This is my first review of Driver: San Francisco, a racing game for the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 and PC. My English isn't really perfect, but know that I'm doing my very best, so bear with me, guys!
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So, this is the sequel after the handheld game Driver '76, which didn't gained much popularity, as well as Driver: Parallel Lines, which became a bit too GTA-ish if you ask me. DRIV3R, on the other hand, is famous for having a lot of problems, like Tanner's unforgiving walking/running animation, which made him look like a rendered version of a stick figure gone terribly, if not hilariously, wrong. Plus, there's no way DRIV3R would be considered an M-rated game, because it doesn't happen to have any gore physics or blood splattering around the walls or pavements, so to me, it's still a T-rated game. But anyway, let's get on to the latest game, shall we?
In Driver: San Francisco, you're playing as, surprise surprise, Tanner, who had a huge recovery after a gun battle against Jericho after years of speculation whether either or both of the characters have died. Well, that, until Jericho hijacks a souped-up prison truck and puts Tanner in a coma after being t-boned by a big rig. Now, the main objective is, while you're in a state of coma, is to complete a variety of side missions before heading onto the main storyline. While this might be a bit more like Grand Theft Auto, there's no gun fight, which is a plus, but there are some activities, such as taking down pursuers, winning races, or doing ridiculous stunts, like launching yourself off of a big jump with your Corvette. Speaking of the Corvette, Driver: San Francisco is the first game to have real-world manufacturer vehicles, as opposed to fictional, albeit near-identical to real world, vehicles that handled like as if they're driving on an icy road you would find in DRIV3R, where you can drive cars that has never been encountered driving around the streets of San Francisco, such as the FIAT and the Alfa Romeo (trust me, you'll only find it in Europe, such as Italy).
Now, the gameplay is pretty good, as cars handle pretty arcade-y, though you would find fast cars that can help benefit your escape from the cops, or SUVs, Pickup Trucks, or off-road vehicles that are capable of tearing through the rough terrain. Plus, you can freely fly around the skies as if San Francisco looked like it came out from Google Earth and you can browse around the vehicles that are roaming around. And here's the catch, you can take over the cars, as if the person next to you thought you're another person, even though you're still Tanner behind the wheel (although the passengers would refer to him as another names from persons and not acknowledging who is really Tanner). There are many side missions and dares (yes, there are dares in this game) to complete and earn rewards, even willpower, which is the equivalent of money for you to purchase upgrades and vehicles for you to drive. The damage physics to vehicles could do better, like doors swinging open and coming off, considering as how doors aren't indestructible against high-speed impacts.
For the first time in the Driver series, there's online multiplayer to race against other players and do whatever it takes to win the race, like using a frontal assault ability by forcing another player in a spin out, even escape the players from tagging you. There are also team-based multiplayers such as attacking another players' base, or taking down an individual pursuer. Although it's a fun multiplayer experience, once you reach to the last level, don't expect anymore rewards given by the game, so you'll be eventually bored of it.
The graphics are pretty decent in 720p if playing with an HDTV, and a nice 60fps, but on multiplayer, it's roughly about 30fps, which doesn't usually make sense on the need to lower the graphics for better gameplay, especially when it looks pretty fuzzy in terms of frames per second. It's a bit understandable, but for the guys who wanted a really bright view, then multiplayer isn't the best way to start off at 30fps instead of the smooth 60fps. Also, the musics are pretty okay, but not by much, as there are some handful of songs you'll enjoy, but that's clearly about it. Not enough action-like music for police chases or car races, but a nice feature they added are custom soundtracks, which allow you to listen to your own songs your way and yours alone. However, there's relatively no music in online multiplayer, and you're unable to play your own songs while racing against other players, so expect to have an epic, yet awkwardly silent, competition.
Overall, it's a pretty good game if you like fast, elegant, or even classy cars and use them to tear up the roads or have the cops give out a wild goose chase while switching and take control of a big rig and sweep out the cops without wrecking your own car, or cheat your way to victory by swapping yourself into another car and put your opponents out of commission for an easy win, or just play it fair by outrunning your opponents with your fast ride. If you like multiplayer racing, Driver: San Francisco might be the right game for you (if there are handful of players, that is).
The Good:
Nice selection of vehicles for you to take control and cause some havoc, especially with the interior view, the map is relatively huge for a city in California, online multiplayer gets your adrenaline fueled as you try and fight your way to first place or by escaping your relentless pursuers to nab a victory, side missions and dares are pretty useful for earning cash to buy upgrades and purchase cars, custom soundtracks that would benefit you to listen to your songs and yours alone.
The Bad:
No DLC packs at all (Ubisoft wasn't really good at keeping promises, which resulted in a massive negative for the lack of additional content for cars, missions, multiplayer modes, etc.), not enough cars (no Subaru, Toyota, Ferrari, BMW, Mitsubishi Motors, Mercedes-Benz (there's the SLR, but it doesn't count due to it being under the McLaren name), etc., also mentioned on the no DLC packs earlier), you are unable to upload your replays to YouTube via Film Director (way to not improve the problem, Ubisoft *sarcasm*), the damage physics should be a bit more realistic, the storyline was pretty meh, the multiplayer gameplay needs improvement (I'm not a big fan of 30fps games, AND there needs to be music in the multiplayer game, especially for the custom soundtracks,a nd the graphics are pretty fuzzy which bothers my eyesight), the subtitles are not accurate.
Worth Playing?
It varies greatly, especially for a racing game like Driver: San Francisco. There are achievements in the game, which are relatively east to get (that is, unless you have players who are too uncooperative to help you out on helping you earn the rest of the achievements in multiplayer), but the biggest disappointments in the game are the no add-on contents and the broken replay in which Ubisoft decided to purposely not fix it for the time being, meaning you can't upload your wild antic chases and crashes to YouTube, so unless you have a video camera with a capture card to it, you're pretty much screwed because you're unable to upload the best moment on YouTube. Also, while there are a handful of cars for you to steal and drive, there are abundant number of more vehicles, which means no Ferrari for you to drive with, or even take on the off-road with Subaru or Mitsubishi cars, so expect the game to have a limited number of cars to race with (hence the lack of add-on contents I've mentioned earlier). The multiplayer is fun, albeit having players who had a bit one Monster Energy Drink too much and beating the hell out of you just to try and make you lose, so expect a huge combat in which you're gonna need to hold your own and hope that you would win. Overall, it's a decent game if you like cars that handle arcade-like and useful side missions and dares, as well as a handful of collectibles you would find in the game, which can help you unlock rewards and achievements, but if you don't like multiplayer races that are deemed too rough for you to handle, then stick with the single player just to be safe.
Driver: San Francisco - Jon the VGNerd's Review
- Killer French Bread
- Level 15
- Posts: 1795
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 10:35 am
Well, it's pretty challenging, multiplayer-wise, that is. And yes, it's a pretty decent challenge in single player. As for GTA IV, I do agree with you. The combat isn't really good and the weapons are relatively weak, even the meleé weapons.Killer French Bread wrote:I have been tempted to play this. How hard would you say the game is? Does it give you a decent challenge in 1 player?
The thing I didn't like about GTA4 was the way the missions were quite easy and the game felt like a drag.
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