Review of the game Driver: San Francisco. Flatulent driving. Game review Driver: San Francisco Driver san francisco game review
The sequel to the legendary Driver series has finally seen the light ...
Driver: San Francisco is the fifth part of the game in the series, which tells the story of the same "Driver" and his partner. This time, the developers took a slightly different path. At the very beginning of the game, everything is quite ordinary, but then the moment comes when Tanner has to face a seemingly big problem ... he gets into an accident. Throughout the game, you will have to play as a comatose hero, but is it that interesting? - you ask. Yes, quite - I will answer. For all the time Tanner is in the hospital ward unconscious, you will play with his subconscious and fantasy. The fact is that our hero will observe hallucinations, sleep or his fantasy ... I don't know what to call it, in general Tanner will acquire very interesting opportunities. We will talk about them below.
In the previous parts of the game, we were either allowed to get out of the car or not. They won't give this one, surprised? It's okay, because Tanner can now just swing upward, look for a suitable car for himself and be there in the very second. How interesting or stupid the developers' idea was, is not for me to judge. But it turned out quite original. In the first minute, not everyone will immediately understand the whole situation, but as the plot develops, the curtain will open slightly and everything will become clear.
The plot of the game.
Everything is very clear here, I will not explain anything for one reason - there is no need for spoilers. Play for yourself, evaluate it yourself, I don't want to spoil the experience for anyone. Let me just say a few words.
The beginning of the game is too long, educational tasks are not that difficult, but wildly boring. It would be enough to explain everything in a nutshell, but no, we will be forced to repeat what we have passed several times and hone our skills. Although what this perfection is for, I will not put my mind to it, even a six-month-old child here will figure it out without any problems. But the developers wished so, I dare not dispute it.
The game is easy in some places, a bit difficult in some places. But for those who have not missed the rise of the Driver series, such tasks will seem mundane.
Cars and locations.
The game has a wonderful car park, although not all of them are shown at first. But fear not, as you progress through the game, new cars and locations will open up. Locations should be given special attention, because after all, this is the legendary San Francisco, with its famous Golden Gate. The area looks quite colorful and juicy, as befits such a place.
First of all, it is worth mentioning that all cars in the game are licensed, i.e. they are copies of real models. The car's handling is quite good, not realistic, of course, but good. This will appeal primarily to those who like to ride with a view from the salon. The cars are damaged, but unfortunately they didn’t impress me.
Video editor.
There is a video editor in the game, as far as I remember, as in other parts of this series. But it is, as always, not functional, only a few angles and a video trimming function. Well, at least this, but you can modify it with subsequent editing through some kind of video editor.
The technical component of the game.
Again, the fact that this is a port from consoles immediately catches the eye. In fact, it is so, at first the game was released for consoles, and only then only for PC (after almost a month). But the optimization is quite good, friezes are found only in places with an abundance of shadows from any objects (a known problem with ports from consoles).
Graphics are average. Very often problems with anti-aliasing become noticeable, it is poorly worked out in the game.
It is possible not to judge strictly the exactingness of the game, for almost all games today these are quite normal requirements.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this game is primarily for an amateur. Who loves games with cars, who remembers the first games of the Driver series, of course it will be to their liking. How she will look in the eyes of others, I have no mind ...
But it's worth a try for anyone, although not everyone will appreciate it appropriately.
The game came out average, sometimes interesting, sometimes annoying. But try dear readers, always try it yourself! After all, this is just my opinion, everyone gives the final assessment of the game for himself.
P.S. In the game you will find many pleasant memories of the previous parts of this game.
- exciting entertainment, made in the spirit of arcade Need for speed... But do not think that this game is another clone of the popular series from Electronic Arts. There are a lot of differences, and the main thing is that you will not find the fascinating plot of Driver in the template Need for speed last time.
Coma is not a hindrance
John Tanner, the permanent protagonist of the Driver series (except for Parallel Lines) is back, and this time, after a small accident, he is in a coma. However, this does not prevent him from continuing the hunt for criminals and, in particular, for the main antagonist named Jerrico. According to the original idea of the writers, John was able to transfer his consciousness to various people while he was in a coma. It is this, as well as the ability to receive all information about the situation in the city in the brain, that builds a game for us.
