Early Driving Games #7

Test Drive (1987)
By: Accolade Genre: Driving Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari ST First Day Score: 7,460
Also Available For: Amiga, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Apple II

There are a few games you could credit with the surge in popularity of racing games on home systems during the 90's but the one that sticks in my mind most is probably The Need For Speed on the 3DO. Not only was this unexpected release fantastic but it was also quite realistic. The many, many sequels that followed it soon went down the manic, arcadey route rather than continuing the approach of the original and this is also true of most of the similar games that starting appearing. Amongst my favourite of these were the Test Drive games on the PlayStation. The series had undergone a 'reboot' around this time (purely coincidental, I'm sure) but the first games in the series actually had a lot more in common with the original NFS.

Aaarrrghhh, get on the right side of the road!

In fact, I had forgotten just how similar the two titles are until I played Accolade's game for the first time in about twenty years for this review! There's no options before starting the game aside from one important one - the selection of your car. The choices here include many of the supercar favourites of the day - Porsche 911, Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarossa, Corvette, and the good old Lotus Esprit Turbo. Each comes with a detailed stats screen to help you make your choice, after which you're on the road, ready to go. The game is viewed from the driver's perspective and each car can only be driven with manual gears, and it's a full gearbox too, not the usual 'low' and 'hi' gears! There are five stages altogether with each separated by a stop at a 'gas' station where you'll discover your average speed and points earned.

$130,000? I'll take two...

The stages are all segments of the same road which winds along a clifftop, movie-stylee - one side is sheer rock with the other side presumably consisting of a drop of equal sheerness! Normal traffic passes along the road in both directions now and then, although it's not too busy, and there are also police radars which will summon a police car if you go too fast. There's no time limit or other vehicles to race so you can approach the presence of the rozzers one of two ways: either go too slowly to bother them, or the way I'm sure most gamers will choose - go as fast as possible to outrun them! The supercar you're driving isn't a Daytona stock-car that will bounce around all over the place though - they're very delicate things, even more so than I would've thought. Not only does hitting the rock face or another car cause you to crash (indicated by a smashed windscreen) but even revving the engine too high will result in obscured vision too!

Get overtaken by the fuzz and it's all over...

Fans of the original Need For Speed will no doubt find most of this very familiar but it appears that Accolade got there first! Indeed, Test Drive must have surely been the first ever 'supercar simulator' and it's the opportunity to drive these amazing cars that provides the game's biggest draw. To that end, it's a pretty good game. Each of the cars handles differently and the roads, which later on feature the odd oil spill or pothole, are good fun to drive along. Graphically, I remember being mightily impressed with this all those years ago but the intervening years have seen it age considerably. The presentation screens are still lovely but the in-game aesthetics less so. The oncoming cars (and occasional big rig) aren't too bad but the scaling can be quite poor. If you're travelling at any decent speed they'll often seem to appear from nowhere prompting panic-lunges to try and get out of the way in time!

Yeah, yeah, I know, but it was my first try!

Don't think that the absence of any kind of time-limit means you can crash as often as you want either - five wrecks equals game over here! Talking of which, one area that Need For Speed improved dramatically is the crashes. EA's game was famous for its spectacular comings together but the spectacle here begins and ends with the broken glass in front of you. Even the track-sides and backgrounds are rather dull too, and the sense of speed isn't great, although there is a handy rear-view mirror. So, the visuals might have aged somewhat, which is understandable with this kind of game, but I'm confident the audio was never any good, or at least this version. There are a couple of short (and not especially nice) tunes but the in-game sound is restricted to a horrible engine sound and that's it! So, this is certainly one to play with the sound turned down, but is it one to play at all?

Well, the truck driver seems pretty happy...

Well, like NFS, I think Test Drive was probably made as more of a technical showcase than as a thrilling and involving racing game. Accordingly, there's really not much to it - no opponents, no car upgrades, no forked roads, and certainly nothing as radical as a championship or tournament mode. What there is, though, is pretty good. No time-limit or opponents also means you can relax and drive how you want to rather than be forced to tear through the stages like a maniac, although having said that, the between-stage pit-stops do encourage you to up the ante (as well as provide the odd lairy 'motivational' comment) and the lure of improving your average speed is quite strong. It is all over pretty quickly though, so that, along with the number of superior examples of the genre on the ST and Amiga, means that this original probably won't hold your attention for long.

RKS Score: 6/10