Driv3r
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| DRIV3R | |
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| Developer(s) | Reflections Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox, Mobile phone, Game Boy Advance |
| Release date | NA June 21, 2004 EU June 25, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Action, Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: M (Mature) (PS2, Xbox), T (Teen) (GBA) PEGI: 16+ (PS2, Xbox), 12+ (GBA) CERO: Z (18+) USK: 16 |
| Media | DVD, Cartridge |
Driv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3, is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004. In Europe, it was officially released on June 25, although due to the way Atari shipped the title across the continent, it made its way into independent UK retailers before the release date, even making a #6 position in the ELSPA chart for that week. On March 15, 2005, it was released on PC for US customers, it was also released on Game Boy Advance October 25th, 2005. A scaled down version was released for the mobile phone in June 2004. At one point a Nintendo GameCube version was planned, but it was later canceled.
Driv3r brings back features from Driver 2 and adds the ability to ride motorcycles and boats, use weapons, swim, climb ladders, and enter certain buildings among other things.
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[edit] Plot
The game begins in Miami, where undercover police officer Tanner, along with partner Tobias Jones, must infiltrate a crime ring specializing in stolen vehicles. A ruthless woman named Calita, along with henchman and weapons specialist Lomaz run the gang. Tanner convinces them to give him a shot to work for them. Once he is accepted by the group, Tanner begins conducting various jobs for them, in pursuit of a total 40 stolen high performance vehicles.
After a falling-out with an important contact and local crime lord named "The Gator", the outfit moves their operations to Nice, France, and Tanner relocates as well. However, Interpol agents have their own plans to take down the crime ring and are at odds with Tanner. Tanner decides to work the job his own way, which, in several cases, leads him into direct conflict with the Interpol agents.
In Istanbul, Turkey, Tanner is now working as a rogue agent. However, Tanner and Jones are able to find a number of contacts who lead them to the crime ring and its true leader Jericho, a former hitman and minor character in Driver 2. Jericho once appeared at a warehouse while Didier Dubois was using a laptop, first stunning Tanner, who drops his gun, then confronts Tanner and shoots Dubois. A cutsecene later shows Dubois's brother Vauban tell Tanner "Dubois is in a body bag and the bullets are yours." Tanner then walks away and that ended his cooperation with the police force, forcing Tanner to escape to the nearest warehouse. A cutscene earlier in the game showed that Jericho had turned on his boss Solomon Caine and assassinated him in a hotel elevator, probably in retaliation for forming an alliance with his rival Vasquez at the end of Driver 2. Once it is evident that Tanner has found a way to stop the gang from selling the stolen vehicles, he is brought back onto the force and aids in stopping the sale. Following a car chase and violent shootout between Jericho's men and the Turkish police, Tanner faces crimelord Jericho in a final showdown. Both men are injured and the ending of the game shows one of them flatlining. In the mobile phone game, Driver: Vegas, it is revealed that both men survived, and Tanner seeks revenge on Jericho.
Besides that, there is a reference to Tanner's survival in the following game. On a wall of TK's apartment in 2006, the player can notice graffiti that reads "Tanner Lives."
[edit] Gameplay
- See also: List of characters in Driv3r
The cars are nameless in the game, but all vehicles are modelled after the real automobiles. The official names were confirmed in some game guides including a 1969 Ford Mustang, 1975 Pontiac Firebird, Citroen CX, Renault Alpine, Lamborghini Jalpa, BMW 507, Seat Ibiza, GM New Look (Fishbowl) Bus and a Lamborghini Countach.
In Miami, all vehicles are from the 1970s and earlier. In Nice the cars are of newer and the traffic is more like the present. In Istanbul the cars are from the 1950s and 1960s, including a 1961 Chevrolet Impala.
The vehicles in Driv3r are modelled to behave as in real life. For example, bullet holes appear when a car is shot, vehicles only take significant damage when the engine is hit, rims of blown tires screech against the curb, and individual pieces of the car can be shot out or can fall out after taking damage.
Weapons are unnamed in the game. Weapons' firing range and rate vary depending on their type. When the game starts in Take A Ride mode, Tanner is only equipped with one weapon. Other weapons can be claimed by seizing them from police and road gangsters who have been killed, or from hideouts or safehouses.
The PC version of the game has an extra mission called "The Hit". The Xbox version allows for custom soundtracks within the game, although the player cannot change the song track.
Weapons are just about the only way to get through a level on foot. Other than cars, guns are the only weapons in the game, no melee abilities. Only in the next game is the player able to do drive-bys. This is the first game in the installment to have weapons.
The weapons are exaggerated for the game's sake.[citation needed] For example, the M16's maximum capacity in real life is 30 rounds, but is portrayed to have 60. Also the same with the Uzi pistol. Also, the M-79 rounds in real life are launched and fly, while in the game they just are launched and roll on the ground until they explode. The Uzi in the game has a fast rate of fire, which could not be true, because 60 rounds last less than 5 seconds.[citation needed] But, this is also challenged by its poor accuracy and range. You'd really have to be right next to the target. The 92 suppressed is vital for the first mission in Istanbul, "Surveillance," when you have to get into the building without being detected. The M-79 is very effective in getting rid of vehicles and large amounts of people from a distance, since the explosion is so powerful.
Unfortunately, since the graphics were much improved and the weapons were introduced, there was no melee and the game was harshly criticized because of it.[citation needed]
[edit] Cities
[edit] Miami
The Miami rendition of Driv3r is geographically accurate to Miami itself. However, the streets and locations are inaccurate and even some fictional locations such as "The Gold Coast Hotel" and Dodge Island are present in the game.
