The Driver series as a whole is one that I have always enjoyed whenever I get my hands on it however it is not a game I have ever purchased. The only times I would tend to get my hands on it is when I was over a friends house or something similar, they would have a copy and I would give it a go and I always took great satisfaction in the sandbox style of gameplay and the fact that every car, particularly the one played by the main character, always managed to turn the corner with fantastic movie style drifting. So when I first heard of Driver:San Francisco I was quite excited and took a look at some of the gameplay footage and developer interviews. This turned out to be a huge mistake as it stopped me playing this brilliant game until now; a game which is a very strong contender for my top five of 2011.
The new unique selling point in the game is the fact that you, playing as John Tanner, are able to astro project out of your body and take control of anyone that happens to be behind the wheel of a car. My initial reaction to this was one of appall as I knew the game has some respect for the laws of physics and reality and something as simple as astro-projection wouldn’t break the laws of reality, it would throw up on them. It was only later that I discovered that the entire game is played in the character’s comatose dream state and thus suddenly became acceptable. Let this be a lesson to you children – “Don’t judge a game by it’s cover…or in this case it’s unique selling point” Despite my initial hesitance, the mechanic itself works especially well. Throughout the numerous different mini-games and the main story, it’s good to know that at anytime, should you need to set up a roadblock ahead, all you need to do is jump to the closest semi-trailer, hit the handbrake and turn it to block the road just as Larry, Moe and Curly come along at Mach 10 and smash right into it. The finer details were as delightful as they were surprising such as when you jump to another car, all the extra people in the car have additional personalities like couples on a thrill ride, daddies taking their children to violin lessons etc. It’s a detail that wasn’t necessary but makes the whole experience more enjoyable, like vanilla ice cream with chocolate cake. However there were times that I did raise an eyebrow and wondering whether it was just too easy to use other vehicles as ramming devices.
There was one particular mini-game that comes to mind when you and you’re partner need to come first and second in a race and the game seems to think that the best way to do this was to jump rapidly from one car to the other to make sure that both of you got the required positions because as we know, racing AI has the IQ of mash potato. However I found the best way to win such races was to make sure my cars were as far back as humanly possible and then simply borrow the cars coming in the opposite direction and ram the opposing team’s vehicles enough times for them to have to pull out of the race and thus giving me the victory by default.
There are other niggling issues that come with the game that did annoy me, the story is somewhat flimsy as despite the fact you playing in the character’s dream world, it was being based on real world events and the finale of the game plays out in the real world in an ending that is as obvious as the ending of every single Disney movie. Another complaint is the fact that every single road in the lovely city of San Francisco has invisible wall syndrome and thus should you accidentally launch yourself off one of the many, many vehicle transporters as it is going round a curve, you are going grind on the air like a skater from 2015 using a Mattel Hoverboard.
Dares are also a funny thing as while many of them are simple enough, towards the end they get somewhat frustrating as rather than rely on skill and driving expertise, they seem to rather rely on you knowing the city well enough to find the spot you need to do them in. One such example is when you need to knock over a certain number of objects but only those in alleyways and side streets and its only after you find one that is long enough and with enough objects, can you manage to pull off the dare. Some may argue that knowing the city goes hand in hand with skill but just because you know where in the city you might be able to pull off a 150m drift doesn’t mean you can pull off a 150m drift.
The other issue that comes with dares is the fact that you are unable to choose the car you use for the particular dare and it refers back to the car you selected last time you entered the garage. The might sound like a small thing, but small things lead to big problems like anthrax spores in the water supply. There were quite a few times I found myself racing on a dirt track in a Corvette ZR1, something that is as useful as an ice cream churn in the arctic.
The number of cars you can purchase and drive is insane and thankfully every single one of them has the camera option of having you sit behind the wheel and I cannot praise the detail enough when it comes to this. Not only has the interior of each car been detailed from the real life version of the car, but the motions that the hands make when driving is fantastic. When you’re turning a real car, you don’t go to full left or right lock with a simple 45 degree turn of the wheel. No,you have to rotate it a few times with both hands before you get all the way there and that’s what it looks like inside the car. Pulling the handbrake sees the right hand leave the steering wheel and go to where the handbrake should be. It’s these simple details that allow you to truly immerse yourself in the experience and despite large chunks of the game reminding you time and time again that you are only driving in the San Francisco dream world, you are still able to feel like you are driving a car at obscene speed in downtown San Francisco.
So in the end what can I say about this game. The visuals are brilliant, the gameplay is solid and despite the issues I’ve already mentioned there is only one real way to sum up this game. Supoib.