History Driver: San Francisco is not intrusive and interesting. If you play long enough, it can drag on. Here, of course, you will not find plot twists and psychological dramas: everything is presented quite trite - I went there, drove here, listened to the dialogues behind the wheel. Well, since finding the main villain is not an easy task, the investigation will take a lot of time, during which the player travels around the city, completing side quests.
To brighten up the waiting (and at the same time to get the driving experience), the developers have added a lot of all kinds of competitions, some of which will add a new element to the mosaic that hides Jericho's intention, others - to help ordinary people or policemen.
Shut up and rudders!
If you forget about the plot and side quests and concentrate on the race, then everything is quite standard here: the controls, although arcade, are without "frills" and each car is easy enough to control even on the keyboard. There are a lot of cars in the game, and lovers of antiquity will see about a dozen rare models implemented in races for the first time. Well, young players will see the already familiar sports cars and muscle cars.
A whole arsenal of chips tied to the "comatose" state of the protagonist will delight those who like to play pranks on the road. For example, like this: you can move to another driver and direct his car to an opponent, after which they return to their current one and sweep past the "accidental" accident. You can become a "torpedo" yourself and by hitting the driver in front, knock him off the track. And this is far from the end of those stunts that can be performed on the road. There has never been such an idea in computer games, and in this case it perfectly expands the standard racing gameplay.
Well, since this feature is new, the developers helpfully give several training races for getting used to, after which all Tanner's "talents" are performed in full automation or even lined up in a sequence of actions.
Grafooon ?!
The game engine lacks stars from the sky, so the graphics of the game are average. The design of the game world is generally standard for racing, although using a more recent engine would certainly bring the game to a new level of visualization. But the developers tried to detail the cars - they are licensed from the manufacturer, and this already guarantees full compliance with the picture, and the game authors themselves have put a lot of effort into making the cars look good on the engine. The game videos, built on the engine, are also not badly executed and convey the emotions of the heroes.
In San Francisco for a few weeks
Driver: San Francisco is like no one better suited for entertainment: on the one hand, an interesting plot and many side quests, on the other - an abundance of gameplay features. An open world and a huge number of cars (in their number, Driver competes with Test Drive Unlimited 2). In general, if you have a little free time and want to drive the car, but are tired of the next Need For Speed - buy a "ticket to San Francisco".
The fate of the series Driver was not in the best way - the cycle has existed for more than a dozen years, but only its first part has achieved unequivocal success.
Driver: San Francisco
Platform PC / X360 / PS3 / Wii
genre arcade racing
The developer Reflections
Publisher"1C-SoftKlab"
Formula of the game
Driver + sandbox + soul transmigration = Driver: San Francisco
Grade
Big city; interesting gameplay; a lot of side quests and licensed cars
The handling of the car, like the "sandbox", will not please everyone; outdated graphics
Unexpectedly one of the best games in the series
Graphics
Sound
Playability
Verdict
Arcade racing with a plot worthy of a Hollywood action movie was a real revelation in 1999. And if you consider that Driver also has a very addicting gameplay, then its popularity at that time is quite natural. In the wake of success, literally a year later, the author releases a sequel to the story of the adventures of detective John Tanner (however, this time exclusively for the Sony PlayStation console, although the predecessor also came out on the PC). Despite a number of innovations in the original gameplay, the sequel was received cooler, and the developer took a longer pause - the triquel appeared only 4 years later. However, it still didn't do him any good - Driv3r turned out to be a failure. They tried hard to make a clone of GTA 3 out of arcade racing - it seems that its fantastic success at that time haunted many. However, Reflections is not Rockstar, and the miracle did not happen. After such a fiasco from the fourth part, Driver: Parallel Lines, no one expected anything special, and therefore there were no more disappointments. An attempt to return to the original gameplay, removing the walking missions and leaving only the automotive component, turned out to be generally more successful than the previous pen test, but Parallel Lines still lacked stars from the sky.
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| Plot summary |
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| A cunning plan is so cunning |
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| What is Frisco without the Golden Gate? |
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| The streets are poor but clean |
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| In some missions, Driver resembles Burnout |
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| Close-ups are not an engine, but a render |
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| The sandbox as it is |
So, five years have passed since the release of the predecessor, the cycle has finally returned to its origins (even the main character in DSF is again Detective Tanner, whom the developer had "forgotten" about in Parallel Lines). Did you manage to get the "Driver" out of the hole where Reflections drove it with their constant experiments? Fortunately, yes.
So, since the release of the predecessor, a whole five years have passed, the cycle has finally returned to its origins.
