TD Overdrive review

Critics of the Xbox will state that the American machine only caters for its home market by offering nameless games based around shooting, driving, fighting and sports that the rest of world doesnt play. Such games offer flashy visuals, loud music and immediate playability, but lack any long term options or creativity for the true gamer. To date I havent subscribed to such a consensus, but I believe TD Overdrive is the first possible candidate that I have come across.Jumping into your flash convertible and driving down the main drag, slowly past all the fine ladies, with the latest New Bomb Turks tunes blaring from your PA equivalent system, is a dream that many teenage boys have shared, well, except minus the New Bomb Turks. Whatever music you select, the attraction of the dream is clear to each and everyone of us. Yet a dream is what is remains, out of reach to most of us except the lucky few who can afford to buy and more importantly insure such a set of wheels. Others may recreate their own version with a Honda Civic or Nova inserted instead, for the rest of us this is where TD Overdrive comes in.The main mode is the Underground mode where you take the role of an illegal street racer, one of many who compete in cities across the world to become the champion. Your boss is also a street racer, but is on the injured list, thanks to a chance meeting with a tree, hence your current position. You accept his offer but are under immediate pressure to produce results on the track and impress your employer; failure to do so will result in you being sacked. The TD Overdrive racers are an exclusive collection of individuals, with the talent and bank balance to match their suitably large egos. They have come from across the world to participate in the ultimate illegal street racing series and in the Underground mode youll come to hate each, and everyone of them.The story in this mode is driven by a series of cut scenes, via your in car videophone and messages will also appear via this during the races themselves. The novelty soon wears off when you realise that each character only possesses two responses during the race. Races vary in terms of weather and length, some may be several laps whilst others are only a single lap in length. The introduction of police cars and roadblocks later in the proceedings, does little to spice up events, the AI is particularly poor and represents no serious challenge. The whole mode, with its story, is unfortunately superficial and skin deep, for instance while you are paid on the basis of your race finish; you have no need for the money, as you cannot spend it. It is little more than a glorified arcade mode with no rewards for progressing through each race. The game tries to offers something new by taking illegal racing and throwing in some Grand Theft Auto styled trimmings but it becomes neither, as both the racing and exploitative elements are poorly implemented.The courses are spread out over a series of cities, which youve seen before in Project Gotham Racing, namely San Francisco, London and Tokyo. Any comparison with the Bizzare Creations racer immediately ends there because TD Overdrive is inferior in every respect. Consistently I had to look down to check that the game was actually running on the Xbox because the evidence on screen didnt support such an assumption. The game may contain pedestrians and traffic but the graphics are particularly bland and reek of a PC title. Nothing strikes you as impressive; the sudden appearance of buildings or cars increases this belief. These cities looked far better and more realistic on Metropolis Street Racer, never mind its sequel. The course design is poorer than the circuits offered by Burnout and can be summarised easily; long straights and sharp corners.The races themselves try to offer a combination of Burnout speed with Project Gotham Racings realism and instead, unbelievably, what we receive is the worst example of street racing yet seen on the system. Where shall I start? Firstly, the opponent AI is very predictable and annoyingly they cluster in a pack, which tends to spoil the races and penalises you immediately for any mistakes. In one race I followed the lead car around the whole course and watched as he repeated the exact pattern, lap after lap. Part of the apparent attract of TD Overdrive is the carnage which you can create; slamming into other cars and watching them unrealistically bounce far down the road, or running through lamp posts and then grinding to a halt when you do the same to railings. Sometimes in manage to get stuck in the scenery, on one occasion my reverse gear refused to work, then after several attempts finally sprung into life. A special mention must go out to the arrow signs, which inform you of the way to turn; these frequently pop up and due to their nature can be unclear, until its too late. The handling of each sporty car is atrocious, Id be better served by taking a Sherman tank out, these things do not respect turning of any sort and require heavy braking. At least this is consistent throughout each model on offer; my fiance after several attempts at controlling a car commented that the game is balls and wanted to go back to Burnout. For once, I could not agree more.So far not so good, but surely I must have some good things to say out the game? The graphics, for what they represent, move at a decent frame rate and the loading screens are a particular highlight. Due to this game sporting the Atari label, which I was lead to believe would only be bestowed on high quality games, the loading screens allow you to engage in a game of Pong. This alone is worth a point on the overall score and never before have I longed for a loading screen. The overall use of sound is good and the selection of artists, which range from Moby to Ja Rule and even Junkie XL, is reasonable enough; still no catering for those wishing to use their own tunes.As a racing game, TD Overdrive doesnt even manage the fifth row of the starting grid, and cannot be recommended when Project Gotham Racing or even Burnout are both available for the Xbox. The format needs more original and satisfying releases but this, even with Pong, falls way short of my expectations.