I've been hit with a great deal of
relief to be able to discuss a franchise which is no longer knocking
off Grand Theft Auto, the Driver series has been
renowned for doing this for quite a while. After the first release of
Driver on the Sony Playstation, limiting players to a car –
developers decided this simply wasn't enough, and a series of bad
games would ensue. The principle reasons these games were bad was due
to the meaninglessly forced gun combat; luckily, I can remember how
utterly downright charming the 1999 Driver game was. Sitting
behind the wheel of a muscle car, Detective Tanner poses as an
undercover driver; getting to point B in the most adrenaline-pumped
way possible, that was all it was supposed to be. It is not a third person shooter. Anyway, I'm pleased
to say that 2011's Driver: San Francisco nailed it, and added
more potential to the franchise.
Beginning the game, cutscenes reveal
the antagonist – Charles Jericho, a recurring villain in Driver
who was previously captured by the law. Jericho breaks free of
the prison van holding him, ensuing in a car chase with John Tanner
behind the wheel. After an accident during the chase, Tanner is
comatose for virtually the entire game whilst living in a Life on
Mars-esque dream world
still attempting to apprehend Jericho. Not long into the game, Tanner
discovers his ability to shift out of his body and into other
vehicles. Given that he is in a coma in the first place, the game
developers can actually get away with this innovating gimmick without
spoiling the realist, yet cheesy premise of the series.
That said, this “gimmick” was
probably one of the best features in the game; it gives the player
the opportunity to leave their vehicle – without utilising the
knock-off GTA formula. The
perks of being able to do this are plentiful; the player can access a
bird's eye view of San Francisco; the ability to involve other
vehicles during a race or pursuit make the driving itself that
bit more thrilling; not forgetting to mention the passenger
conversations as Tanner shifts into random vehicles – some of which
are hilarious.
On
top of this, drifting around corners during a high speed pursuit
proved the driving mechanics to be very slick and smooth, which –
as a result - bring the game back to its roots. But other factors
also fulfil this: in fact – I find Driver: San Francisco
a true Driver game as
you can't physically run anybody over – it's brilliant, in a cheesy
way of course. Visually speaking, Driver
offered a crisp, golden tone along with a decent soundtrack ranging
from indie rock to electro, but dominated by funk and soul tracks.
I was sucked into Driver: San
Francisco for a great deal of
hours, without even feeling the obligation to complete the main
campaign; the side missions can offer a great deal of entertainment.
As a matter of fact, my favourites were probably the racing based
side missions - probably due to the small sub plot behind it, as I'm
not usually a fan of racing games. Another side mission opportunity
is in fact a Back to the Future
easter egg; unlocking the DMC Delorean (which raised a huge smile on
my face) provides the player the ability to unlock a challenge
mission titled “Back in Time” (which is in fact, a mission from
the original Driver
game) whilst accelerating over 88mph.
Overall,
Driver: San Francisco is ideal for kicking back to, not for the story per se, but for the countless hours of mindless fun it has to offer; seeing that I have turned at least a third of
the population into kamikaze drivers, it has additionally struck
me as one of the coolest games of the past five years. San
Francisco offers subtle humour,
and doesn't take itself entirely seriously – feeding a Starsky
and Hutch vibe behind the wheel.
My only quarrel with the game is
the fact that it doesn't offer a day/night cycle – with it being
set in an open world city and all, that would have made sense – it's not the end of the world, however a nocturnal cityscape of San Francisco would look visually stunning, just saying.
8.5 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment