When I first played Driv3r, I was, in a word, disappointed. I expected a lot more from one of the biggest GTA rivals of all time. It has got a ton of problems and I'll start with the basic stuff.
The plot had potential. It had a lot of great and talented voice actors. Thing was that the entire plot just felt abit like a bad TV action show. It's just a vehicle for car chases, gun fights and explosions. The worst bit though was the ending. If you have actually finished, you'll know what I'm talking about.
The gameplay itself wasn't half bad. The environments were fantastic. The hidden back alleys and shortcuts just seem unfathomable and they bear accurate resemblance to their real life counter parts. The driving physics are fantastic as well. The loose feel of the cars allow you to do massive 360s, 180s and drifts (the burnout button helps with this too) and there are plenty of jumps to find. Although, as soon as Tanner steps out of the car, things take a turn for the worse. Unlike other games of this type, the camera is constantly behind tanner. In other games like GTA you can move the camera around so you can see the whole character. Maybe they just didn't want you to see how badly he was modeled. The shooting in this game was also a last-minute job. There's no auto-lock and no cover system. All you can do is crouch behind conspicuously placed objects and pop out occasionally. When the reticule focuses on an enemy with a gun, it turns red, when focusing on a civilian or cop, it turns blue. So all in all the on foot action is crap. And it gets worse. This may be an open world game, but there is nothing you can do between missions. No side missions, no hidden areas to discover and no alternative, non linear path, you just have to plow straight through the main story.
The missions do genuinely feel like a Hollywood action film. But not in a good way, when you fail and retry a mission, it's basically the same as a director yelling "Cut! let's do it again!" because no matter how many times you retry a mission, nothing changes. Guys pop out of the same places, the same cars chase you. It all feels a bit, well, set up and fake.
So, yes. I did have high hopes for Driv3r. But I was disappointed. I can't seriously recommend it as an alternative to Grand Theft Auto. Only if your parents don't allow you to buy GTA or if you are a really big fan of the series would I suggest that you actually buy it.
The plot had potential. It had a lot of great and talented voice actors. Thing was that the entire plot just felt abit like a bad TV action show. It's just a vehicle for car chases, gun fights and explosions. The worst bit though was the ending. If you have actually finished, you'll know what I'm talking about.
The gameplay itself wasn't half bad. The environments were fantastic. The hidden back alleys and shortcuts just seem unfathomable and they bear accurate resemblance to their real life counter parts. The driving physics are fantastic as well. The loose feel of the cars allow you to do massive 360s, 180s and drifts (the burnout button helps with this too) and there are plenty of jumps to find. Although, as soon as Tanner steps out of the car, things take a turn for the worse. Unlike other games of this type, the camera is constantly behind tanner. In other games like GTA you can move the camera around so you can see the whole character. Maybe they just didn't want you to see how badly he was modeled. The shooting in this game was also a last-minute job. There's no auto-lock and no cover system. All you can do is crouch behind conspicuously placed objects and pop out occasionally. When the reticule focuses on an enemy with a gun, it turns red, when focusing on a civilian or cop, it turns blue. So all in all the on foot action is crap. And it gets worse. This may be an open world game, but there is nothing you can do between missions. No side missions, no hidden areas to discover and no alternative, non linear path, you just have to plow straight through the main story.
The missions do genuinely feel like a Hollywood action film. But not in a good way, when you fail and retry a mission, it's basically the same as a director yelling "Cut! let's do it again!" because no matter how many times you retry a mission, nothing changes. Guys pop out of the same places, the same cars chase you. It all feels a bit, well, set up and fake.
So, yes. I did have high hopes for Driv3r. But I was disappointed. I can't seriously recommend it as an alternative to Grand Theft Auto. Only if your parents don't allow you to buy GTA or if you are a really big fan of the series would I suggest that you actually buy it.