Car chases don't get much better than this. |
Storyline aside, this conceit does provide for a number of interesting concepts. The main gameplay element is the ability to Shift, wherein you can leave your body and hover above the playfield. When you do everything goes into slow-motion and you are able to possess other non-hostile vehicles and take full control of them. This technique can be used in the majority of the game's challenges and not only does it make for some creative problem solving in your normal racing modes but also offers up a number of new game types. Taking your standard race setup, play then becomes a combination of both driving and taking advantage of opportunities provided by the traffic and road networks to interfere with the opposition through inventive use of collisions and pileups. This can devalue the emphasis on traditional racing techniques when it's available and does, at times, unbalance the game a little in favour of exploiting opportunistic traffic patterns, but at the same time back ending a car yourself can cause considerable time delays to the player. Many of the missions also force you to use the more demanding vehicles in terms of handling, which evens out the trade off considerably.
The Shift mechanic can be used to rapidly traverse large swathes of the map. |
On a side note one area where Shift certainly provides a lot of laughs are in the random conversations you can jump into when tooling around in free-ride mode. Enter a vehicle that contains a passenger and you'll often step right into the middle of a full on argument, a couple in the middle of life changing decisions or any number of different setups. One particular highlight this reviewer experienced was stepping into a vehicle where the two occupants were midway through a 'talk like a pirate' dare. Cue ten minutes of amusing one liners as you try triggering all the different dialogue options by driving on pavements, into oncoming traffic, taking the odd hit and bump and so on. It's rare to play a driving game that can see you chasing down drug traffickers one moment then laughing your head off the next as Tanner backchats some of the varied, humorous characters you carjack.
Drifting American muscle cars round busy interchanges is an important part of the game. |
The greatest aspect of this release really has nothing to do with the Shift implementation at all though, as the simple act of navigating the environments is incredibly rewarding in and of itself. This is thanks to two key facets, the first being the traffic algorithms and the second the looser handling model and more gradual acceleration gradients, that work hand in hand to provide an unbelievably smooth, controlled experience full of tight, precise driving and movie-like moments. Cars still have a noticeable sense of speed, especially when you start reaching the faster car unlocks, but it's a far more measured pace than most racers. It's still traffic orientated rather than being track focused but unlike its contemporaries the emphasis is on planning your manoeuvres two steps in advance rather than rapid, twitch-based dodges. This is thanks in part to the fact that the speed of the cars is more closely matched to the traffic around you and the AI also avoids making any big, sudden movements that can catch the player off guard. The challenge is to look at the road like a moving puzzle layout and on the fly calculate where it will be when you reach a certain point, lining yourself up well in advance. The looser handling also means that oversteer is noticeably reduced, making the larger, controlled drifts and glides across lanes far more viable.
Even Tanner's jacket has racing stripes! |
Despite how well implemented these features are the one real problem is the balancing of the game's difficulty. Every twenty minutes the player earns additional in-game currency based on the value of their car collection, this currency can be spent on upgrades or additional vehicles, which become available as you progress through the game. The problems here are twofold. On the one hand if you invest heavily in your car collection early in the game it becomes very easy to build up a massive income level that easily dwarves your winnings from completing missions. This then means that in the middle of the game it becomes far too easy to buy all the upgrades and fast cars you need to thoroughly blitz the challenges that start appearing and it's not until the tail end of storyline that they begin to catch up with you. This ultimately exposes the fundamental problem with the car unlock system, it's just not linear enough. You get access to some very powerful cars too soon and they don't scale in synch with the challenges, after this point, buying and learning any other vehicles becomes a mute point because their performance just doesn't measure up to what you already own.
Environments are bright, detailed and stylish. |
Overall Driver: San Francisco makes for a very good single player racer. While it lacks the tight, competitive elements that make for a good multiplayer driving game, the inventive use of new mechanics and the simple joy of driving around the bright, busy city to an inspired collection of classic soul and hip-hop tracks more than make up for these shortcomings. The balance needs fine-tuning and the multiplayer is a no-go but the core is strong, the storyline is extremely good and the driving superb.
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Score: 8/10
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