It isn’t too much of an issue, especially when the story is clearly not meant to be a huge focus, but a greater flow may have helped in this department regardless.ĭriver: San Francisco’s only major bed bug is the potential depth of the gameplay. These graphical cuts go back and forth continuously in nearly every story sequence, to the point where it feels a bit choppy and inconsistent. You’ll have a few seconds seeing Tanner driving his car with in-game graphics before it jumps for a few seconds to an FMV sequence of Tanner and his partner talking inside the car. The problem arises in how often they are interchanged with each other. Likewise, the FMV sequences are fairly competent. The in-game graphics are reasonable enough on their own grounds, even though they aren’t particularly special. What I wasn’t entirely sold on were the graphics. The polished driving gameplay does this justice, and the use of licensed tracks blaring over your car radio gives a welcome sense of realism. The shift powers are versatile, and give the game its X factorĭriver continues to attempt a cinematic driving experience, with over the top car chases and stunts galore. Though I’m dubious of its inclusion in the story, it bolsters the gameplay with an innovation that prevents Driver: San Francisco from becoming “yet another racing title.” It also sets up the game’s side missions, with Tanner using his supposedly impeccable driving skills to help the needy citizens of San Francisco. This opens up a lot of gameplay opportunities, whether it be using shift to quickly jump around the map, simply shifting to get a better view of your surroundings, or using other vehicles to ram and block your racing opponents. With a simple tap of the A button your perspective shifts to a birds-eye view where you can scroll around the city map and jump into any other car of your choosing. Whilst it serves as a thematic thorn in the usual sensibilities of the series, it is an accomplished and exciting gameplay mechanic. The big new mechanic in the game is shift, that ridiculous element of the story where Tanner effectively possesses people. They take some getting used to, but it all has a sense of weight and momentum that grants the game a balance between being easy to pick up and difficult to master. Forcing players to remain behind the wheel returns the game’s focus to driving, which is a good thing considering how tight the driving mechanics feel. All the vehicles that show up in D:SF are licensed as well, so car nuts are going to feel right at home here. Challenges, missions and any cool driving feats and stunts earn you points that can be used to buy upgrades and new vehicles. That isn’t to say the game doesn’t have non-linear and open world elements though, as you can tackle a variety of sub-missions and challenges as you see fit, or just cruise around the city at your leisure.
DRIVER SAN FRANCISCO PS3 HARDCOPY DRIVER
As in traditional Driver fashion, you can’t leave your car in San Francisco. The gameplay is where it’s at in Driver: San Francisco, and it does a good job of remaining simple and enjoyable throughout. The main driving mechanics are solid and satisfying Yet, if you focus on the story too much you’ll miss the point and focus of D:SF. In comparison to the grittier and more urban stylings of previous Driver titles, this plot is nothing short of a bizarre and unwelcome delve into the supernatural, and it sadly fails to ever amount to any more than this. Upon awakening, Tanner finds he has a mysterious power that allows him to inhabit and control the bodies of other people. While chasing him down Tanner winds up in a car crash that results in a near death experience. Having finally succeeded in this endeavour, Tanner is monitoring Jericho only to see him break out of prison. We have good old John Tanner returning from previous games in his attempt to put the evil criminal mastermind Jericho behind bars. The plot isn’t really why anyone will be buying this game, but I ought to summarise it if only for completions’ sake. It’s a well crafted game, but it might not be to everyone’s tastes. I’ll not hold you in suspense for too long D:SF does this well, creating a fun and easily accessible cinematic driving experience that sets a really good level of challenge.
DRIVER SAN FRANCISCO PS3 HARDCOPY SERIES
Now we have Driver: San Francisco, a game that attempts to bring the series back to its roots. I never even bothered with later games, hearing that they offered little more than failed ambition. I was younger back then, and lacked the grit and sheer determination required to fully enjoy the experience. Whilst I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, the game was too damn hard. Friends, magazines and adverts all conspired to show me that I needed to buy this game. There was a time way back, when all I heard about was how great Driver was.