DRIV3R

"An average game that still deserves some attention"

PLOT
Not that it really matters, but this game's story is the equivalent of a popcorn-muncher summer action flick. It's a nice little number about an undercover cop infiltrating a car smuggling ring, but it's nothing that will really knock you socks off.
GRAPHICS 7
While the unlicensed car models look nice and take damage according to the punishment doled out, the people look pretty rough. The character models lack the detail gamers expect in this console generation, and the animations look stiff. Jaggies plague the characters and buildings. Still, the game is graphically acceptable. The pre-rendered cinemas are a different story. They aren't up to Final Fantasy levels, but they aren't too far off.
GAMEPLAY 8
I'll admit that a number of the scenarios lack inspiration, but flying around the curb in a sleek muscle car is still pretty fun. The game divides most of the missions into a driving portion and an on-foot portion. While the driving part is usually an intense ordeal, forcing you to complete your task in a certain amount of time, it is never too difficult (although there are a few controller tossers) and is usually entertaining. I can't say the same for the on-foot sections. The controls have the left stick strafing and the right stick looking, but it is awkward during the shooting portions; the fact that you can't customize them doesn't help. Speaking of the shooting parts, the enemy AI during those is practically non-existant. The gameplay boils down to standing or squatting and emptying your clip into an immobile target. There are more driving portions than those out of car, so I weighted the score accordingly. What really boosts the score are the extra modes. Take a Ride mode lets you go all Grand Theft Auto on one of the three cities in the weather and time of day of your choice, but if you've already played Rockstar's hit, you won't get much mileage out of this. Survival, which has you running from a fleet of crazed cops, and chase, in which you (duh) chase and gun down an enemy car are quite a bit of fun. Film director mode, which lets you edit camera angles for any sequence you just played, is great. Choosing where to place the cameras in your run can be time consuming, but the thrill of making your own "Ronin" or "French Connection" and the pay-off of showing off a fantastic sequence is amazing.
CONTROLS 6
These reeeeally take some getting used to. The driving controls are pretty sensitive and the layout is a bit awkward if you like to use the analog as the accelerator. Like I said earlier, you can't customize it, so I dock it for that. Once you play for a while, though, the controls grow on you and you'll be able to powerslide like a maniac. The out of car portions handle pretty rough. The aiming is a little too sensitive, a problem worsened by the questionable collision detection. The "Get in the Car" button also doesn't trigger sometimes, and instead the character just spins around while you fail the mission. All told, I like the car controls, but the on-foot controls are unforgivably sloppy.
ODDS AND ENDS
I don't know how much this could influence your purchasing decision, but I'll throw it in anyway. The voice acting is good, not great, but good. I do like hearing big name stars such as Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, and Michelle Rodriguez, but if these names mean nothing to you, then it's not a big deal. The music is sparse, it only triggers at certain times, you have no control over it, and it just keeps repeating one song during that game segment, but it varies appropriately. Some parts go toward the rock end of the spectrum, while others have a latin flavor. Overall, it contributes positively.
BUY OR RENT?
At it's current price, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you to buy it. It has less than thirty missions (ranging from just a few minutes to closer to an hour on some of the harder, long ones when you factor in retrys) , and while the Driving Games and Take a Ride modes add some replay, you can still see all there is to see in a couple days with the game. If you can get it cheaper by waiting or trading old stuff, I'd say buy it because you'll probably come back to it even if you have GTA, but 50 bucks is a little steep for a game this short.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04