Test Drive II - The Duel

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Test Drive II is one of the best driving games (in first-person perspective) the 16bits shown back in 1989. Your main goal is to beat the opponent by choosing a supercar, either the Porsche 959 or the Ferrari F40. You must reach the next checkpoint accomplishing better times than your opponent while you must also be careful of the incoming traffic and the police patrols. You have five lives to complete the selected track. Crash, run out of gas or blow your engine up and you'll lose a life instantly plus a time penalty. Accolade have also created various mission disks, with more cars and more levels available to enrich the game.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The PC MS-DOS version offers good visuals with up to 16 colors on-screen (as the Apple IIGS version). The perspective is from inside the car and is presented with impressive details that prompt to reality. All indications from gear shifting to torque changing are shown in a realistic way. The surroundings are pretty decent, with cars on or opposite your way, trees, mountains etc. Comparably, the PC version cannot compete the ST and Amiga as Test Drive II looks way better in terms of colors and details mainly because of the ST's and Amiga's advanced color palette and graphics hardware (note that the MS-DOS version runs only on EGA which features 16 colors in-total). Soundwise, the game does not offer any sampled ambient or engine sounds as found on the Amiga, Apple IIGS and Atari ST. Nevertheless, I liked the PC's sound, which makes the game quite impressive.