Driv3r

Review - Chauffer driven Limousine or clapped-out 2CV? Ben clasps the wheel firmly...

There was a time in the games industry when it was purely about games. There were young computer whizzes sitting in their bedrooms, inventing the industry as they went along, producing innovative and groundbreaking titles like Doom and Elite. Atari were a proud and fond member of this innovative generation and their name still carries much weight. What a crying shame it is then that after the release of Driv3r Atari's name may well be dirtied for quite some time. For many diehard fans the dream ended the moment Infogrames bought up the Atari name as a publicity engine to fuel their own ambitions. For those oblivious to such industry developments perhaps the pre-release sales or review embargo controversies might have the same effect. If none of that bothers you, then all you need to do is play Driv3r for all your illusions to be well and truly shattered.

Driv3r is of course made by Reflections, but under the financial demands of publisher Atari, Reflections seem to have been forced to release what is basically an unfinished game. If you consider the term 'unfinished' to be a little harsh, then unpolished is certainly an accurate assessment. Regardless of the content itself, from the word go the game is plagued with bugs and glitches that scream out for further play testing and development. It's all the more painful because underneath the mess you can see a potentially brilliant title fighting to emerge, but ultimately failing.

Aside from the programming slackness present throughout, the most fundamental problem here is one of vision. The original Driver on PSone was a fantastic game thanks to the superb driving physics that made for some quite exhilarating driving. What Reflections has done here is to ignore the fine heritage of the series and instead focus on something completely different - Grand Theft Auto 3. But to add insult to already crippling injury not only have they forgotten what made Driver great in the first place but they've also managed to completely misunderstand what makes GTA3 so great as well. GTA3 is not great because you can get out of your car and shoot people - in many ways that's the weakest aspect of the game. GTA3 is great because of the freedom and interactivity of the gaming world. Reflections have basically tried to make Driv3r the GTA3 beater they so want it to be by forcing untidy and unsatisfying on foot missions in between the driving sections. Their plan fails miserably.

In several respects Driv3r has far more in common with two other PS2 titles. Driv3r tries very much to sell itself as an interactive movie. Remember how The Getaway attempted to do the same? Ditto here. It does improve on Team Soho's formula somewhat in that the cut scenes used to tie the narrative together are of an extraordinarily high quality. It's nothing to do with the use of a veritable posse of celebrity voiceovers (present are Michael Madsen as Tanner himself, Iggy Pop, Michelle Rodriguez and others) but instead with the fine direction of the scenes individually. The story is throwaway and the voicing nothing special, but the direction is first class and makes you stand up and take notice. Also like The Getaway, missions don't generally present you with the freedom to roam the cities themselves but instead commit you to a linear path through the game that amounts to a succession of over 20 levels. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, but its likeness to the aforementioned Sony title is marked.

Another title with which less favourable comparisons can be made is Reflections own Stuntman. I was personally quite a fan of the game but the employment of similar game mechanics in Driv3r simply does not work. Time limits for many of the chases are super-tight meaning that any slight deviation from the ideal route will result in failure. This principle worked in Stuntman basically because each try was an identical re-run of the time before allowing you to learn and adapt. Driv3r offers no such consistencies. For instance, the level where you must chase arch-villain Calita later in the game may well prove too unfair for many. Her tricky route through the narrow streets of Istanbul is littered with so many random obstacles beyond the player's control that you're just as likely to fail due to colliding with an unavoidable vehicle as you are due to your own mistakes. It's very difficult to predict what objects that line the streets of the game can be ploughed through and what are as solid as rock. Then even if you do avoid all of the several scattered immovable objects you still have to hope you won't collide with a random invisible wall or a small ledge with such bland texturing that it's indistinguishable from the safe, flat road. I'm not joking.

But what of Driv3r in its own right? Well, the game is broken down into three sections. First off you have the Undercover mode which comprises several missions over three cities (Miami, Nice and Istanbul) and a distinctly average plot involving car theft and bad guys and stuff. You also have a collection of 6 types of mini games, each of which can be played in any of the cities, though Istanbul is initially locked. As well as this you have the classic Take A Drive mode where you're free to choose a city and any one of a number of vehicles then take to the road for a casual drive. Bizarrely, it's this mode that often proves the most fun. Free from the rather brutal constraints of the other modes, taking a casual drive to enjoy the sites, ramming a police car when you get a bit bored and giving it legs (or wheels, I suppose) is still a fun experience since behind all of the mayhem a solid and rewarding drive still remains. Pulling a doughnut, hand braking round a corner or wrenching a 100mph 180 is still just as fun as it ever was and is enough on its own to warrant a rental.

Graphical problems aside, things look rather good when running smoothly. The cars are nicely detailed but really come to life when colliding with something. Easily the match of Colin McRae 4, crashes see your bumpers buckle, bonnets fly and tyres burst in a realistic and satisfying manner. If you drive badly enough to cause your wheels to blow up, you'll see your motor shoot up in the air and explode in a dramatic and exhilarating manner, its shell scattering in several pieces across the street. It's even more satisfying to watch when you've just popped a grenade under a chasing police car, or better still done the same to an innocent stationary bystander, though you won't often get the chance to indulge in such frivolities within the tight confines of the Undercover mode. The original soundtrack is effective on the whole, successfully creating atmosphere. Whilst spot effects are a little thin on the ground, when they are used they are often very effective, such as the first time you hear the Islamic chanting when passing the central temple in Istanbul. It's unfortunate that the first city you visit, Miami, is distinctly plain in appearance. By the time you reach Istanbul the stakes are really upped; the eastern architecture, trams and tattered back alleys are produced wonderfully; driving an old banger down the sunlit streets will really impress. Pleasing weather and dusk effects are also nicely done, and when the frame rate manages to keep up there are times of real visual splendour. Still though, at no point do any of the cities feel genuinely alive in the way that, ahem, Vice City manages. The level of interactivity is literally zero and traffic and pedestrian numbers are low. They may look nice, but the cities totally fail to capture the imagination at times.