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Game Information
Release Date: September 30, 1997
Developers: Pitbull Syndicate
Publishers: Accolade
Platforms: PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-2

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Synopsis
Test Drive 4 is a Driving game, developed by Pitbull Syndicate and published by Accolade, which was released in 1997.

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Gameplay
Test Drive 4 will allow players to race through multiple locations from around the world. Players will race in California, Japan, England, Germany, and Switzerland. Players will race through traffic whilst avoiding other vehicles as well as other racers to prevent themselves from wrecking and wiping out. When players collide with another car, and depending how fast the racers were traveling, their vehicle will start either slide across the road or soar into the air for a brief period of time which is about five seconds before resetting the racer's cars back on their wheels. Players will also be chased by cops and very rarely will they chase the AI racers as well. When a cop is pursuing a player, the player must elude the cop by keeping a great distance from the cop and eventually the cop will stop. Players can partake in single races and championship races. By completing championship races, players will unlock faster and exotic cars to use in future races as well as the AI's will be using the more exotic cars as well to increase the difficulty.

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Graphics
Since the game came out roughly over a decade ago, the graphics aren't what most gamers during this time would find appealing to their likings. To start off, mostly all the vehicles in the game are somewhat detailed and do show similar characteristics as seen on the actual vehicle itself. The buildings and structures lack sufficient detail and merely have any detail implemented to them as they look more like blurred rectangles stacked next to and behind each other with different colors. There are also civilians placed around the border of the road and sidewalk to kinda give the game an audience to watch the racers go by and have no concrete detail whatsoever to identify what facial features each civilian has. The details on the clothing also lacks the detail to identify what the civilian is wearing. The environment like the trees have no variety as players will see the same type of tree over and over again. Surely, the creators could have made the tires different from each vehicle as almost but a few had the same exact tires equip which standing from a real perspective, the wheels on each vehicle aren't nowhere near similar to each other so that was lacking some more variety to the game. The overall gameplay is a bit distorted especially when traveling at such high speeds, the screen becomes more distorted and glitches out when colliding into an obstruction and phasing right through it. The overall design of the levels aren't great when it comes to details as it is difficult to see the background and what it consists of.

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Controls
The controls were the standard controls for most racing games during its time back then. The accelerate and brake button commands were next to each so players could quickly and easily perform those commands as well as braking in a sufficient manner and without causing any problems for players of any age. The steering command was the typical directional pad that many racing games would have used and frankly, was the most suitable way for players to use. Overall, the controls were nothing new to the typical racing player at that time.

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Rating
Gameplay: 8.2/10
Graphics: 6.8/10
Controls: 8.7/10
Overall: 7.1/10