Let’s get one thing clear from the start; I love Test Drive Unlimited 2. More so than the first one, which is saying something. Just the addition of another island was enough for me but it’s a better looking, far more “focused” game than the first one which was, at times, something of a sprawling mess.

However, there is one particular aspect of the sequel that is annoying me immensely.

No, it’s not the fact that you have to drive by a dealership, car wash etc to unlock it (mainly cause it gives you impetus to go out and find things, which given that there is so much more to do this time around, is a good thing)

No, it is not the fact that you have to find all the roads in Hawaii/Oahu again (ok, this is slightly annoying but understandable to a degree as unlocking all the roads would kill the progression somewhat)

No, it’s not the myriad of bugs and “oddities” that seem to litter the game. A game this massive is bound to have a few bugs in the system. And there are a couple in there, to say the least. I seem to have avoided some of the worst so far, thankfully.

No, the most annoying aspect of this sequel are the characters who all seem to be the most vacuous, hateful group of people I’ve encountered in a gme for a long time. Sorry, that’s unfair. They’re not vacuous and hateful. They’re smug, vacuous, annoying, cliched, one dimensional and hateful. That’s better!

And it doesn’t help either that every single one of them looks absolutely identical. It’s almost as if two people have populated the entire populations of Ibiza & Oahu themselves. Ok, maybe I’m being a bit harsh but when you decide to base the whole game round these 8 or so people, you would at least except some kind of plot or characterisation, otherwise what is the point?

I guess that leads onto another point about how every single game now MUST have a plot of some kind to somehow justify it, in much the same way as every single game a few years back MUST be a open world game, merely because that’s what everyone else is doing. If there is no justifiable reason for it to be in the game, then it shouldn’t be there. Or if it must be there, then put some effort into it.

Anyway, if you’re after a game to sink the best part of 300 hours into then you can’t go wrong with TDU2. Just skip every cutscene and turn down the character voices, ok?