DRIV3R

"10/10? Find out how Atari/Reflections did it inside?"

DRIV3R (as the case with 2Fast 2 Furious, Driver 3 wasn't a good enough title) has finally hit the PC, many months after gamers bought it for consoles, played it, and returned it for whatever they could at Gamestop. OK, so the console versions weren't that bad, but they were met with some disappointing reviews due to some glitches and problems with the overall game mechanics. But, with so many months to fix these problems, I thought, hey, maybe the boys at Reflections can fix up the problems and redeem themselves and their game. The answer is, sadly, a disappointing no.

Graphics

The console versions of Driver 3 (DRIV3R can burn in hell with Paul Walker) had some pretty good graphics, with very accurate depictions of the 3 cities featured. I can only really speak for Miami (where I live, they did a really good job), but I can assume the same painstaking details are present in the other cities. The buildings looked way better than it's competitor at the time, GTA: Vice City (The next game in the GTA series, San Andreas, matches Driver 3's buildings in terms of realism though.). Anyways, back to the PC version. I enter into the Video Settings section of game and quickly push all the settings into the max (resolution, AA, shaders, everything). I was a little scared, since I have heard that other gamers are going at 5-10 FPS, even with 6800GT's like my system. When I enter Take a Ride mode, the game was running smoothly at high framerates, with no slowdown as I cruised around, so this wasn't true. The problem is, nothing was looking really good. I should have left the draw distance down, cause the buildings in the distance were clipping constantly! The traffic lights were missing! The buildings looked horrible! Dammit Reflections, what have you guys been doing all these past months?! To soften the blow a little, the textures were good, and the car models are exceptional. The FMV sequences are exellent also.

Audio

The audio in the game is a little weak, especially when you crash your car against something (which you will be doing the whole game). This holds true for the console versions of the game and it's nothing different here. The voiceovers are decent, and hey look, it's Michelle Rodriguez from Fast and the Furious! And yes, she's typecast like usual as the tough girl. She needs to pull a Vin Diesel and make a kid friendly movie like "The Pacifier"....oh wait...that one sucked.

Gameplay

What the ****?!?! You will scream this when you see Tanner jump. Actually, you will most likely be saying What the ****?!?! each and every moment Tanner gets his glitchy ass out of the car. In an attempt to one-up Rockstar, Tanner also gets the amazing ability most humans get in their early years, the ability to.....swim!. Too bad his swimming almost looks worse than his jumping. Stay out of the water, out of land, and into your car Tanner..... Or have Reflections put Tanner into rehab so he can learn how to properly walk and swim. Gameplay itself is the same as the other Driver games in the series, car chases, races against the clock to get somewhere, etc.

Final Comments

I was really looking forward to Driver 3 PC, being a huge fan of the previous games in the series. The console version wasn't too good, and the PC version is almost the exact same thing, with the added option of higher resolutions to see more clipping in the background more crispier and smooth. The 9 months they had to fix this seems like they spent it getting 100% in GTA:San Andreas, or God knows what else. Oh well, at least the Collector's Edition gives you a free shirt, which gives the 2/10 rating a boost to 10/10 (See how good adding T-shirts to your game helps reviews?? Game companies take note)

Fun Facts and Information

-It took 9 months after the console release for Reflections to unleash Driver 3 onto PC

-This game is horrible

-Tanner was injured during Driver 3, Reflections assures us that when Driver 4 (They actually had a conference over it's name today, Driver 4 sounds too bland, and DRIV4R reminds Atari of B0N4R) comes out(which they confirm will have numerous delays much like DRIV3R), Tanner will be able to walk normally.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/05