall sound of the game.Gameplay "Cletus this ain’t no Daytona!" well cletus your right. While this game does have a very arcadey feel to it, the fact of the matter is, its still a Sim game. There are over forty different cars to choose from each with its own attributes. With five modes of play Le Mans fans cannot go wrong here. Compete for the fastest lap in Time Trial, or jump straight into action with Quick Race. Along with those two modes are Championship, Le Mans, and Multiplayer. TDLM makes use of all four controller ports on the Dreamcast allowing for four-player action with almost no slowdown.Lasting Appeal Well, if four modes of play, other than multiplayer, are not enough for you, how about the Le Mans track time variations, and secrete cars? Yes, Replayability is a strong point with TDLM. But if your sick and tired of anything with tires then wait a few weeks, maybe go play Tomb Raider, when you come back you should be prepared.Conclusion While the dreamcast is ever fading into our memories. There is still a lot of life in the system. Remember it is not the hardware that is killing the Dreamcast it’s the lack of software and public support. So it’s getting pretty rare when we get a game that makes use of the Dreamcast’s full potential. We all really wish there were more people on the side of the Dreamcast. But alas, were not in control of the money, and we wouldn’t want to loose money either. So while prices are low and hardware is still available add this game to your list of must have titles this holiday season.
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