Miami Beach: Miami Beach in Driv3r contains famous streets such as Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. The streets are cut short and don't remain over five blocks long at the least. Ocean Drive has famous hotels such as "The Colony Hotel", "The Beacon", "The Clevelander", and "The Breakwater". Collins Avenue has other hotels as well. There is also the Miami Beach Convention Center and the fictional Gold Coast Hotel.
South Pointe Park: South Pointe Park is the smallest area in Miami. There are houses and roads which lead directly to South Beach/Miami Beach. In the area there, is the also the real-life Portofino Tower and a fictional complex of houses in which Tanner's house is located in. In South Pointe Park, there is the park itself which is connected from the house complex by a walkway. Along the walkway there is a beach, giving a view of Downtown Miami.
Downtown Miami: This section of the city is not marked on the map, but is highly recognizable due to the landmarks and areas such as the Tower At International Place and Bayside. It is the biggest section in the city and also has the Metromover that goes over the streets. Downtown Miami is one of the city's sections that has ramps to freeways and highway overpasses leading to Little Havana and Coconut Grove. Miami International Airport (which is located in the real-life Downtown Miami) is also absent in the game, but is seen briefly in one cut-scene.
Coconut Grove: Coconut Grove is southern-most area on the map. It is depicted as a shopping attraction alike the real-life Coconut Grove. Like South Pointe Park, it is only partial and is made up of roads and small houses, along with docks and seaports plus famous landmarks such as the Miami Mall and the Eye Optical Center.
Little Havana: Little Havana is the western-most location on the map and contains one real-life location: The Orange Bowl. Little Havana in DRIV3R consists of gas stations, motels, apartment complexes, and a church. It also has warehouses that have wanted posters on their walls reading "The Florida Waderer" and a picture of a Timmy Vermicelli, an easter egg of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's Tommy Vercetti.
Coral Gables: Coral Gables is located just south of Little Havana. It consists of houses, parks, retirement homes, a lighthouse, and the famous Biltimore Hotel. The Biltimore, in this game, has a secret tunnel located to the side of the hotel. The tunnel can lead to an off-the-map go cart racetrack. If the player gets near or in the go cart, he/she can race with an opponent.
Dodge Island: Based on the Port of Miami. Dodge Island consists of docks and cruise yards. It is a small island linked to the Downtown Miami area.
[edit] Nice
Nice is a city in Southern France on the Mediterranean coast. The general landscape on the game is very life-realistic. The main port is just like a real picture and Côte d'Azur International Airport is present.
[edit] Istanbul
Istanbul is a large city in northern Turkey. In the game, the grittiness of the actual city is well replicated, but there is a lot of repetition and the whole city starts to feel the same after a while.
[edit] Connection to Grand Theft Auto
Rockstar North had started the rivalry with a mission in Grand Theft Auto III called "Two Faced Tanner" in which players had to kill an undercover cop who was "useless out of his car", a reference to Driver 2's game play (they even went so far as to give the pseudo Tanner a female's walking animation).
Reflections responded by adding tanned men with waterwings on their arms and Hawaiian shirts hidden throughout the game, as a mocking reference to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, whose characters were unable to swim. They were called "Timmy Vermicellis" after the playable character in Vice City, Tommy Vercetti.
Rockstar later got revenge on a GTA: Vice City mission "Autocide", where the player is involved to kill gang members of a European gang. One of them was named "Dick Tanner". Possibly after Officer Tanner in Driver 2.
Rockstar responded to this in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. There, in a mission where the player breaks into Madd Dogg's mansion, a person can be overheard playing a video game and making fun of the way the main character walks (Tanner's walking animations were often criticized) and asking how Refractions (a play of the Driver series' developer, Reflections) could have "messed up so bad." He also says "Tanner, you suck ass!"
Ironically, Michael Madsen, the voice actor for Tanner, provided the voice of Toni Cipriani in Grand Theft Auto III, but did not provide the voice of Toni in the prequel, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
[edit] Reception
After an extensive and intensive promotional campaign, Driv3r was met with a poor critical reaction, with the vast majority of magazines and websites giving the game mediocre scores; IGN and GameSpot both gave the game 5.4 out of 10. [1][2] However, two magazines published by Future Publishing (PSM2 & OXM) gave it 9/10.[3]
Driv3r was criticized for Tanner's lack of hand-to-hand combat skills and meleé weapons. There were also criticisms for the poor implementation of the 'on the foot' missions. This was also a criticism levelled at Driver 2.
The game won the MegaGames.com award for Worst Game of 2005.[4]
Police AI vehicles were criticized for the use of "doublespeed", a way of cheating in which a pursuing cop would suddenly double its speed making it hard (if not impossible) for the player to escape. The AI can easily stem from the series' long use of rubberband AI. No matter what vehicles players can pick (either fast or slow), the police AI seems to always catch up and stay with the player.
[edit] Soundtrack
- C'mon And Try - Mellowdrone
- Big Brat - Phantom Planet
- Gimme Danger - Iggy and the Stooges
- Bowels Of The Beast - The Raveonettes
- Boy From The City - SLO-MO
- Destiny - Syntax
- Ripe For The Devil - Okuniev
- Move Over - Teddybears STHLM
- The 2nd Evolution/Stand Off - Narco
- Evil Brother - Narco
- Black Thread - Los Halos
- Exit - Stateless
- Zero PM - The BellRays
- Static In The Cities - Hope of the States
- Streets of Miami - Narco
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Perry, Douglass C. (2004-06-21). DRIV3R Review. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (2004-06-23). DRIV3R for PlayStation 2 Review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Driver 3, incompetence and corruption: one, two or three things
- ^ The Worst Game of 2005 - MegaGames pc
[edit] External links
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