Many have already forgotten what was the first part of the Test Drive series

Sometimes gamers ask where a certain game mechanics and aesthetics begins. And many of them actually began as simple computer games that made a revolution in the genre and immediately became a classic. It is always interesting to look back and see the origin of a certain mechanics or genre.

Test Drive was developed by DistINuctive Software under the publishing house Accolade. Title was originally released in 1987 for platforms such as Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and DOS. A year later, it was reprinted for Apple II and in 1989 for PC-98.

And the cover immediately indicates the 1st reason for the success of this game:

Yes, in this title you can control 5 cult sports cars, and on the cover they are shown.

The game in the game is longing simple: you choose between 5 sports cars and take one for a test drive to drive from the foot of a mountain pass to the top of the mountain.

The fleet in IRA consists of such brands: Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911, Lotus Esprit Turbo and Chevrolet Corvette C4. Before choosing a car, you can even see very detailed statistics about each machine ,:

And although each car is different, they drive almost nonukcasinosites.co.uk/casinos-not-on-gamstop/ the same. As far as I noticed, there is no fundamental difference between the controllability of each individual machine.

Driving simulation is trying to be as realistic as possible, driving with a first -person view (which was in a novelty at that time) and a mechanical gearbox. Yes, everything is true! Unlike most arcade racing titles, where the gear shift was automatic, in Test Drive you must independently switch the gears when accelerated. But be careful! If the car’s engine gains too much revolutions, you will break the engine of your car (windshield for some reason too).

The game has only one highway, the aforementioned mountain pass, with a rock on the right and a steep cliff on the left. So, that’s all you see behind the wheel, except for the rest of the cars and the road itself.

The game is divided into 5 stages, and your goal is to overtake other cars, avoid an accident and get to gas stations at the end of each stage. It seems easy, true? Well, you have a time limit for each stage, and you need to break the speed limit in order to successfully complete each stage. But the road-patrol service always monitors violations of the speed limit. Fortunately, you have an anti -player in the upper left corner, which will sound every time you pass by the police radar.

And then you have the opportunity to reduce or speed to avoid the radar (which can be fined after you get to the gas station at the end of each stage), or try to overtake patrol cars. But if you are overtaken by the patrol, you will receive a fine for speeding and lose time. Too many coupons and the game is over. In addition, the faster you go, the more points you will earn at the end.

The version of DOS is not very colorful, despite the use of EGA graphics, but the graphics and sound in the port of the computer amig are great.

Management could be better. Иногда болид не слушается руля, а иногда даже чрезмерно чувствителен на поворотах. However, using the gamepad is a little more convenient than the keyboard.

But in terms of the musical component Title, an inexpensive, and besides the title topic, which sounds great, there is no more music in the game, so get used to the sound of the engine during the game. That gets tired very quickly!

But Test Drive was innovative when he went out, due to a large selection of cars and the view from the cabin of the car that was in the novelty at that time. Title was a huge success, was highly appreciated by critics and was sold by a circulation of more than 100,000 copies. This strengthened the name Accolade in the video game industry and became a synonym for high -quality modeling.

Test Drive inspired other driving simulators such as the Need For Speed ​​series and many others.

Nevertheless, due to subsequent racing games that appeared after Test Drive, this part of the series quickly surpassed their own sequels and other car symbols.

Finally, some discovers of the rocky pass route in Need for Speed ​​3: Hot Pursuit were inspired by the mountain passage as a tribute to respect.