Driver

"Learn how to drive... dangerously."

Are you implying that Red doesn't mean go!?

All right, let's get one thing straight: I cannot drive. Quite the opposite, in fact. I have the unique ability to turn just about any car into a sort-of four-wheeled killing machine. So, it seems that someone like me would not be ideal for a game like Driver, right?

Wrong, actually. Dead wrong. Driver is sort of like the “unofficial enemy” of Driver's Ed schools from here to New Jersey. People like me can drive dangerously and only be met with a simple “game over.” Though it's in no way an actual substitute for a car (like I wish it was), Driver is actually a good, solid game... but nothing special.

As Driver so cleverly states in its tagline, YOU are the wheelman. But what does this mean? . You know that you're driving cars, and not much else. Of course, about 2 minutes after turning on the game (in the so-called “undercover” mode), you'll immediately find out the grim truth:

You are a driver. For a gang.

Mothers Against Videogames, unite!

All morality issues aside, the main mode of Driver flows pretty well. You receive your dishonorable driving missions through your fax machine, and although the missions seem random and not related to each other at first, they eventually start to connect and make up an actual story. Not a very complicated story, but you will definitely start to see an actual story as you progress through the three cities.

Oh, yes, I did say cities. The game of Driver takes place on the harsh roads of three cities: Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. Sadly, cities can only be opened up by completing missions in undercover mode. One thing I liked about the actual cities, however, is that they actually showed differences in road design. Miami's roads were just plain WEIRD (sorry, Miami natives), Los Angeles had some huge, 4 and 6-lane highways, and New York... what can I say? It's a jungle out there...

Driver, being a GBC game, is not the most spectacular-looking game in the world. In fact, in the visual department, it's kind of... lacking. The whole game is seen from a top-down perspective. Though the buildings and random objects look fine, the cars themselves don't look all too great. As the focal point of the whole entire game, the cars just barely do their job... just barely.

For a game totally based on driving, the actual driving in this game is kind of elementary and unrealistic. The fact that you can only accelerate, brake, and turn sure takes a whole lot out of the driving experience. However, even with these simple controls, you're still able to get where you need to go, fast, and cause a whole lot of property damage. But, don't let the police catch you.

Yes, police are here, and they're just about the most annoying thing that the makers could think of. I'm not kidding: Do ANYTHING wrong in front of a cop- crash into a car, smash through cones- and you'll have the fuzz on your tail until you lose manage to lose them. If only there was some way to decrease your felony meter, depicting your criminal status... but no, one mistake, and you're a marked man for the rest of the level.

MOST. ANNOYING. THING. EVER.

But overall, what can I say? Driver is a fun game. But its simplicity and annoying, persistent cops keep it from achieving that FLAIR that most good to great games have.

Just remember: Green means go, and Red means go.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/04