''TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed'' (Released in North America as simply ''Test Drive'') is a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed by

Pitbull Syndicate Midway Studios Newcastle Limited (originally Pitbull Syndicate) was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. History Pitbull Syndicate was formed in December 1996 by an ensemble of programmers and artists with extensive exp ...

and published by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Gameplay

Like its previous incarnations, ''TD Overdrive'' focused on illegal street racing, dodging traffic, and evading the police. It also featured real life locations for its tracks:

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. A fully playable version of ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...

'' was also included in the loading screens. Cars from

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

make a return after being absent from ''

Test Drive 6 ''Test Drive 6'' is a racing video game developed by Pitbull Syndicate for PlayStation, Microsoft Windows and Dreamcast. In the United States the game was published by Infogrames North America, while in Europe the game was published by Cryo Inte ...

'' as playable cars, but the returning cars may be the same models, but are still the same generation of the models and may be different model years of the cars. This was the first entry in the franchise to feature a story mode in addition to the arcade mode. Players assumed the role of Dennis Black, a San Franciscan street racer. Black races in an exclusive street racing club on the behalf of another driver named Donald Clark, who had been injured during a race against Vasily Raskolnikov, one of the club's most feared drivers. As Black's victories start to amount, he hears rumors from other drivers that Clark is simply using him to beat Raskolnikov and win his prized

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two ...

. After Black wins against Raskolnikov, the rumors are proven true as Clark admits to Black that he had been using him just to obtain the Viper. Black then challenges Clark for everything that he has gained over his career, including the Viper. After a series of races set across all four cities, Black wins and Clark surrenders the Viper.

Development

The game was originally announced on 16 March 2001, for a release within the fall on the

. On 24 April, Infogrames announced that the title would also be released on the

, where it would feature graphical upgrades over the PS2 version. Both versions were shown off publicly at

E3 2001 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishe ...

and at Infogrames' "Gamer's Day" event on August 8. In August, the game's release date was moved to the first quarter of 2002. On September 11, 2001, Infogrames announced that the game would be released as ''Test Drive Underground'', for a March 2002 release on the PlayStation 2. However, it soon reverted to its original name not long afterwards, and its planned release was missed again. The game was later announced to be released under the company's revived

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

banner, and went gold in May 2002.

Reception

''Test Drive'' received "mixed or average reviews" on all platforms according to the

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website

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Notes and references

Footnotes

Citations

External links

* {{Test Drive 2002 video games Atari games Infogrames games Midway Studios Newcastle games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Video games about police officers Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in London Video games set in Monaco Video games set in San Francisco Video games set in Tokyo Windows games Xbox games