Driver

May 3, 2002

Price: $10 (Jewel case)

You are the Wheelman!

I hate the bloody mob. The only thing I hate more than the mob is people from Long Island, NY (the endless strip of suburban sprawl east of Queens) who are obsessed with the bloody mob. They will sing the joys of watching all three Godfathers back to back. Or even try to slip a consonant-less, Soprano's style, "forget about it" or "it's like butter" into a normal conversation. And they will prattle on for hours about how their cousin's brother was once invited to a wedding in John Gotti's backyard (but ended up not going) and how that somehow changed their own perception of mortality forever. So it was with some trepidation that I booted up Driver after reading its mafia inspired byline, "You are the wheelman."

I was relieved when found that I was behind the wheel of an excellent street-driving simulation, emphasizing coordination and ability rather than the mindless theatrics of the recent Xbox flavor of the month, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions.

Compared to the above, or nearly any game for that matter, the graphics of Driver are downright Spartan, or perhaps even Canadian, in that everything is clean and spotless beyond what mere humans are capable of. However, Driver runs well at extremely high resolution with even 4X FSAA enabled, giving it a crisp look which undoubtedly reinforces the feeling that it is a simulation.

Sailboat in the rearview

Only serious drivers need apply--in fact, Reflections Interactive has set the bar so high that only the smallest percentage of players could ever manage to complete the tutorial or introductory mission for the game, which is the equivalent of an underground "road-test." Having only a minute to accomplish over a dozen specific maneuvers inside a parking garage (filled with pylons and other cars) without as much as scratching your own vehicle three times--all but the most determined players would quit from frustration. No one in their right mind should possess that level of determination for a $10 game, and successfully completing the road-test is necessary to begin the "Undercover" mode, which is allegedly the real "meat" of the game.

Fortunately, with a small edit to a file (open it with WordPad or Notepad), one can be on his or her way:

While most gamers are used to racing games which have been using the same formula since Pole Position for the Atari, one cannot help but feel a sense of awe when encountering a game like Driver. Four cities are represented: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City (though the last two will probably never be "unlocked" by most players without resorting to cheating) and rather than being herded past all the standard landmarks as in more traditional games, players are free to go where they like and explore the backstreets. This freedom is unparalleled. Traffic jams lurch into motion at stoplights, SUVs zoom above your head on overpasses, and the situation where four infinitely patient individuals indefinitely tie up a four-way stop intersection, waiting for each other to "go"--all play out exactly like in real life. It is simply staggering if one has never experienced a game like Driver before.

Traffic signals are for your protection

The police roam the streets and can be conveniently identified (as well as their "lines of sight," the cone shaped areas that are currently visible to them) on your onscreen map. Unless an APB has been put out they tend to leave a player alone if he or she follows standard traffic laws such as: staying under the speed limit, obeying traffic signals, going the right direction on a street, and not crashing into other vehicles. They tend not to notice a car doing donuts on the lawn outside city hall unless other laws are broken in conjunction, however.

The "Undercover" mode of the game centers on the police. As the "wheelman" it is the player's job to convey thugs from crime scenes back to their lair, whether it is an abandoned chop-shop or a mansion. Naturally, this route is never a straight line and often crosses directly in front of Police HQ and during the course of the mission the given destination tends to change three times. Further dispelling the myth of an intelligent mafia is the addition of arbitrary time limits. For example, the first job is to pick up a handful of crooks after a bank-job and convey them to the other side of Miami. Rather than doing the responsible thing and casing the joint before hand, the player's character instead starts across town outside his apartment with only a minute left to arrive at the bank. It would seem that mobsters need to inject more tension into their lives through incompetence--we are not talking about oversleeping macroeconomics class, here.

Recreating that Oscar winning scene from Training Day

Missions are difficult though should you accidentally succeed at one much celebration is in order. The police tend to give chase rather well, especially towards the beginning of the game when the player has an underpowered car (later, cars will be available that are so fast as to make the police a nuisance at best--your own high speed driving skills becoming your highest liability) which necessitates innovative tactics such as cutting between cars at red-lights and the like. Once the immediate threat is gone--usually after several roadblocks--police tend to go back to their normal patrols. They will, however, give chase on sight. This leads to the cheesy yet effective tactic of driving with cruise control engaged about 20 meters behind a police cruiser. They will not see or nor take any notice of the player. Many missions can be accomplished like this, and their otherwise tremendous difficulty often compels players to use such "cheese" tactics--taking what little fun there is to be had out of the mafia story, as most of us could drive around town at 25mph ourselves, if we liked.

Players with too much time on their hands
can experiment with the film maker

Force feedback response was a mixed bag. Collisions with guide rails and other vehicles resulted in sudden snaps of the wheel rather the mere rough vibration that other games tend to generate, giving a very satisfying feel to Driver. On the other hand, under standard driving the wheel feels very tight, having a strong auto-center out of the dead zone, which makes it difficult to complete the exacting maneuvers that the game supposedly centers on. It is as if the force feedback were designed for a far different game than Driver.

While there are a variety of game modes, none of them are particularly satisfying and tend to wear thin rather quickly. Perhaps that is to be expected, as the whole concept of "game" runs as a direct contradiction to the great (though less than technical) simulation that Driver is built on. Fortunately, there is an option for free play, called "take a drive," which allows players to just tour cities, following local traffic laws until the urge to turn into a one way street or cross a centerline gets the better of you. This option alone is worth $10, and is an immensely memorable and humbling experience for those lucky enough to have a steering wheel controller. And if you are really psychotic--you can practice parallel parking.

by Richard Leader

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