Still works, kind of..
Playing original Playstation 1 game in year 2010 is a strange thing. Especially when plaing a title as highly regarded as the first Driver game. There is still no game today that captures the 1970's car chase movies such as The Driver or Bullit as well as this game does. Driving in Driver 1 is as fun as it looks like in these movies. And probably the reason why many considered Driver to be the best game for Playstation 1, including myself.
After countless of racing games over the years it is interesting to see how this 1999 title still plays. Lucky for us Driver fans it is pretty easy to get hold of this. Playstation copy is cheap as chips and can be found everywhere. There is of course a PSN version which works both on PSP and PS3 easily. For the review and my play through I choose PS3. PSP version is as good except for the controls. Inspiration for me to go back and finish Driver 1 came from trailers of Driver: San Francisco.
There is no question about importance of this title in GTA and it's derivatives. The "realistic" open world driving game with a movie like story. This being along with The Italian Job the first of this genre. Gameplay as mentioned holds its own even after 11 years. No other game (except for Driver 2) has managed to nail the Bullit type car chases with powerful 70's car in same form still. Basic premises of the game is to do various driving missions, majority with tight time limit. The missions are shown with cut-scenes explaining the story. Game is divided into four locations: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Game is played behind the wheel and none of the funny pedestrian action is done. The games missions follow the same pattern, but with the loose control and the traffic, not to mention the aggressive police this never becomes a bore. Another fine nod towards 70's chase movies is the Director's Mode. After each level the action can be replayed by using different angles and tools. Game franchise have been even build around this feature. Outside the main story multiple modes such as: pursuit, escape, checkpoint, and carnage exist to keep one busy.
The main story follows Tanner, a former racing driver now a NYPD cop. Tanner goes undercover to capture a known assassin. Tanner turns into a getaway driver and starts working up on the criminal ladder. During the missions he will meet Slater, his old racing rival who will cause more grief for our undercover wheelman. Story follows Tanner through sleezy 70's locations and stereotype shady characters. Hardly memorable story but interesting climax in form of protecting a VIP in the end. Story is presented in cut-scenes, blurry looking according to my wife. There is hardly any face animation and video freezes occasionally when a conversation is done. This is done with limits of PS which is a impressive feature itself. On today's standard this naturally doesn't impress as much as it did 11 years ago.
Graphically game looks and feel like a early Playstation title which it of course is. Each of the different geographical locations are identifiable. Although in times it looks the cardboard box city is exactly same just with different skin. Except that it always dark and rainy in LA. Some of major landmarks exist are recognizable. The city's feel relatively large with all different roads and routes player can take. Cars are real-like models with breaking parts. Each with individual handling feel.
Sounds wise Driver does fine job by playing out low-key 70's tunes which might as well be from a porn movie. This is said in best possible way. Engine sound will become tiresome quite fast and for once one is more keen on listening to the soundtrack. The voice acting is similarly well done. The dialog is feels very time accurate with the funny 70's style banter.
When looking at the major difference between this and new games must obvious difference is the unforgiving difficulty level. Even times unfair. The limit mission have are quite strict not allowing lot of room for errors or joyriding. The local police don't have lot's of sympathy for Tanner. Only way to avoid them is by seeing the blibs in the map/radar. Driving nice is not a option with the time limits to begin with. By hitting cars or god forbid the police themselves a faculty meter is filled. Making police more aggressive of course. Tiny glitch here is that this meter has no meaning on the a missions that is has several stages. No matter how well you drove on the first part. Full head-on collision can be expected from second part of the mission. Other flaw. Or perhaps this would be considered as design flaw on today's standards. Is a randomly appearing cop that need to be escaped from before reaching goal/target. A police spawning near the goal with few seconds left will end the fun pretty fast.
Needless to say, when luck is involved the game can/might/will turn out sour pretty fast.
Game-play stands a test of time here no doubt. But is this to be recommended today? Probably not. While the driving is fun the missions and police behavior seem just very unpolished. Especially compared to today's easy games.