Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open (Xbox)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.8 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Shane Satterfield
• Reviewed on: 11/30/2001
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 11/14/2001
• Originally published on GameSpot: Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open (Xbox) Review

The Test Drive series has always been known as a pick-up-and-play driving franchise, and it was only a matter of time before Infogrames took the series off the paved highway and into the dirt. Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open was released for the PlayStation 2 earlier this year, and Infogrames wasted no time in porting it to the Xbox, and in many ways it shows. Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open is an adequate introduction to arcade racing on the Xbox, but its lack of gameplay depth, its punishing AI, and its conservative graphics keep it from attaining greatness.

For an arcade driving game, Off-Road Wide Open has a healthy number of gameplay modes, including an exclusive mode just for the Xbox version. The primary one-player selection is the career mode where you pick a truck and hit the circuit. There are 12 licensed vehicles to choose from at the outset, including an old-school Ford Bronco, a Chevy Blazer, a Hummer, a Ford F-150, a Dodge Durango, a Jeep CJ5, and several more. There's also a hidden garage full of exotic off-road machines, including a monster truck, a Humvee, and the Dodge T-Rex. As you complete each circuit of races with an overall placing of third or better, the next circuit or event is unlocked. Cash is awarded after placing in each race, and the money can then be used to upgrade your existing truck to three different levels or to buy an entirely new one. If you've completely blown a race, you can choose to retry it, but it will cost you money. As you progress farther into the game, fewer continues are made available per circuit.

Trucks are rated in climbing, top speed, acceleration, and handling. Choosing the right truck for the terrain in each circuit becomes essential in the later portions of the career mode. You can sell trucks for the same price you bought them, which facilitates the ability to swap vehicles at will. The trucks are fairly accurate where their ratings are concerned, but it's impossible to tweak any of their attributes. This can make things a bit frustrating at times due to the wide range of terrain present in each circuit, but it also increases the importance of prudently selecting your bogging machine.

The object of each race is to negotiate a series of gates, but how you get from one gate to the next is entirely up to you. Using shortcuts wisely is the key to succeeding at Wide Open, and it's good to see an off-road game that actually rewards you for exploration. But the gameplay is certainly not perfect. The computer AI is irritating and will go out of its way to knock you off the road--even at the expense of its own lap times. The rate at which new trucks are unlocked can also lag a bit behind the competition, so you're forced to master tracks using the game's simplistic play mechanics and endure random crashes without the advantage of customization. Thanks to plenty of near-vertical slopes scattered throughout the courses, a lot of time is spent in the air. To maintain speed after especially high drops, you can adjust your truck's orientation to the ground with the right analog stick. It's a simple system, but it adds some semblance of depth to an otherwise pure arcade experience. The truck physics are slightly exaggerated, but each mudder still reacts differently to the terrain. The quick-but-light Jeep is hard to keep under control when getting bounced around, but a heavier pickup truck will hug the knolls more tightly.

The stadium mode is exclusive to the Xbox version of Test Drive Off-Road and is one of the most exciting parts of the entire game. This mode takes place on motocross-styled indoor dirt tracks, and up to four players can bang it out at once. Using the brakes is rarely required in the career mode, but in the stadium mode you begin to appreciate the control a little more as you are forced to negotiate tighter turns. Other multiplayer modes include races on any of the unlocked tracks and a king-of-the-hill mode. Racing against the brutal computer AI in career mode may be a drag at times, but the multiplayer modes give the game some form of replay value.

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Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open (Xbox): $19.99 - $34.01

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	$34.01	Yes
	$19.99	Yes

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