Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review

ign.com:

Nearly 10 years ago, former Need for Speed developer Ghost Games copped a kicking for making its 2015 series reboot online-only, even in single player. In response, its 2019 follow-up Need for Speed Heat did not require a persistent online connection. Earlier this year, Ubisoft decommissioned The Crew, making it impossible for owners to play from now on – even by themselves. The move wasn’t received well. This very week Ubisoft has confirmed The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will now get offline modes. In contrast to these course corrections, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown arrives in 2024 as another online-only racing game that seems to have little interest in being something that’s satisfying to play solo. It’s a baffling start and, despite a nice handling model and a lot of effort on display in its unique open world, it unfortunately doesn’t get any better.

The original Test Drive Unlimited was a pioneer of MMO, open world racing. It was the pioneer, really, and remarkably ahead of its time. However, despite being fondly remembered for its trendsetting online philosophy, 2006’s Test Drive Unlimited still had a dedicated single-player mode (one that remains accessible and playable offline today). It simply layered its multiplayer mode over the top of it.

The always-online Solar Crown is not built like this, and it’s infinitely poorer for it. There are AI opponents, but there’s no dedicated single-player mode to speak of – just a map full of events that other players may or may not hop into at the same time as you. During my time with it, prior to the standard edition release date, another player joining my race has actually been an extremely rare occurrence. But the threat of it is always there, because there’s no way to opt out.

This puts Solar Crown in a very weird place. It means that, even though my experience has almost exclusively been competing solo against the AI, I’m still burdened by all the foibles of online racing. This means lobby countdowns I can’t