Test Drive 6 - PlayStation

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Test Drive 6 (PlayStation)
Also for: PC, Dreamcast
Viewed: 3D First-person / Third-person Genre:
Racing: Car
Arcade origin:No
Developer: Pitbull Syndicate Soft. Co.: Cryo
Publishers: Cryo (GB)
Released: 19 May 2000 (GB)
Ratings: 3+
Accessories: Analogue JoyPad, Memory Card
Features: Vibration Compatible

Summary

Along with the Need For Speed franchise, Test Drive seems to be a brand that will not lie down and die. Between the two licences there have been some infinitely playable experiences, and you would think that as time marches on, the quality of game-play and graphics would follow suit. Whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, one out of two isn’t bad…or should that be good? Anyhow, Test Drive 6 looks like it belongs on the Sega Saturn but is great fun to play. Go figure.

Did you ever want to challenge a dream sportster, a Ford GT40 perhaps, against a 70’s American muscle car such as a Dodge Charger, or slip behind the wheel of a Caterham street rod? Here’s your chance, and not only do you get to choose from a huge selection of fabulous motors (even the police cars are souped-up) you get to race around some imaginatively designed, if not wholly accurate courses. Visitors to Rome or London will know what I mean. However, this does not detract from the enjoyment.

There are several ways to play the game, but the most interesting are either to take the role of the cops and try to stop the racers, or buy a car at the beginning of tournament mode and drive like a man possessed to earn more money to get a more powerful car or upgrade your present one.

Despite its graphical failings, Test Drive 6 is near impossible to put down, much like developer Pitbull Syndicate’s brilliant Demolition Racer, with which it shares some of its idiosyncrasies, most notably the all-analogue or all digital control system: you cannot mix the two. Odd that.