DRIV3R

"Poor, Poor Game"

I have to say I never followed all the hype of Driv3r, I never looked at screens or videos and didn't pay any attention to it all until one day I entered a local games shop and there on the screen at the front was Driv3r being shown. Only it wasn't game play, it was carefully created videos to deceive the viewing public into thinking that the game was something it was not. The graphics, sound, and interactivity looked really good so I eventually bought the game several weeks later.

Big mistake.

The video had lied to me. What it failed to show me was you can be driving down the road without a care in the world when all of a sudden you crash into thin air. What happens next? A miracle. A car suddenly appears out of nowhere in front of you after you've stopped spinning from the crash. The in game loading is horrible, this has happened several times to me now.

The graphics are a disgrace, 2/10. It looks like i'm playing a PS1 game, not a next generation console game. The cut scenes are very nice, what a next-gen game should look like, sadly when you get to play the game, you notice a vast difference in the quality. As soon as I started playing it all seemed vaguely familiar, then it hit me "this looks just like World's Scariest Police Chases" The map, the graphics, everything.

Sound isn't too bad, 6/10. There are no radio stations, you get some cheesy music playing as you drive around, much like The Getaway. Only, The Getaway's music was actually bearable.

Interactivity, now this is probably the only good thing about the game. You shoot at a car, and you can see bullet holes at where you shoot. That's basically the only thing. You have to aim at the tyres perfectly or they one pop. I shot 5 bullets at the tyres only for none of them to miss, it wasn't until I got up close and dead in the middle of them before they decided to burst when shot.

Character models, these are also awful. During in-game cut scenes you don't see any facial movements. You hear them talking, but they must be ventriloquists as there mouth remains tight throughout, remember how they used to talk in Metal Gear Solid 1 on PS1? Well that's exactly what it's like here.

I'm bitterly disappointed by the game, compared to the other games of the similar genre, this would come in last. Vice City, GTA 3, True Crime, The Getaway, Driv3r. That's the best definition on where this game stands on its competition. To me, the game feels extremely rushed, as if Atari didn't take a look at what it was they were subjecting the gaming public to, or if they do they don't care what we get as long as they get the money. You may be thinking "A biased review from a GTA fan boy" Truth is far from it, i'm not GTA fanboy, I just know a horrible game when I play one and especially in this genre.

Overall I have given Driv3r a 3/10 simply because I felt sorry for it, only the out of game play cut scenes and bullet holes in cars are nice, the rest is horrible. If you have to, you must borrow/rent this game out before you even think of buying it. It's not worth the £35 it's advertised for.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/04