February 17th, 2012

Driver San Francisco

There once was a time when the mere mention of the first Driver game would elicit sighs of adoration and contentment from both driving game enthusiasts and fans of seminal car chase cinema. And then Driver 2 happened, followed by Driver 3r. But these games lost sight of what the original game was and why fans were crazy about it in the first place. But with the launch of Driver: San Francisco, fans can be happy as it offers a lot of intriguing action game play. There are no more awful out of the car sections. It is all about you, your car and the game’s objective just like the good old days.

In this new version of Driver, there is a new and unique game play hook that changes your look in the game. It is called ‘shift’ and this new feature lets you lets you instantly hop out of and into any car in the city. This feature is quite neat; as it lets you immediately pull out of any car mid-drive and zoom all the way out to see the massive city below you. You also have the chance to upgrade the zoom as and when you earn willpower points. There is no lag when you are shifting as the game runs at 60 frames per second to boot.

You can earn willpower points by driving recklessly, completing missions and generally making nuisance of yourself in the name of the law. These points can also be used to upgrade your ram and boost abilities and also will allow you to buy cars kept in garages around the city. While there isn’t any point in buying cars as you can jump in and out of any car as you please at any point in the game, there are certain side missions that start you off with your previous garage purchase.

To progress in the story you will need to complete a number of city missions first, but the game play is so much fun that you will look forward to these diversions rather than feeling that they were forced upon you.

The city itself aside from being massive is filled with a number of licensed cars and trucks and cops itching for action. The vehicles are all modeled so beautifully. While the handling isn’t as tight as you may remember it to be, it is meaty enough to provide you enough of action footage for the game’s video editing suite. Shifting between vehicles eventually turns into a bit of a puzzle game. An extensive set of multiplayer modes add to the game’s replay value. Game modes such as Tag and Trailblazer just show how well the shift feature works.

Driver: San Francisco is a game that has revived the Driver series. No one expected it to claw itself back from the dead with a semi-playable game. It is a game that will be enjoyed by all driving fans who are looking for something different and unique.