We again play as John Tanner and again we cannot get out of the car (we even forgot how to shoot). Driver: San Francisco starts right off the bat: the prologue (which is more of a training mode) demonstrates the plot of a Hollywood scale, the plot literally does not allow the gamer to catch his breath, and then ... the introductory chapter ends. Tanner, pursuing a terrorist who escaped from prison, gets into an accident and lies in a coma in the hospital, while his soul ... flies through the window and gets the opportunity to move into any driver. After that, the gameplay turns into a classic "sandbox" - an incorporeal shell we fly over San Francisco in a mode a la Google Earth and take control of any car in the city. On the map, pictograms mark the available tasks, which can be conditionally divided into several categories. The simplest of the secondary ones allow you to earn extra special currency ("willpower"); for it you buy garages, cars, upgrades, etc. Secondary tasks more difficult offer a higher reward - for example, the right to buy certain cars. Story missions are divided into two groups - the main ones, in which the hunt for an escaped terrorist is actually taking place, and additional ones, their implementation is necessary only in order to open access to the main ones. In general, a classic sandbox, with all its advantages and disadvantages. Complete freedom of action, which has long ceased to be a selling point, inevitably leads to a decrease in the intensity of passions and has a detrimental effect on the continuity of the narrative. What can we say, if from time to time the game is even forced to remind the gamer at what stage of the plot he is, with the help of special inserts in the spirit of the TV series "earlier in Driver: San Francisco ...". And even a complete rejection of side missions saves the situation only partially - you still have to complete secondary tasks (in no way related to the main plot) in order to open access to the next portion of Tanner's adventures.
Complete freedom of action, which has long ceased to be a selling point, inevitably leads to a decrease in the intensity of passions and has a detrimental effect on the continuity of the narrative
However, fans of the "sandy" gameplay in Driver: San Francisco will have plenty of space - almost one and a half hundred licensed car models (in Western forums you can even find statements like "I will play this game just because it has such and such a car") , a fair amount of tasks for a variety of tastes, a large territory - in general, there is where to roam. By the way, about the territory. San Francisco is huge here - at first only a small area is available, however, as you progress through neighboring locations, and as a result, the gamer, according to the developer, has more than 300 km of roads at his disposal. In general, the city, although very simplified, is very similar to the real one, which the players who have been there will surely appreciate. The only thing that spoils the overall pleasant impression of it is the outdated graphics. At high speeds it is imperceptible, but it is worth slowing down, and the schematic of the streets and the minimalism of the decoration of the metropolis immediately catch the eye.
However, if you like chases in the style of American action movies - with screeching brakes, spectacular drifts, spectacular collisions, howling a police siren, etc. - be sure to check out Driver: San Francisco. This is by far the best game in the series since the first game.
Ubisoft has done a very interesting trick with the Driver series. On the one hand, the games included in it, as a rule, were not sold in particularly large editions. On the other hand, Driver was remembered, and the announcement of each new part invariably became an event.
12 years after the original game was released, Driver: San Francisco was born. In it, the developers returned to the old protagonist - a policeman named John Tanner, and the game itself was moved to San Francisco, abandoning the idea of changing cities along the way.
What is it about?
Flatulers
The cops in Driver: San Francisco do little less damage to the city than the bandits.
It has been six months since the completion of Driv3r. Both the main character, Tanner, and his main adversary, the bandit Charles Jericho, survived a wild gunfight in Istanbul's streets and returned to America. Here Jericho was finally handcuffed and Tanner returned to duty.
True, this law enforcement idyll did not last long. About ten minutes after the start of Driver: San Francisco, the bandit is free, and Tanner, who was chasing him once again, is in a coma. It would seem that this is more like a belated ending than a new beginning. But it was not there.
Like this?
Artel "California Bagels"
Although Tanner himself is from the police, he will have to run away from colleagues more than once.
You've probably heard stories about soldiers taking apart and assembling weapons while blindfolded. Some of our readers may have been such soldiers themselves. Well, Tanner, apparently, brought the driving reflexes to such automatism, which is not something blindly - even right from a coma, he continues to turn the steering wheel and fight crime.
In a coma, Tanner has new abilities inaccessible to mere mortals.
The main one is called Shift. Thanks to her, Tanner can jump out of the current car into the astral plane at almost any moment and jump into a new car right on the go - even if she was driving at that moment on the other side of the city.
