We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Test Drive II: The Duel
Test Drive II, developed by Distinctive Software Inc, published by Accolade in 1989. 1990 also saw the release of 'Test Drive II: The Collection' which includes the game, two Scenery and two car expansion packs which were also sold separately.
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Player's Review
" Head-to-head racing with the world's fastest production cars! The Ferrari F40: The Porsche 959. The fastest production cars ever built. Both are capable of traveling 200 mph. Both are capable of nailing 60 mph in less than four seconds. Which car is king? The Duel: Test Drive II pits the fastest ever Ferrari against the fastest ever Porsche in a race that has only been run in the minds of engineers and enthusiasts. Until now. You're behind the wheel of the most technologically advanced supercars on earth, rocketing down roads that are as eye- catching and dangerous as the vehicles themselves."
Accolades answer to Turbo Outrun as you race your Ferrari F40 against the Porsche 959 in first person view cross country whilst avoiding police out to ruin your day.
Test Drive 2 proved to be a bit to ambitious on the C64 with poor performance making the game feel sluggish and hardly playable, no where near as enjoyable as the original game. However, running the game on a C128 (in C64 mode) the game can take advantage of 2mhz mode for a slightly smoother ride which really does make the game more playable.
Unlike the first game, Test Drive II is expandable with extra courses and cars to choose from which does help with game replay ability and the base game is a bit stingy with only two cars to choose from. That said, that's only for the disk release as the Tape game has no options for extra courses or cars. Presentation wise, I think the game had been built around the tape game with no extras like the original game had. Only notable difference apart from expandability between disk and tape that I notice is the Ferrari in the intro doesn't have animated wheels. The pit stop images appear to be based off the original test drive tape game as well.
The biggest difference between the The original game and this sequel is the controls. Anything other than minute movements will cause the car to lose traction and you lose a lot of speed as you try to correct the angle and this is also hampered by auto centering. The police are can be even harder to escape from and crashing into them is an instant Game Over. The game does have variable difficulty which helps to balance amount of car traffic and police presence at cost of overall awarded points.
In the longplay, I show playing through all three courses in race mode choosing different cars in each. I don't show every car this time as there are to many. Overall not a great c64 version as I think all the effort went in to the Amiga game. Also, I don't think the dashboard views are as well done as the original game. The game is a little better running on a C128 machine though.
00:00:00 Master Scenery
00:20:25 California Challenge
00:47:55 European Challenge
01:18:00 lead up to Game over
Accolades answer to Turbo Outrun as you race your Ferrari F40 against the Porsche 959 in first person view cross country whilst avoiding police out to ruin your day.
Test Drive 2 proved to be a bit to ambitious on the C64 with poor performance making the game feel sluggish and hardly playable, no where near as enjoyable as the original game. However, running the game on a C128 (in C64 mode) the game can take advantage of 2mhz mode for a slightly smoother ride which really does make the game more playable.
Unlike the first game, Test Drive II is expandable with extra courses and cars to choose from which does help with game replay ability and the base game is a bit stingy with only two cars to choose from. That said, that's only for the disk release as the Tape game has no options for extra courses or cars. Presentation wise, I think the game had been built around the tape game with no extras like the original game had. Only notable difference apart from expandability between disk and tape that I notice is the Ferrari in the intro doesn't have animated wheels. The pit stop images appear to be based off the original test drive tape game as well.
The biggest difference between the The original game and this sequel is the controls. Anything other than minute movements will cause the car to lose traction and you lose a lot of speed as you try to correct the angle and this is also hampered by auto centering. The police are can be even harder to escape from and crashing into them is an instant Game Over. The game does have variable difficulty which helps to balance amount of car traffic and police presence at cost of overall awarded points.
In the longplay, I show playing through all three courses in race mode choosing different cars in each. I don't show every car this time as there are to many. Overall not a great c64 version as I think all the effort went in to the Amiga game. Also, I don't think the dashboard views are as well done as the original game. The game is a little better running on a C128 machine though.
00:00:00 Master Scenery
00:20:25 California Challenge
00:47:55 European Challenge
01:18:00 lead up to Game over
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