Driver 3

[PeteJ]

This game was dire at E3, a real 3/10 experience. Driv3/10er, if you will.

Do the cars still move at about 10mph and not feel like cars at all? This was my main problem at the show. I was hoping they'd fix some stuff before release, but it seems the E3 demo was pretty much the final version.

This is going to hurt Atari very badly, and it will probably hurt Reflections even more. It will sell a million or two, but nowhere near the reported ten million they are expecting.

[Dragon2k4]

Gamesradar review - It's not even Xbox version!

Games Radar review:

After years in hiding can Atari's old stager reclaim its turf from GTA: Vice City? The gloves are off...

It's a stifling hot afternoon in the middle of July. You're stuck in traffic, and you're trying your hardest not to look at the man in the car next to you dredging his ears with a biro. Then, a bus pulls up full of shrieking children and two of them start singing Westlife songs very loudly. Finally, the snake of vehicles judders into motion and you leap on the accelerator, expecting to soar away from the hold-up. But no - the short-lived burst of motion quickly ends and you're back to square one. And the biro has entered the man's nose. Thankfully, Driv3r isn't entirely true to reality, and you can enjoy yourself in the streets without fear of running into road-hogging arseholes. And even if you do, you can just run them over. Or shoot them in the face.

The Driver games have always revolved around one thing and one thing only; nerve-gouging, chest-pumping car chases. Yes, there's some on-foot stuff to break up the driving, but we'll get to that later - Driv3r really shines like the sun when you're strapped into a rusty, fuel-sapping jalopy, careering through backstreets, skidding into coffee stands, crashing through storefronts and carving through lanes of traffic. You play as Tanner, the star of the previous two PSone games (this is the first on PS2) and, once again, while very much the lawman you operate very much above the law.

The city driving mechanic of the previous games returns and - as before - it's perfect. This is how a driving game should be - open cities, do-what-you-like gameplay and hundreds of pedestrians and other cars to get messy with. But, as always, there's the local constabulary to consider. There's a Frank Serpico around every corner waiting to flick on the sirens and bust your sorry ass. They're tenacious bastards too, making reckless lunges across busy intersections in a desperate attempt to wreck your motor. Knock a parking meter over and you'll be whumped into the nearest lamp post, and running a red light seems to attract the combined attention of the entire 53rd precinct. While this sounds like bags of fun, it actually detracts from the realism of the game. The law enforcement side of things feels slightly deranged; nudge past a squad car and you're suddenly America's most wanted.

The level of control lavished on your rides is definitely the highlight of the game. The thrill of chucking a monstrous 70s roadster with blancmange suspension around street corners defies lucid description. The thrum of the V8, the piercing whine of the tires - it's like something straight out of The French Connection. As a driving game, it's instantly appealing and immeasurably satisfying. And then there's the damage that makes for some stunning eye candy. Headlights shatter, bumpers come loose and swing around, side panels dent, windscreens burst - your wheels can even fall off. A frantic car chase quickly becomes an unflinching cacophony of twisted metal and shattered glass. The explosions are also a sight to behold. Roll a grenade under a vehicle and watch it soar into the air and plummet back to earth, piece by chargrilled piece.

Now the tricky bit. If Driv3r was ever going to seriously compete with the current kingpin, Vice City, it was going to have to implement some on-foot stuff; and Reflections have done just that - Tanner can escape the confines of his clunker and scurry around outside. Unfortunately, this is the weakest aspect of the game, BUT it is completely competent. Let's not get carried away. The on-foot bits work. They're all there. It feels like it should and you can do what you want to do but somehow he doesn't have the athletic grace of True Crime's Nick Kang, nor does he make use of cover like The Getaway's Mark Hammond. In fact the movement and feel is very much like an FPS game; he strafes, he shoots, he leaps, he swims. It's glaringly simple, it's not particularly clever, but at least it's all there. Hell, you can even flip the game into full FPS mode and barrel around like Doom - thereby negating the issues of character animation and object interaction entirely.

If you really want to see what Driv3r has to offer then indulge yourself in the film director mode. The incessantly militant police, malleable physics and photorealistic environments make for some cracking footage. Camera angles, motion blur and the speed of the action are the base options, but you'll have the most fun with the tripod camera. With this, you can hover around the city and place a camera pretty much anywhere you want; you can view the action from a rooftop, or zoom directly into a shattering crash, in slow motion, with bits of car flying everywhere. With patience, you can eventually piece together something truly spectacular and save it to your memory card for posterity.

Its myriad features and ingenuities build towards an incredible package. Driv3r really pushes the PS2 hardware to it's absolute limit. You can almost hear the poor little feller gasping for breath after a mammoth car chase. Hands down, the most visually pleasant city has to be Nice. From atop a cliff, you can look across a stunning seaside vista, picking out streets and buildings as the sun glints across the bonnet of your roadster. And let's not forget the day/dusk/night feature, instantly recognizable city landmarks and weather effects. Whether you're slewing the wrong way up a freeway or scattering pedestrians to cut across a marketplace, Driv3r looks the absolute berries at all times. The cutscenes are impressive, but that's inevitable given the ten bazillion dollar budget.