Other abilities are unlocked as the game progresses. So, already in the first hours you get a skill that allows you to ram other cars with force, and a little later - the ability to accelerate the car to an unprecedented speed.
Why love?
Melodies and rhythms
Traditionally, Driver's streets are packed with innovative pedestrians who simply cannot be run over no matter how hard you try.
"Offset" not only allows you to quickly change cars, but also has a very beneficial effect on the pace of the game. Thanks to this ability, you manage to be both a policeman and a criminal, and an employee of a local TV station, and God knows who else. San Francisco turns into one big car chase to the accompaniment of great rock and roll.
In general, this is a game for those who like to drown the gas pedal to the floor and, not caring about anything, rush through the city. The new Driver does not even smell of seriousness, this is an arcade game, not a simulator, but in this class it performs very well. The feeling of speed is amazing, every turn, every inch of drift is pure adrenaline. At least at first.
In addition, in addition to the story missions, there are also side missions in which you help the residents of San Francisco and the city police and generally have fun in every possible way. In one of these tasks, for example, you arrange a test drive for a new car, and in another, you specially trick and show off in front of the police in order to film several of the most spectacular scenes.
By the way, about entertainment! Another successful find of the authors is the masterful combination of pre-calculated video and scenes on the game engine in the plot videos. The screen is divided into several parts, the camera constantly jumps from one view to another. Even when you are driving, from time to time, three-dimensional animated faces of Tanner and his passenger appear on the screen, discussing what is happening around.
What to hate for?
No pauses
The environment in the game is almost completely non-interactive. It happens that you run into a flimsy fence - and stop rooted to the spot.
Having said that Driver: San Francisco is basically one big chase, we wanted to not only emphasize how exciting the game is, but also hint at another, already less pleasant nuance. The point is that DSF is good until the moment you turn it off. Should the chase stop for at least half an hour, if you lose your wave, and you probably won't want to return to the game.
A similar effect is also achieved when you stumble upon a difficult mission. San Francisco is also not designed to replay individual chunks many times. You need to play it in one breath - so that all sounds are silenced in your ears, except for the squeal of wheels on the asphalt. The slightest pause - and the magic dissipates.
PRELIMINARY VERDICT
Perhaps we misunderstood something and after another couple of hours Driver opens from some completely unexpected side. I would like to believe that this is so, but after the first acquaintance, the game seems spectacular, skillfully made dummy.
On the other hand, if you just want to unload your brains and whistle along the Embarcadero past the port with a breeze, turn a corner on Market Street and make a nix in the Japanese quarter, you will not find better entertainment now.
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT: 7
This game hardly needs an introduction. Everyone already knows that NFS is the fastest chases, the coolest cars and the most expensive licensed soundtrack in the world. And also - a delightful sense of speed and the opportunity to play cat and mouse with the most advanced traffic police unit in the world.
Test Drive Unlimited 2
Test Drive Unlimited 2 took place on the islands of Ibiza and Oahu, and the main feature, as in the case of the first part, is its close connection to online. It is customary here to stray into groups, fight in impromptu races and show off to each other new points for fifteen hundred "green".
However, Ubisoft Reflections is too well aware of the fate of the previous two projects to shout about it at every corner. However, the Newcastle studio does not hide from past mistakes, but admit them. “Oh, have you played the third part and Parallel Lines? Yes, they are somehow not very good. But San Francisco is a completely different matter, it will return the series to its roots. "
And it really does. After bumping up on attempts to compete with GTA for the title of the coolest "sandbox", Reflections turned the reverse gear and drove back to 1999. She's not the first, of course. Vin Diesel from Wheelman (created, by the way, in Newcastle) almost never ran on foot and literally flew from car to car. Driver: San Francisco took the next logical step and completely destroyed the "pedestrian" fragments. John Tanner's consciousness hovers above the ground in slow motion like a hawk looking out for prey. Hover the cursor over the car you like, bang! - and we are driving.
John knows how to do this, because he is in a coma, as we are informed about in the prologue. The original script kept the surprise under the carpet until Act 3, but the reaction of the testers made the writers change their minds. The transmigration of souls went against the usual reality and instantly led to the correct guess. After the series "Lost" and "Life on Mars" (not to mention the recent films "Inception" and "Source Code"), a rare player will not see through the catch - it is painfully predictable.
