Silicon Fusion >> Reviews >> DRIV3R

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Review:

28th June 2004:
DRIV3R
It's finally here, but is this really the summer blockbuster that we have all been waiting for?
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox,PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

It's been a long wait for the third title in the Driver franchise. Reflections have been working on the title for a couple of years and in the run-up to the games release, huge amounts of money have been spent on promoting Driv3r, including short films made by Ridley Scott Associates. The tag line for Driv3r is 'Good. Bad. Both', which is a very short, but a fairly apt review of the game.

Driv3r sees players once again take control of Tanner, a jaw breaking, no holds-barred undercover cop. The story follows Tanner and his long time partner, Tobias Jones, as they attempt to infiltrate a global car theft ring in Miami, Niece and Istanbul. The game starts with some breathtaking full motion video of a gun fight in Istanbul, and then the game's story goes back six months to where the adventure begins, in Miami. Players then start off as Tanner; complete with his flash Miami apartment by the water, and it's not long before he is called in to Miami Central for his first of many assignments.

Many of the missions in Driv3r, as you would expect, involve car chases, but there is a large chunk of the game where Tanner must exit his vehicle and unload massive amounts of ammo into criminals. The missions usually are split up into two or more parts - drive from A to B, exit the car to kill or destroy C, then drive back to point A or on to point D. While most of the driving parts of the missions are fairly easy, the parts where Tanner must gun down criminals are a huge disappointment. The controls are appalling and moving and aiming your weapon is a nightmare. In fact the whole of the game really is a huge disappointment, chiefly because of some inexcusable technical problems. For a game that has illusions of film production values, surly the first point to learn is to finish it first. Driv3r just does not look or feel complete; and there are almost too many bugs, and video problems to mention.

Driving around the three cities in the game, Miami, Niece and Istanbul are where you start to notice these technical problems, the frame rate is far from constant and you will notice that cars and pedestrians sometimes disappear and drive or walk through the bland scenery. The cities themselves have more than 150 miles of highways and city streets, and at least the layout of the cities are fairly accurate. But the textures are bland, and the buildings themselves are unremarkable and worse still pop out from nowhere, and unless you are on foot you will not have much time to admire them anyway. The computer AI is terrible, with villains just standing still and absorbing your bullets, while occasionally they do duck down, but they never really come after you with any conviction.

Driv3r comes with a replay system that is also flawed. The Film Director mode will allow players to add cameras and use some basic effects like slow motion and blurring, and would-be directors can upload their efforts for the world to see using Xbox Live. The main problem with the replay system in Driv3r is that they are far too short, Driv3r does not take full advantage of the Xbox's hard drive, so even replays of missions that you have completed stop half way through. There is, however, still fun to be had making short films, and downloading some rather disturbing ones via Xbox Live.

The graphics in Driv3r are unfinished. The game, as we have mentioned, contains bugs galore, as well as framerate problems, and the video update is slow - making the screen wobble more frequently than not. Cars and other vehicles disappear through walls and other parts of the cities, buildings pop-up from nowhere, and the pedestrians themselves lack any real detail. The cars and vehicles in the game look fairly detailed and Driv3r includes many types of cars, boats, trucks and motorcycles, and they all importantly crash spectacularly - spewing many different parts onto the city streets. The weather and time of day effects are fairly basic and really add nothing to the games atmosphere. The PAL conversion lacks a 60htz mode, which may have helped to iron some of the framerate and video problems, but at least the game fits on the screen properly. Even the expensive-looking FMV is plagued with playback problems, as it jumps and skips spoiling the effect and would-be style of the game.

The sound in Driv3r has some great moody music to accompany each city as you drive. The cities themselves have a few ambient sounds unique to each, but these a far too few to really make a difference in atmosphere. The computers AI only knows about two phrases and a yelp, but the voice talent in the game is very impressive, with Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Michelle Rodriguez and Ving Rhames voicing the main characters. However, again it's hampered by the FMV, which stutters along with the volume noticeably much lower than the rest of the game.

Overall Driv3r is a huge disappointment, and one of the only titles I can think of that is so obviously unfinished. Many of us here have been looking forward to Driv3r and have been following the game for a long time. Without doubt it's the most disappointing title I can remember for many a year. While some will compare Driv3r to the Grand Theft Auto series - there really is no contest. Driv3r goes straight to video.

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

Unfinished. Driv3r is plagued with many technical problems, and very basic missions. While the in-car experience is fun for a while, the out of car parts of the game are truly terrible. The game features three huge, but bland cities - Miami, Niece and Istanbul. There are over 150 miles of roads to drive and crash on, but the computer AI is so bad that there is rarely a challenge.Even the much hyped Film Director mode is flawed. Hugely disappointing.

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