Driver 3
- June 25, 2004 08:55 AM PST
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Disappointing news on Atari?s latest high-profile release -- Driv3r performs like a wreck even before your first collision.
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Sugar in the Gasoline
Bugs and technical issues first. We tested three boxed copies of Driv3r on three different consoles, and a clear pattern of glitches emerged. The most common issue: The game often freezes for between three and ten seconds, then usually resumes without harm. Sometimes, however, it locks up permanently, requiring a reboot. Also, collision-detection mishaps are widespread -- everything from Tanner to his vehicle sometimes passes through walls or gets stuck in walls in a way that significantly interferes with gameplay.
Frame-rate sluggishness and pop-up issues are also prevalent. Surprisingly, the pop-up doesn?t involve the environment -- in fact, your line of sight is impressively long -- but cars and other traffic often teleport into existence a short distance down the road, adding unfairly to the challenge of high-speed driving.
Change the Timing Belt
As far as the actual gameplay, Driv3r is like a car badly in need of a tune-up. Like the first two games, you play as an undercover cop infiltrating car-theft gangs by posing as a driver. Reflections created three sprawling cities and added new elements like speedboats and shooter-style gameplay on foot, but at its core, the game still revolves around high-speed pursuits. The best part of the action is how the cars handle on the bleeding edge of losing control.
As in past Reflections games (Stuntman and other entries in the Driver series), making the smallest mistake can be lethal, particularly because excessively bouncy physics and insanely invulnerable obstacles (like lamp posts!) can send your vehicle cartwheeling into absurd wipeouts. Completing missions becomes a test of your stubbornness and endurance, and most players won?t be able to stomach the process of incessantly repeating a mission until they succeed.
The new on-foot gameplay also just flat-out sucks, and it figures far too heavily into the action. Aiming your weapon is an aggravating chore, the enemy A.I. is horribly lame, and there?s just not a scrap of fun to be had.
Visually, Driv3r looks outdated. Unsurprisingly, the Xbox version is substantially prettier, featuring richer lighting and smoother details that outshine the more pixelated PS2 game. The game?s star power (voice acting by Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, and more) and an impressive soundtrack make for a surprisingly good showing on the audio side.
Rebuild the Engine
All these glitches and design problems don?t make Driv3r unplayable, and the problems aren?t as deep or as devastating as they were in Enter the Matrix, another much-hyped Atari disappointment. But they do make the game an intensely frustrating trial of patience that?s rewarded with only the most fleeting glimmers of fun.
If you love the Driver series with an unswerving loyalty, you?ll be able to slog through Driv3r and extract your thrills. But if you?re looking for something to tide you over until GTA: San Andreas is released later this fall, you?d better execute a 180 spin, floor it, and flee in the opposite direction.
