Your Driv3r impressions?

[DavePack]

Wow, this game is getting raked over the coals by a couple of online sites. IGN gave it a 5.5/10, with an 8.4 average user rating. Gamespot gave it a 5.4/10, with a 6.5 average user rating (but only 2 users rating it so far). This was for the Xbox version, which I'd be most interested in.

On another forum, I've read many people echoing what I read in the IGN and Gamespot reviews. Many who are defending the game gave me the impression they were doing so only to justify the 50 bucks they dropped on it. Then again, the average age at this other forum is pretty low, so it's not a great place to get an honest impression of a game to begin with.

I was kinda looking forward to this title, although I was very, very put off by Stuntman (which could've been a great game if it didn't have an insane difficulty level). After the reviews, I think I'm going to have to wait for the big price drop on this one.

If you have Driv3r, what are your impressions, both positive and negative?

[spankyj]

I'm in the same boat.

I liked the first one immensely - was a little disappointed by the second - so I'm waiting on the third one.

Hopefully it gets some good user reviews, because despite with the "game mag reviews" give it, they still don't know what they're talking about.

[Maxflier]

I have been anxiously awaiting this game,I think I will still give it a shot despite the bad reviews.

[fumanstan]

I tested the game a month ago at Atari on a close to final build of the game and thought the game was dreadful.

[cheapskate]

Here's a little reading material for the link-shy...

1UP Closing Comments (8.5 out of 10)

http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1615620,00.asp

Do not expect the world from DRIV3R, then. Expect some frustration, some control difficulties, some of the unexplainable glitches that happen with all games like this. (A personal favorite: mob bosses that don't realize you're shooting them in the head because you're too far away. That made more than one mission less of a headache). However, you can also expect a very exciting, very movie-like action experience that will keep you on your seat for the 15-odd hours it lasts. It's a new plateau of quality for GTA-ish games, and if GTA San Andreas can better it, then gamers will have very, very little to complain about this fall.

IGN Closing Comments (5.4 out of 10)

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/525/525181p1.html

Even if Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, The Getaway and True Crime didn't exist, DRIV3R would be a disappointment. Despite a clear taste and talent for power slides, Hollywood car chases and destructible cars, Reflections' overall design are hardly an evolution from the previous two titles in the series. More pointedly, the game is rife with technical and design problems. These run the gamut from poor execution, sloppy controls, and lousy AI, to a mix of old missions and trial-and-error designs that will turn any happy-go-lucky person into an irascible, forlorn grouch (no, this has nothing to do with my experience...).
In a broader context, compared to those other games in the "genre," DRIV3R easily takes last place, thanks to a narrow vision and static game design -- on foot or in a car -- that just doesn't excite me the same way it did in 1999.

[Josh H]

It got a mixed review in EGM, something like 8.5, 7.5, 6.5.

[kar10]

Looks like we might have another "Breakdown" type of game. Hopefully target will sell this title at $19.99 soon

[baller23]

I need a new playstation game bad and have been thinking about buying it. I am confused now.......should i get should i not.

[Maxflier]

Played it for a little while and my first impressions of this game are:it is GTA with better graphics but worse controls.

The action movie-like story is very cool,but the controls really suck.When your on foot the aiming is bad and having to use the left stick to move but the right stick to turn is really dumb.And the cars handle like crap.

All that said,i dont regret getting this game,but it could(and should) have been better.

[Li]

Originally posted by Maxflier
.When your on foot the aiming is bad and having to use the left stick to move but the right stick to turn is really dumb.

Do you mean like Hitman or Max Payne?

[Trigger]

I played around with the demo they had at E3... wasn't blown away. Graphics were decent though. I'll pick it up cheap. Mafia for the PC had better graphics and was a much much better game (from what I could tell).

[Maxflier]

Originally posted by Li
Do you mean like Hitman or Max Payne?

I havent played Max Payne,only Hitman and I dont really remember how the controls were.But I do remember I hated them.

