Driver San Francisco Defusing bombs, rounding up drug runners and saving damsels in distress, just a sample of the heroic acts possible while behind the wheel of a high performance vehicle – who knew? Driver San Francisco is a game that rather lacks any semblance of plausibility, yet holds such a penchant for the ridiculous that you'll be amused …
I'm not siding with the Ubi hate for having "always on" requirement, I would much rather have that than a disc in drive or such like.
The amount of time I am offline is negligible -- flying is about it -- and the only time my gaming PC is offline is when the ISP is down, which I can count on the tigers of one hand in the last decade.
Always online is almost like saying, must have electricity these days.
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Now, I've been with the Driver series since its PlayStation debut, spending many a happy hour thrashing around its various cities, and the one thing that immediately comes across is that the handling model is identical to all the earlier games, with the emphasis on generous cinematic power slides over the pig-boring understeer that Gran Turismo specialises in. I'm not sure how far in I am, but the ability to mucking about on side missions so far seems to be making the story mode more disjointed than previously, but there's a wit and charm to the voice-acting once you return to the story, and very recognisable style to the cut-scene animation (although LA Noire has now kicked the bar for that so high that you can't help but be disappointed by anything else).
I would take issue with the representation of San Francisco: I've driven around the actual city a lot, and this digital replica loses the sense of narrowness of the downtown streets in favour of giving you space to do those power slides. But there isn't actually a road running round the coast past Fort Point, I haven't managed to find Union Square let alone Market Street, and where the hell are the trolley buses? Still, I suppose that's all explained away by Tanner's dream-state recreation of the city. ..
The Shift mechanic really takes a bit of getting your head around, but it opens up so many different mechanics to completing various missions, and it's enormously rewarding when you find some obtuse way of solving a problem using some other vehicle. Far superior to the clumsy on-foot shoot-outs that peppered the last two instalments. A game that doesn't take itself too seriously and is all the better for it, and there's a rumour that the last level sticks to the traditional Driver policy of being virtually impossible.
The biggest complaint I've seen seems to be "it's not narrow enough and full of trams like the real san francisco". So? Its designed for FUN, big screaming powerslides around corners and hitting a tram every you did would be massively frustrating. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it definitely seems to be "marmite" game for a lot of people.
thought the demo was utter crap.
Nothing like the original Driver. Many times i switched to a different vehicle and when i switched back my car had hit a wall. In one police chase I just sat still and the police drove right past.
The car handling left me cold, loose, light and arcadey. Someone said its more like Crazy Taxi than Driver, i agree!
the original Driver was a fantastic game, and i was throughly looking forward to this updated version. yes, the graphics are great, but wtf is all this shifting crap? totally put me off the game when i played the demo
why was it necessary? it would have been an awesome game if they hadn't bothered to include that stupid idea
...that driving in San Francisco is just like a video game. You need all the skills and will probably wreck a few cars in the process. The biggest challenge in San Francisco is finding a PARKING SPACE, which is next to impossible. Of course if you have been there enough you know the little out of the way spots where to park.
Look, real life is more and more becoming a game anyway, why do I need it on a console? Reality, what a concept!!
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