For an explanation of mission structure flip a few pages on - but as well as the main Undercover mode, there's a selection of single-player variations (or 'Driving Games') to indulge in. Survival simply involves surviving a never-ending onslaught of cops, Quick Chase pits you against a fleeing foe and there are several other modes to play around with that are ideal for staging moments to twiddle with in Director mode. There's also the obligatory Free Ride mode, that unwittingly has become one of the best things about the game. You're simply unleashed onto the city of your choice in the vehicle of your choice, at the time of your choice with the weather of your choice. Without the restrictions of a mission timer, you can bomb around, abusing the physics to your heart's content and performing awesome stunts to replay and direct later on.

So, Vice City fans, will you want to buy this? Well, Driv3r gets one up on Rockstar's classic in many respects; the damage is a million times more complex, the game looks a whole lot nicer and Tanner can swim. And if you thought pulling off ridiculous stunts was fun in GTA:VC, prepare to be dazzled by the possibilities presented by the complex physics in Driv3r - and you can direct the chaos from any angle, at any speed. It makes Vice City look like a videogame - a multi-award-winning classic videogame, but a mere approximation of a living breathing city rather than the 'real thing'. Driv3r is a very different beast. In comparison, Driv3r's po-faced plot fades into the background, the characters and missions blur as you sit through cutscenes not quite understanding who's doing what and why but the stunning cities, amazing scope for fun and superlative car handling save the day.

The result is that when you start Undercover mode (the main story game) there comes an initial period of disappointment. It just doesn't grip and entertain as immediately as Vice City, but keep playing, keep experimenting and go hunting for fun and you'll discover a different and immeasurably more complex game. It's easy to berate Driv3r as there are many small flaws - minor pop up, robotic pedestrians, the odd clipped animation frame - but that's the price of ambition. There's so much greatness and potential for entertainment awaiting you around every corner and within every smashable bit of set-piece scenery that it's the longer lasting, more impressive game. Once you've tasted Driv3r it's hard to go back...

Overall: 90% - PS2 version

[Concept]

Sounds like a review to trust. I love the honesty of professional gaming journalism.

[Dragon2k4]

Sarcasm will get u nowhere son, - its really a great game, lol hehe

[revisedgenocide]

Thats the infamous psm2 mag review isnt it. I hadnt had the 'pleasure' of reading it yet, this bit about the on foot sections cracks me up though.

Unfortunately, this is the weakest aspect of the game, BUT it is completely competent

You can just imagine the PR bod standing over the reviewers shoulder making sure that one was put in. Videogames journalism appears to be in a very sad state doesnt it? Shame the decent stuff like edge and gamesTM isnt as widely read.

[Inertia_]

What a pay off!

Exactly where in the skid-crash-spiral into the air routine torture of Driv3r does the 'do what you like' gameplay come in?

Find me the email address of whoever wrote that review!

[gismalla]

That's PSM2's review, innit.

[PeteJ]

Atari's PR people apparently demanded a 9/10 | 90% score in return for review copies. Apparently, of course, but it wouldn't surprise me given this review.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, after getting an exclusive interview with Reflections and then having it pulled at the last minute for no reason by Atari. Brrr.

[Asylum]

Its an utter mess of a game and its being taken back this afternoon. Very dissapointing indeed, its like a repeat of Angel of Darkness all over again, how a publisher can release a game in this state is beyond me.

Digitiser (or whatever its called these days on C4) gave it 3/10 this morning, thats more like it

[Concept]

I just read Gamecentral's scathing review.

Wow. I expected Driver 3 to be bad, but not quite that bad. Ouch.

It is looking like another Angel of Darkness all over again.

[Ginza]

Seems like its got completely mixed reviews. You either love it or you hate it. At ?45 im not going anywhere near it but when it goes to half the price in a few weeks then count me in. I read reviews but dont let them influence my thinking on a game. A game i think is great other people think is **** so i take reviews on board but play the game myself and see what i think of it.

[JibberX]

Here we go again.... I seem to recall Stuntman getting a complete lashing because it was A: Too Hard and the physics were B: Too wierd. As an aside, C: The loading times were prehistoric.

What are the loading times like? On the PS2 version that is?

[Concept]

Ginza -

I agree, but the positive reviews have generally all come from sources which can't be trusted. The negative ones, in comparison, have tended to come from places that are usually more honest in their appraisals.

I remember the same thing happening with the last Tomb Raider. It got stellar scores in some quarters, but overall mixed reviews. Then a few months later, when Eidos had taken the heat off, everyone more or less admitted it was a huge pile of skank.

I can see the same happening with Driver 3, although like yourself, I'll reserve judgement until I get to play it by rental.

[Ginza]

Well i will bear in mind that the general opinion is that it is complete and utter dung when i play it but i was just saying to people that havent played it that its better to play it yourself first hand and form your own opinion.

Tbh it is teh **** 111 one eleven

[RLench]

It's a huge disappointment...

Some bits are good (Director mode, and the cop chases are as good as ever) but everything else stinks. Sloppy, unfinished, and half-assed

[blatant plug]I've already put my copy up for sale. Check the forum [/blatant plug]