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The Undercover cop Tanner returns and the driver series finally makes its long awaited debut on next gen consoles. Driv3r (Driver 3) picks up Tanner’s adventures in Miami where a criminal mastermind is running a global illegal car racket who are stealing cars to order and shipping them across the globe. Business is booming a mysterious buyer has ordered 40 high performance cars and Tanner wants to know who the buyer is. Time is running out Tanner must act fast; he needs to infiltrate the gang and stop the deal going through!
Driv3r follows in the vein of its predecessors, more so Driver 2 which was the first time we were able to take Tanner out on foot than the original driver, Driv3r again comprises of both driving and on foot missions although the majority of the missions are driving based.
Driv3r commences with a mission titled Police HQ, here you will learn basic driving and shooting skills you need to fine tune to progress throughout the game. The action quickly heats up as a call comes in to HQ that Baccus a driver and a major player in the car repo circuit is hauled up and has taken a hostage down town. The time has come for Tanner to act chasing down and killing Baccus Tanner takes on the role of the driver and his so the story begins.
The game:
Driv3r comprises of three main areas, Story mode (undercover) where Tanner must infiltrate the illegal car racket, Take a Ride where players are able to free roam the cities of Miami, Nice and Istanbul whilst hunting 10 unsavoury Timmy Vermicelli characters and 3 bonus cars. Hours of exploration can be had as you search over 150 miles of recreated roads with over 35,000 buildings and utilising over 70 available vehicles all of which are fully destructible and include muscle cars, sports cars, sedans, convertibles, Motor Bikes, Boats and Big Rig trucks. The final available option is driving games which comprise of check point races, gate races, quick chase, quick getaway, trail blazer and survival modes.
Undercover:
This is the primary focus of Driv3r, in undercover mode you assume the role of Tanner the ruthless undercover cop. The gameplay here is mission based and story driven, the story is guided by over 30 dramatic FMV scenes of sinister crime syndicate dealings and linking each of the 25 available missions together as the story unfolds.
“there is no scripted pre determined route”
Each of the missions allow players to tackle them in there own chosen way, there is no scripted pre determined route or at least for the vast majority of them, there is however and quite naturally a more scripted yet not entirely set in stone route when missions require Tanner to chase or apprehend specific foes.
Tanner is able to climb out of vehicles should the mission require and get on foot for some non driving action. Tanner is able to enter certain buildings where ferocious gun battles take place. Armed with pistols, Uzi 9mm,silenced mp5, m16, shotgun and a grenade launcher Tanner is certainly well equipped to duke it out with the many armed thugs he encounters throughout.
Take a Ride:
Take a Ride is basically a free roam of the available cities. Players can cause havoc, shoot to kill crash and burn as they please, although whilst in this mode there are objectives should players choose to hunt out the hidden Bonus Vehicles and 10 unsavoury gangsters hiding within the depths of these vast locations.
Options available include time of day (day, dusk, night) weather (dry, overcast, wet) and cops on or off. There is simply hours and hours of exploration available to gamers although within this mode graphical issues such as invisible walls and random AI of both civilians and the police are most evident.
Driving Games:
Driving games is yet another small addition to Driv3r offering players the opportunity to partake in challenges such as check point races, gate races, quick chase, quick getaway, trail blazer and survival modes.
Graphics:
“Quite naturally at times limitations will be encountered”
The presentation of Driv3r is excellent; the FMV cut scenes which guide you through the undercover missions are simply stunning. The game does however suffer graphically, maybe due to it’s own ambition to allow players the potential to drive, walk or swim almost anywhere at any time without the need to load any further part of the current city.
Quite naturally at times limitations will be encountered. These limitations are most notable although not limited to the Take a Ride mode where the action is less frantic allowing players the time to notice the more serious oddities such as invisible walls blocking areas of the map, although with locations as large as Miami, Nice and Istanbul the developers had to stop you somewhere didn’t they?
Whilst in Undercover mode graphical issues are more limited due to the frantic nature of majority of the missions, occasionally a floating body may be seen, adversaries may be seen to be in walls and the draw distance is shockingly poor at times especially for a next gen title, popup buildings, lamp posts even shadows are common place to suddenly appear instead of actually existing, although this is in the distance rather than the immediate area and doesn’t overly effect the overall experience.
Again this could be put down to the ambitions of the development team. Maybe if the title was either exclusive to the xbox format or developed specifically to utilise the Xbox hardware using techniques such as those used in games like Project Gotham Racing 2 where the locations were streamed from the disc instead of being pre loaded in to memory this may have created a completely different experience and more like the obvious intentions of the developers?
Overall the graphics in Driv3r are acceptable, although Miami appears initially bland using repetitive textures for many of the buildings, yet still managing to surprise me when I was cruising along and noticed buildings such as the home of the late designer Gianni Versace along Miami beach, the Miami Dolphins stadium in Little Havana or even the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and stood to emphasize the developers ambitions and justified the 90,000 + photos used in recreating the cities. Although I did notice a distinct lack of Mc Donalds, Burger Kings and such like “and I really fancied a whopper and fries at times”.
As with previous Driver games the replay mode makes a welcome return. This mode allows replays to be saved to the Xbox memory of your most treasured created mini movie sequences. For those who wish to go a little more in depth then the game offers a directors mode which allow players to set up cameras during a replay. This mode combined with the free roam mode offers hours of creativity as you plan out and direct a sequence. Those who have Xbox Live are able to upload their replays and view other peoples replays.
Sound:
In addition to the voicing talents of Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Michelle Rodriguez and Mickey Rourke, Driv3r also features a soundtrack including powerful recordings from Iggy And The Stooges, Mellowdrone, Phantom Planet to name but a few. Screeching tyres, whaling sirens and revving engines have all undertaken meticulous recreation from thousands of recordings and incorporated using full in game Dolby Digital.
Longevity:
With the 3 available game modes and the challenge provided there is plenty to keep players entertained for weeks. Undercover mode takes Tanner on a journey in to the murky depths of a crime underworld, the learning curve is steep and players will need to learn and optimise there skills quickly to progress, with only 25 missions available some may find there’s just not enough to keep them going.
With the addition of the Driving Games and Take a Ride mode which allows players to roam the streets of all 3 vast cities the game will entertain and offer replay ability to those wishing to explore each of the cities in the hunt for the bonus cars and unsavoury Timmy characters. Driving games add several options and challenges to this title which only reinforces the vast nature of the game.
Overall:
“The story is gripping and rich in content”
The game is hindered by graphical glitches, popup is evident throughout and occasional invisible walls are encountered as previously mentioned, but the focus of the game is the undercover mode which is true to the routes of previous driver titles. The learning curve is steep yet players of the originals will recall this was the case with both previous outings in the driver series. The Undercover mode follows a rich narrative storyline guided by amazing FMV sequences and takes Tanner through the rather bland repetitive Miami yet on to the splendours of Nice and Istanbul, the story is gripping and rich in content.
“Look past the similarities between Driv3r and the GTA series”
Players and fans of the original titles will not be disappointed, providing they are capable of looking past the obvious similarities between Driv3r and the GTA series. Driv3r is an experience which I would recommend to those with an open mind who can look past graphical issues and occasional poor AI which detract very little from the overall experience especially in the undercover mode.
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