DRIV3R

"Not quite GTA, but closer than anything before it"

Introduction

My friend has been waiting (un)patiently for driv3r (which from hence forth is going to be called Driver 3) for over 2 weeks and all the hype I heard finally got me to shell over 50 clams a day after it was released. I wasn't expecting much, but I was happily suprised to find a very solid, if somewhat short, game.

Gameplay - 8/10

For ease of reading I will split the gameplay into 2 parts, Driving and On-Foot.

Driving - 9/10

this is by far the best part of the game, the cars control wonderfully and the physics are convincing. The inclusion of boats and motorcycles (which both control wonderfully) are excellent ideas, even if not very original.

On-Foot 6-7/10

I can't give this an exact rating but it does control better than the auto aim in vice city (which isn't hard to do) If you've played SOCOM then you can play this game, the controls are fluid, and the aiming is precise but one word of warning, never EVER turn on auto-aim. Sadly the lack of a sprint button and the lack of a real jump button bring this down (tanner freaking skips like a schoolgirl)

AI - 6/10

The pedestrian AI is quite convincing, they try NOT to run you over, and they run away when a shot is fired, but the Cops and Gang-members (out of car) have Horrible AI, they stand and shoot, thats it, they don't dodge and hell most of the time they don't even move. Thankfully in car they aren't quite as braindead.

Story - 7/10

The story itself is rock-solid, with cool badguys and convincing voice acting, but there is one question that I would just love to ask the Driver team WHY THE HELL IS AN UNDERCOVER COP KILLING CIVILLIANS TO STOP A SMUGGLING RING? Its ridiculous, on one mission you have to walk into a bar and kill everyone in it and shoot the bar up to prove your good enough to join a gang. Countless times you are chased by cops and most of the time you have to kill them and there is no penalty for it. Plus countless people will get run over and shot in crossfires. So technically a few stolen cars are more important than dozens of civilian lives?

Graphics - 7.5

At first I thought the graphics were amazing. And truthfully they are, wonderful lighting, above average player models, and some of the best CGI to ever grace a video game (well maybe except Final Fantasy or Xenosaga). But like everything else in this game there is a downside, for one the draw distance is way to short, True Crimes draw distance was better than this and that wasn't so good. Also there are quite a few graphical glitches with textures and if you play at night while raining occasionally the ground will flicker which is VERY annoying.

Sound - 8/10

The soundtrack is above average and the voice acting couldn't be better, plus the inclusion of a custom soundtrack makes it that much better. And the guns sound ok, they could pack more punch, but are still above average. But the car engines sound very unrealistic and it detracts from the overall game, but don't get me wrong the sound is still very good.

Replay value - 7-8/10

The missions are fun while they last, but there aren't very many of them, and there are no where near as many things to do as Vice City, but there are still plenty of places to explore and the Timmys were a nice touch. The driving games are kinda bleh and the weapon selection is way to small but there is still plenty to do. But on the plus side the cities are HUGE and they are very very realistic and fun to explore, also Film Director has to be one of the coolest ideas ever. You take a replay and splice scenes, add cameras, and do special effects and make your replay like a mini action movie.

Overall - 7.5/10 +.5 for film director

The game still can't overthrow the king of crime games but it does go in with both fists swinging and fights a good fight. Its a great game in its own right, and its still well worth playing. If you want a nice change of pace from GTA then go ahead and go get it, you probably won't be disapointed.

Buy or Rent - Your Choice

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04