Test Drive II: The Collection
Test Drive II - The Collection consisting of 'The Duel and Expansion packs - European Challenge, California Challenge, The Muscle Cars and The Supercars. developed by Distinctive Software and published by Accolade in 1990.
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Player's Review
"The Duel pits two of the fastest production cars ever built in head-to-head road racing - the Ferrari F40 against the Porsche 959. A race that until now has only been run in the minds of engineers and fast car fanatics. Blast down roads filled with some of the most detailed scenery, whilst keeping a watchful eye on such precarious hazards as loose gravel, oil slicks, lack of gas and worst of all, the dreaded police. Race against the clock, or against a Ferrari or Porsche. Cockpit perspective enables you to feel the performance of these powerful machines. Exceed speeds of 190mph. Drive through bone-dry deserts, majestic mountains & lush forest.
EUROPEAN CHALLENG - Here, driving is a passion and speed limits are posted only to challenge the driver. Wind through the green meadows of the Netherlands. Blast by the beaches of the French Riviera. Descend into the mountainous valleys of Switzerland. Open it up on the world famous German Autobahn.
CALIFORNIA CHALLENGE - This accessory disc exclusively for use with The Duel: Test Drive Il enters drivers in an adventurous seven leg road race down the scenic coast of California where they will witness such sights as the California/Oregon border, The Trees of Mystery, Santa Barbara and finally the Mexican border.
MUSCLE CARS - Here are five more street-scorching legends for The Duel. Includes the "63 Corvette"", "Sting Ray", "Split Window Coupe", the "68 Shelby GT500 Cobra", the "67 Pontiac GTO", the "69 Coupe 9560 ZL-1 Camaro and the "69 Dodge Charger Daytona.
THE SUPERCARS - Five new machines for Test Drive III Choose between an '88 Lotus Turbo Esprit, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911
RUF, '88 Lamborghini Countach 5000S or a little ol' '89 Corvette ZR1. Whatever your choice, you're guaranteed the white knuckle ride of a lifetime."
Like the previous game, Test drive II was released on pretty much all the home systems of the early 90s. That's not to say it should have done as on most platforms it is unplayable slow and even on a stock A500 it doesnt run all that great although the base game runs far better than the European Challenge which cuts the framerate in half. A sit is a US developed game im playing in NTSC with a little fastmem which should give it a boost, but its barely noticeable. The WHDload version is being played on an A600 with Fastmem in order to keep an era appropriate speed and making the management of the expansions much easier.
The Duel consists of you and another racer in a high speed race through multiple courses consisting of winding roads, tunnels and cliffs with fuel station separating each segment. your goal is to get the best overall time so you don't need to win each race, but it helps. To slow you down the roads will be full of traffic and police but that's not all as if you hit the curb badly or a rock you will lift off the road momentarily causing your engine to over rev and eith blow or take severe damage if you manage to let go of the accelerator in time. The quicker you win, the higher the score. You take a score penalty for any crashes or speeding tickets. You can also choose to play against the clock just like the previous game. Before each race you can choose yours and the opponents cars. The base game only comes with two but you can increase it to twelve with the two car expansion packs. There are also two addition scenery packs which expands the game with more courses. The California tracks are not so bad, not much police and the roads are not to bendy. But the European tracks, they are on another level. Loads of tight corners, more traffic, loads of police and the previously mentioned massive slowdown, no doubt due to the extra scenery.
The Longplay first shows off the base game racing in the Porsche 911. Following its completion I show The European Challenge in the Corvette ZR1 and then the California Challenge in the Corvette Stingray. There are a few crashes here and there and the odd speeding ticket.
Overall, it's a game I enjoyed back in the 90s when we didn't give much though to framerates and just got on with playing it. Now I find it a bit frustrating as you try to fend off the opposing car and weave through traffic. The test drive games got a lot of play on both my C64 and Amiga back then. I never had the game on Spectrum which was probably a good thing.
00:00:00 Titles
00:02:06 The Duel - Porsche 911
00:22:10 European Challenge - Corvette ZR1
00:47:22 California Challenge - Corvette Stingray
EUROPEAN CHALLENG - Here, driving is a passion and speed limits are posted only to challenge the driver. Wind through the green meadows of the Netherlands. Blast by the beaches of the French Riviera. Descend into the mountainous valleys of Switzerland. Open it up on the world famous German Autobahn.
CALIFORNIA CHALLENGE - This accessory disc exclusively for use with The Duel: Test Drive Il enters drivers in an adventurous seven leg road race down the scenic coast of California where they will witness such sights as the California/Oregon border, The Trees of Mystery, Santa Barbara and finally the Mexican border.
MUSCLE CARS - Here are five more street-scorching legends for The Duel. Includes the "63 Corvette"", "Sting Ray", "Split Window Coupe", the "68 Shelby GT500 Cobra", the "67 Pontiac GTO", the "69 Coupe 9560 ZL-1 Camaro and the "69 Dodge Charger Daytona.
THE SUPERCARS - Five new machines for Test Drive III Choose between an '88 Lotus Turbo Esprit, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911
RUF, '88 Lamborghini Countach 5000S or a little ol' '89 Corvette ZR1. Whatever your choice, you're guaranteed the white knuckle ride of a lifetime."
Like the previous game, Test drive II was released on pretty much all the home systems of the early 90s. That's not to say it should have done as on most platforms it is unplayable slow and even on a stock A500 it doesnt run all that great although the base game runs far better than the European Challenge which cuts the framerate in half. A sit is a US developed game im playing in NTSC with a little fastmem which should give it a boost, but its barely noticeable. The WHDload version is being played on an A600 with Fastmem in order to keep an era appropriate speed and making the management of the expansions much easier.
The Duel consists of you and another racer in a high speed race through multiple courses consisting of winding roads, tunnels and cliffs with fuel station separating each segment. your goal is to get the best overall time so you don't need to win each race, but it helps. To slow you down the roads will be full of traffic and police but that's not all as if you hit the curb badly or a rock you will lift off the road momentarily causing your engine to over rev and eith blow or take severe damage if you manage to let go of the accelerator in time. The quicker you win, the higher the score. You take a score penalty for any crashes or speeding tickets. You can also choose to play against the clock just like the previous game. Before each race you can choose yours and the opponents cars. The base game only comes with two but you can increase it to twelve with the two car expansion packs. There are also two addition scenery packs which expands the game with more courses. The California tracks are not so bad, not much police and the roads are not to bendy. But the European tracks, they are on another level. Loads of tight corners, more traffic, loads of police and the previously mentioned massive slowdown, no doubt due to the extra scenery.
The Longplay first shows off the base game racing in the Porsche 911. Following its completion I show The European Challenge in the Corvette ZR1 and then the California Challenge in the Corvette Stingray. There are a few crashes here and there and the odd speeding ticket.
Overall, it's a game I enjoyed back in the 90s when we didn't give much though to framerates and just got on with playing it. Now I find it a bit frustrating as you try to fend off the opposing car and weave through traffic. The test drive games got a lot of play on both my C64 and Amiga back then. I never had the game on Spectrum which was probably a good thing.
00:00:00 Titles
00:02:06 The Duel - Porsche 911
00:22:10 European Challenge - Corvette ZR1
00:47:22 California Challenge - Corvette Stingray
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