''Test Drive Cycles'' 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 American studio Xantera and published by

Infogrames North America Accolade, Inc. (later Infogrames North America, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded as Accolade in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-found ...

exclusively for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

. It is the first game in the

Test Drive A test drive is the driving of a motor vehicle to assess its drivability or roadworthiness, and general operating state. A person who tests vehicles for a living, either for an automobile company, automotive media for review purposes, or a moto ...

series to feature motorcycles. ''Test Drive Cycles'' was originally intended to release on

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

and Microsoft Windows, but was eventually cancelled.

Gameplay

Unlike other ''Test Drive'' games by Xantara, which were isometric, ''Test Drive Cycles'' is instead an "into-the-screen" style racer, in the vein of

Hang-On is an arcade racing game released by Sega in 1985 and later ported to the Master System. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit grap ...

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and ...

. The game has 24 tracks in 12 real world locations. There are eleven motorcycles in the game, licensed from BMW,

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

Moto Guzzi Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. Established in 1921 in Mandello del Lario, Italy, the company is noted for its historic role in Italy's motorcycling m ...

and

Bimota Bimota is an Italian manufacturer of custom and production motorcycles. It was founded in 1973 in Rimini by Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe Morri, and Massimo Tamburini. The company name is a portmanteau derived from the first two letters of each of ...

. Two of these are only available in the police chase mode.

Reception

''Test Drive Cycles'' received "mixed" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. Michael Wolf of

Daily Radar ''Daily Radar'' was a news aggregator and portal site for Future US's male-oriented content, including sports, film and television, and video games. Daily Radar started as a gaming website like IGN, GameSpy and GameSpot, and was later renamed and ...

criticized the audio and draw distance, and stated that the controls felt "sluggish". Wolf did remark that the upgrade system and police chase mode were welcome features, but did not consider them enough to off-set its issues.

Cancelled console/PC version

Versions were also developed for

and PC by the same development team who worked on ''

Test Drive Off-Road 3 ''Test Drive Off-Road 3'' (''4X4 World Trophy'' in Europe) is a racing video game developed and published by Infogrames North America for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Game Boy Color. A Dreamcast version was planned, but was cancelled due ...

'', but these versions were cancelled in June 2000. The PlayStation version was to include 30 licensed bikes, 12 tracks and DualShock controller support with the same applying to the Dreamcast version which would support a Jump Pak. The Microsoft Windows version would also include hidden shortcuts.

References

{{Test Drive 2000 video games Cancelled Dreamcast games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Cancelled Windows games Game Boy Color games Game Boy Color-only games Infogrames games Multiplayer and single-player video games North America-exclusive video games Cycles Video games about police officers Video games developed in the United States Xantera games