I will explain a little better how Driv3r controls:When on foot,you use the left stick to walk around.You press forward and you walk/run forward,but when you press left or right,instead of turning/veering that way, you strafe sideways.If you pull back on the stick you start walking backward.The right stick has to be used to turn the character.

[xmiyux]

Originally posted by Maxflier
I havent played Max Payne,only Hitman and I ront really remember how the controls were.But I do remember I hated them.

I will explain a little better how Driv3r controls:When on foot,you use the left stick to walk around.You press forward and you walk/run forward,but when you press left or right,instead of turning/veering that way, you strafe sideways.If you pull back on the stick you start walking backward.The right stick has to be used to turn the character.

Isn't that kind of default FPS controls?

[Maxflier]

Yeah,but this isn't an FPS (actually you can play it in first person) and i'm sure it will control well when it is released for PC since you can just point the mouse to your target,but doing it with analog sticks sucks IMO.I just wish it controlled like GTA,where you move and turn all with the left stick.

[Trigger]

those are the exact controls I like. Yay!


isn't this how GTA3 controls as well?

[boredsilly]

Sad to hear the game is getting such mixed reviews. I remember loving the first game (even though it was crazy hard and I hit a couple of brick walls) and was looking forward to picking this up eventually. Maybe I still will. It'll hit $20 soon enough.

[Pritch]

For anyone interested you can pick it up at FYE for $24.99 after a $25.00 mail in rebate.

[nickdawgy]

I just picked it up, and so far I'd say it's a 7/10.

The cars seem sluggish, and the crashes are a bit laughable. I crashed into a fence, flipped about 7 times, and landed upside down in an area I couldn't escape from.

Another time I was on a motorcycle, and I crashed into a gate or something and flew through it. I was again trapped, and had to start over.

Both of these were in "Take a ride" mode.

So far I'd say it's cool, but not as cool as I thought it'd be. It's certainly better then the 5.4 IGN gave it, though.

[AgtFox]

I gave it a 60 in my review of the Xbox version that just went up.

This game has a lot of untapped potential in my mind. The graphics and CG movies are definitely a sight to behold, but the common graphic glitches while driving (framerate, draw-in both close up and far away) and the horrendous nature of the on foot sections (look, Tanner can run sideways while looking forward by pressing left or right...why not have a "move the way you point" system?) as well as the hilarious missions where you chase an object in a car and the object is on the screen, but you fail the mission and it tells you that the object got away.

There are also game ending glitches and I've even heard of some total system crashes in the game. Nevermind this video of a car flying in the air and you shooting it down. Vice City had glitches, but Driv3r's are far worse.

Oh yes, the game is extremely short as well as long as you don't have to keep doing missions over and over again (and getting frustrated).

This game has a lot going for it, but the problems just destroy any sense of a fun game in the Story mode.

[kar10]

This game is crazy!

I was just joking around with the car by the water so I'm at full speed and I ramp the car into the water but before I go with the car I make a quick exit by pressing X (Xbox Version). I make a safe dive and I'm watching the car starting to sink when I hear another splash, I turn around and there are all these people jumping into the water. There are at least 10 people floating around in the water and slowly by slowly the begin to dissapear(or drown).

Has anyone seen anything weird in the game?

[AgtFox]

Originally posted by kar10
Has anyone seen anything weird in the game?

Well, there's that linked video on my post above yours (the word "video" is linked). Its of a car flying in mid-air and you shoot it down with your gun.

[chemosh6969]

I take it a few people don't understand the usefullness of strafing.

[AgtFox]

Originally posted by chemosh6969
I take it a few people don't understand the usefullness of strafing.

I understand the usefulness, but put it somewhere else on the controller outside of the left analog stick like every other game out there.

[nickdawgy]

I just put my copy on eBay. I got tired of the constant "you lost him" fail screens.

Too bad, it's a decent game.

[Tarantino]

Originally posted by nickdawgy
I just put my copy on eBay. I got tired of the constant "you lost him" fail screens.

Too bad, it's a decent game.

A decent game you're just not good at?