Lot of musings from me on this one. Here's my detailed thoughts on this game...
Test Drive Unlimited 2 was a wonderful game, but a number of things kept it from being an all-time classic to me. I played it on the PlayStation 3. The one thing I can attest from TDU2 was that I had gotten to meet many people in my PSN Network than with any other game or service. I also found it repetitive that it seemed like if you didn't have a Bugatti Veyron, you weren't one of the "cool kids" in the game. I was still proud rocking my Koenigsegg even though I did have my own Veyron (nicknamed "Red Devil"). I felt for the inclusion of Ibiza, I think something more along the lines of Ibiza's popular electronic dance music (EDM) nightclub scene would have made the game a bit more appealing. Also, I even once set up a time trial for you to drive from Ibiza Pacha to Ibiza Space. Buying houses was just as interesting in TDU2. My favorite is the four-star house around a waterfall about northeast of downtown Honolulu. I got the Ibiza yacht besides the Hawaii one because the Ibiza yacht was cheaper to buy. I also find the game to look very lovely. The clothing options were laughable.
Car customization was very cool in TDU2. I had a few pretty nice machines I made designs for. While not every car had all the customization options, it was still very nice to customize my rides. The one thing I love about Test Drive Unlimited- in all honesty- is how detailed the cars are and in picking different car options are. A lot of car games let you select colors. Not many others, though, let you choose interior and wheel options. Even the most boring showrooms are still an absolute joy to go to. Certain options even cost a bit more in TDU2. Also of interest were finding the Wrecks in Ibiza and Oahu (Hawaii/Hawai'i). However, I wished the details weren't as vague in defining where some of the Wrecks were. Later with TDU2, motorcycles were introduced. I love Ducati, so I was pleased going two-wheels with a Ducati Desmosedici RR (one of my personal favorite motorcycles).
The AI and physics models were laughable. I even found it strange how just because the race starts up, it doesn't start automatically. You may have to wait a millisecond or two before you can actually launch off of the line. This is a game where I was scared to go over hills jumping. The car could possibly land funny to disrupt your speed. And it isn't like Test Drive Unlimited 2 is any kind of hardcore simulation, because this game is purely arcade. And then of course... there's the Solar Crown. The game is much more fun when the servers were active; but take away the server deals, and you're left with this uninspired, very boring Solar Crown championship. It goes to show you that you don't rely on multiplayer to make a game interesting. Once the servers get shut down, you have to offer something as interesting for when you go to offline play. TDU2 has not too much to offer outside of non-multiplayer features.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a great game that could have been much better. I want to say this game is middle-of-the-road, but some of its negatives bring it down further for me. This is tough what I'm about to do, but I'm going to rate this game a "D." If anything, you can call it a "high D" for me. I can't keep my opinion at a "C" for this game because of the different negatives that bring it down.
