==GRAPHICS==
The graphics has 2 different qualities, as you may have
guess that’s the actual game and the cut-scenes. The cut scenes,
which is also known as CGI or FMV is some of the best work you
can see on the PS2 which means that the lighting and graphics
makes it look very real along with the facial animation but the
only think with this is they are short videos and are spread very
rarely through out the game as its only used for the main parts
of the storyline.
On the other hand there’s the actual gameplay
graphics has been slightly improved over the last game, but the
main good point is that there’s no glitches that no ones found
so far and that there are now slow downs. With a game of this
type, by which I mean free roaming game like True Crime and Grand
Theft Auto that like this has now loading time as you moving around
the big open cities. There is nothing that sticks out as excellent
in the graphics side of things apart from which I should mention
is that the city is pretty well designed and that the cars look
appealing to drive with some nice detail to them, although there’s
not car licenses they do appear to look like real cars that you
can tell like a TVR, Austin Martian, Mustang, Lexus, Cadillac
Escalade, Mazda RX-7, Chrysler and others of you that known your
cars.
One other thing the add here is that the
damage effects looks good from the smashed windows, bumpers hanging,
bullet holes and more to the destruction of explosions and the
barrels, dustbins that bounce about when driving down the alleyways.
==SOUND/MUSIC==
The voice acting overall is pretty good apart from Slick which
is quite annoying person but there are many other characters with
great personality. The sound side of things is good enough with
the car engines and skids all sounding real, plus the gun firing
all sounds stop on but the main reason this section scores high
is because of the great music that is played.
As the games set in 1978 at the beginning and then 2006 after
prison, there is a very good mix of sound tracks of over 80 songs
from the classics to the modern day featuring some exclusives
never heard from before by legends and new entertainers like Iggy
Pop, Wreaking Crew, Charles Wright, Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs, Paul
Oakenfold, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy and many, many more
filled with top tracks being played as you drive along.
==CONTROLS==
The controls are easy to use and you shouldn’t have any
probably mastering it, only thing that I recalled is that I did
press Triangle a few times when drive as this makes you dive out
of the car were as the previous drivers the button was for handbrake.
The controls are now more like other games of its type where as
the X is to accelerate and square is for brake and reverse. Guns
can be changed with the left and right on d-pad, where as L1 draws
the gun and R1 is for shoot. Newly added is that you can now shoot
your gun while drive so its makes it easier when chasing someone
or if trying to loss the cops.
The handlings of the cars are easy enough
and not over sensitive apart from some of the racing cars have
very quick response and needs more skill and talent. One you put
in some practice you be able to zoom in and out of the traffic
and also handbrake around corners at high speeds with out losing
it.
The thrill cam is still here but where
as before it’s used in replays, you can trigger it when playing
the game. I love using it myself when you handbrake it around
a corner and with a quick press on the down with the d-pad actives
the thrill cam which puts the view to an angle that looks at your
car and makes it does slow-motion. This is very cool to use but
don’t over used it, especially in missions as you can’t so what’s
in front of you and can end up making you crash. For anyone who
thinks this is a strange power to have in this game: it’s not
a power it’s a camera view that’s used for replays but here it’s
used in real-time.
==GAMEPLAY==
The gameplay starts of with some simply driving/chasing
missions but then turns into jobs that involve shooting. The missions
Varity and are good, some that involve good challenges. The main
difficult part of the game even for myself a regular gamer was
not the actual missions but just the simple driving which is not
so simply. Where as other games of this type you can drive straight
done the road at 100mphs or so but here each and every road is
packed with traffic, with even the short and small roads there’s
load of cars going both ways as well as packed cars. You will
find that you be hitting every car and then will have to be nicking
others just the get to the end of the road. One the bigger road
with many lanes it’s easier as there’s more room but you still
need to gather some skills and be more careful, as you drive you
will be switching lanes all the time and using the brakes is a
yes when its get heavy, you’ll also see yourself going for a gap
in between two cars or going onto the pavement as this can be
the only space sometimes.
With time you should improve and you feel
on top of the world when bombing through the traffic at high speeds
for miles with out hitting anything. Sticking with cars with about
the maximum speed of about 90-100mphs helps with successful driving
until your skills improve.
The other new feature in driver is you
can now modify your vehicles which is a warm welcome but could
have been better still. With earning money you can take any vehicle
into your garage and from there you can add bodykits that’s comes
with its own graphics, change colour, add tune ups to your engine
and a nitro for a nice bit of boost. Also which helps in missions
you can also buy bullet proof tires and windows as well as tint
them. You can do this to all and any vehicle you like from cars,
trucks, dustbin carts and also firetrucks. This is not an in-depth
thing, so you will be disappointed if you are looking forward
to great customization as it don’t let you add alloys, bumpers
or spoilers separate as they come as a package.
There’s also new felony system that you
have 2 a personal felony and felony attached to vehicles the player
has used. So were as the police are chasing the car your in, if
can pick up the car again once that have lose you but if your
were to get out of the car when they are not about, they would
have now lead of who to follow. If you had a felony for shooting
of foot you can get into a car and hide parse unless they see
you through the window if up close.
The whole game is set in New York which
lets you visit Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and so on
which consists of about 260km of road, making the single city
larger than the total of all three cities from the last Driver
game. This makes it very cool to drive around in with no loading
times what so ever which now focus on more driving than on-foot
missions.
==REPLAY VALUE==
Where as if you just played the main missions and followed
the storyline then should easily complete the game with in a week.
But were is that not half of the fun as there are main side missions
to play which involve getaway driver, taxi missions, checkpoint
racing, street racing, dept collector and many more which has
3 difficulty settings. My favorite side missions myself which
I’ve not mentioned is the circuit races where there are 3 of them
that lies with each of the garages. Its best to start from easy
and the cars are much faster on the other settings, you race 5
other cars on a made race course were as the two higher settings
unlock more fast racing cars for you to drive.
The nice this also with the driver is that
any of the vehicles you drive back to your garage then gets saved,
where you can repair and upgrade anytime and can be used for any
mission. There’s about 80 vehicles to find and collect in your
garage and along with 50 hidden stars (just like GTA’s hidden
packages) to find all over New York adds replay value and also
at each 10 you get gives you extras like 50 more health, double
boosters and so on.
With many cool weapons from both eras to
try out and unlockable cheats to get as you progress should add
more replay value to the game.
==BUY OR NOT TO BUY==
Any fan of the driver games should buy it as it’s the
best one they have made and for anyone who enjoys the Getaway,
True Crime and Grand Theft Auto games should also try it as it’s
the same type of genre though now were as good as GTA. |