Here we go again
Have we all been waiting for a new driving game? How long has it been since our last? Years after the infamous disaster that was Driv3r, we're now back to having lots of fun in Driver: San Francisco. Everything about this game makes it one of the greatest games of 2011, as well as one of the greatest games of the decade, especially when it runs at a smooth 60FPS on all, and I do mean ALL, platforms.
This is the first Driver game to factually feature licensed vehicles, from US manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, and Cadillac to European manufacturers like Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo and Audi. I really appreciate that. Unfortunately, there's lots of absent manufacturers and cars that you think would be in this game. This includes BMW, Mercedes (even though their SLR McLaren is featured albeit listed as a "McLaren" car), Porsche (even though Ruf is somehow related) and Ferrari. Also, some vehicles are bizarre and questionable choices such as that Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon (although I thought it was interesting, but still was quite unsure if it served any purpose). Even some cars like the Nissan Skyline (BCNR33) GT-R are portrayed in a left-hand drive layout even though (fact) no genuine LHD models were ever produced. The interiors of all vehicles are nice, though camera movement is quite limited. And if that's not enough, you can't store or modify vehicles for some reason, they are automatically modified for you. It took several attempts to get one of my favorite old cars with different colors I wanted.
It has a great licensed soundtrack featuring such songs and artists as "Eye for an Eye" by UNKLE (heard in the final mission), "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy and "Only Of You" by All Thieves. You can also play your own songs with the PS3 (though it will not work for online multiplayer). I tried it out once with Foster and the People's "Pumped Up Kicks", LMFAO's "Party Rock" (named the best song of 2011 and top of the pops), and other songs popular at the time (2011), as well as some of my older favorites such as Beastie Boys songs (though one of their newer songs features prominently in-game) and Sublime music, and I loved it.
It has one of the largest driving environments ever in a video game. San Francisco contains over 208 miles of roads. There's lots to do around there, although I feel it seems rather limited to some places.
It returns the series back to the lives of John Tanner, who is now in a coma after being rammed by a tractor trailer in a failed car chase. In his coma dream, Tanner has a new ability, Shift, where he is able to teleport to different cars without discontinuing the mission he is currently on, Jericho also has this ability. Tanner can now do a ramming attack on cars with the new boost feature every car has. In addition, Tanner himself is more talkative and sarcastic than in previous Driver games, where he was mainly silent and quick tempered. Also, the story and dialogue are well-written and complex, which, according to the game's narrative designer Ian Mayor, contains about 270000 spoken words. Better yet, even Director Mode makes a comeback, after being absent from Driver: Parallel Lines.
Unless you are feeling creative, there's not a lot this game has to offer after completing the storyline. The AI may be rather annoying. It was kinda annoying for me. The cops are too forgiving and don't really put up much of a fight. The game unintentionally features a mission in which you, possessing Ordell, chase Tanner in his car, in which Tanner's car is controlled by you, and Ordell's car is just a following A.I. This mission interestingly revolutionized one of the obscure features in video game history, second-person perspective, as covered by Nick Robinson. Another mission, Tanner's Day Off, is unfortunately not unlockable, with no way of unlocking it without a video walkthrough.
This is also the first Driver game to feature online modes, where overall there are 19 different game modes, along with split screen local Multiplayer. But even multiplayer is underwhelming and forgettable.
This game really rocks. This is truly one of car-driving at its very best yet. And one other thing that's interesting: if you reach 88 mph (141 km/h) with the DeLorean DMC-12 (I really wish I had one, but they are very hard and expensive and uncommon nowadays), you unlock the activity "Blast to the Past", a reference to Back to the Future.
