Atari is back with the new title Test Drive! Here it finally is and gamers that enjoy the street racing scene will be happy to have another great title of this genre come to the PS2. In Test Drive you take control of Dennis Black who is an independent streetcar racer who must take on other racers across the world in order to prove himself. His boss apparently was injured in a recent accident and asks you to take his place. You must then race against other street racers to gain their layoff notices to their vehicles. Race through the cities of San Francisco, Tokyo, London, and Monaco to earn respect from street riders across the world. And believe me, they will do anything to get into your head from trash talking to insane road maneuvers to ensure that you lose. Take control of the street-racing scene with an arsenal of highly powered muscle cars, to the sleek street performance vehicles. However, you must take heed, there are enough cops out there to make sure you find the quickest way to the jailhouse and not to the coveted finish line.

Now with the emergence of great racing titles that are out for the PS2 Test Drive offers something different. The street race excitement, along with the crazy tricks that can be preformed while in the race. The graphic presentation for this is great. The effects that had my eyes glued to the screen were the blurring effects. This really allows we gamers to feel the intensity that takes place on these wild street race circuits. The vehicle physics are great as well, to see the way the cars hug the road is fantastic. The vehicles in this game are real bad ass! You can find all the high-end muscle cars here; Corvette, GTO, Dodge Vipers, Camareo, and Jaguar just to name a few. To see the tricks that these vehicles can do is eye popping, to see a car leap off a transport truck is awesome. There are also good effects that may go missed if close attention is not paid to detail, road debris, smoke, vehicle debris bring realism to this street racing title. The different road environments are interesting as well; for example, the street racing in Tokyo is rough because all the street signs are in the appropriate language. This can be confusing because direction is the key, so you may have to learn the roads here. The lighting in this game is great to, the way in which natural sunlight or street light hit the vehicles makes it look very cool and add attitude to the game atmosphere. In the department of graphics, this game does deliver the goods.

The game play in this title is very user friendly; the controls are very straightforward. I mean, how hard could driving with the joystick be? All the controls for operation of the vehicle is through the x, triangle, square, circle buttons. If you feel that you are skilled enough then you may want to take on manual transmission. To upshift or downshift simply use the R1 and R2 buttons to do so. One area I would have liked to see was maybe to have the manual transmission operated through the R3 or L3 analog control on the dualshock joystick. That would have been hella cool! Maybe that can be thought of for the sequel if there is one in mind.

The sound is where this game does score big! The noise that you hear coming from these and the other sixteen vehicles that you are racing against is madding. Try playing this in stereo sound and be blown away just after the vehicles take off. The great thing about this title is also the use of today's hottest musicians in the music industry. You will be able to hear hot tracks from DMX, Bubba Sparxx, Ja Rule, Junkie XL, Saliva and more. This definitely sets the mood of this game. The music is off the hook and really pumps you up for the big race. Props to Atari and Infogrames for providing a great title but also some banging tracks to go along with it, Kudos!

If you are a fan of this genre then this game is for you. It may not be as technical as other titles such as Gran Turismo, but it allows anyone to come in and take a spin on the streets. That's the great thing about this title easy to learn easy to play and have fun!!! However, if you are into the tech stuff then you may go for the latter mentioned.