Now the trump cards are on the table. Police officer John Tanner and his partner Tobias Jones pursue criminal Charles Jericho (he was the villainous in Driv3r), who escaped from prison a few days before his execution. Justice is about to overtake the criminal, but then a fuel truck flies out of nowhere ... Having regained consciousness, the hero sees a billboard with the call "Wake up". Oh, if only everything were so easy! It will take a long time before Tanner realizes his unenviable fate, and for this he will need "Shift".
This is the name of the unique talent that allows you to "borrow" the car of any resident of San Francisco. At first, the radius of its action is small, the entire map cannot be covered at once, and a modest piece is available from the huge metropolis. Despite the fantastic concept, the mechanics are simple. Highlighted with auto icon - mission: main, "city" or optional. To progress through the story, you need to complete several "city" tasks. Side activities like street racing fill up your pocket ... No, not in dollars.
In the comatose version of San Francisco, currency is replaced by "willpower" - a resource for buying skills, upgrades, cars and garages. It is given out little by little for every sneeze: a protracted drift, driving in the oncoming lane, dashing races on hilly avenues and microquests like "make X overtaking, accelerating to Y km / h." They also encourage leaving the cops, although they are gentle guys and do not go into trouble for no reason. But as soon as you scratch the policeman, he will grab the tail with a bulldog's grip. Shaking off the chase is difficult, especially at first, when Tanner is unaware of the afterburner and ramming. Law enforcement officers are surprisingly tenacious, develop an enviable speed and quickly get out of accidents.
It would seem that this is where reincarnation comes in handy. He threw the car (AI immediately bails it - by the way, a good driver), jumped into an oncoming vehicle, took good aim and hit the offender with all his might. Alas, the focus does not always work - the enemy wants to live and deftly dodges head-on blows. In most situations, it is more profitable to use earthly rather than supernatural skills, especially since cunning designers often turn on a timer and thin out traffic.
But the button responsible for "Shift" will not get covered with dust. During an hour and a half spent with Driver, I used it more than once or twice. For example, in a chain of missions involving local TV crews, whose van travels the streets in search of spectacular incidents. The director requires spectacular shots, so you have to try. Say, get the attention of the police, drive to a certain alley and jump off the springboard. In another episode, I did crazy stunts to bring the driving instructor to panic - the more dangerous and difficult the techniques, the faster the poor fellow's pulse approached 180 beats per minute.
Although the plot is serious, the game itself is replete with funny scenes and remarks. After all, when the hero "hijacks" the mind of another man in the street, the passengers sitting next to him are unaware of the change. Tanner ignores the screams of the unfortunate citizens, shocking them with words and deeds. The authors were not greedy - they prepared a lot of types and phrases, for a 10-hour campaign it will definitely be enough. ... Whether missions will be varied is a million dollar question. The first chapter introduces us to the basics, and it's hard to evaluate the whole of Driver: San Francisco from them. In the opening, everything is excellent: stunt tasks, intense pursuits, dramatic rescue of a kidnapped girl ... The scale of virtual San Francisco is also impressive - 320 km of the road network! In general, it is hoped that Reflections will not fail. Of particular interest is "Rapid Shift" - the game remembers the last car we "jumped into" and allows you to quickly rush between two cars by pressing one key. Later, Tanner will have to drive a couple of sports cars at once and take them to the top of the race (Ford Street Racing hiccups in the dustbin of history).
Multiplayer, with as many as 19 variations (joint and competitive), will certainly prolong the life of the project. The developers are silent about it and instead ask to notice how smoothly the console build is going - Reflections intends to squeeze 60 fps out of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Not without sacrifices, of course, - the city is clearly inferior in detail to Liberty City. It is not yet clear whether the graphics for personal computers will be tweaked. In a conversation with the producers, I learned that the PC will receive some pleasant bonuses, but the British do not say anything more. But they are trumpeting about the resurrection of the "Film Director" mode, which preserves the last ten minutes of gameplay - you can select the brightest moments and glue them into a movie. Another achievement - Driver has finally acquired licenses from large corporations. Despite the famous brands, 120 cars from different countries and for decades willingly crumple and bend, albeit not as dashingly as their fictional brothers from Burnout Paradise. But there are no motorcycles in principle - keeping in mind the sad lessons of Driv3r, Reflections decided that it is better to cut them out than do them badly.
Key characters are more fortunate. Driver: San Francisco is not friendly with facial animation, so the flaw was bombarded with money - all the dialogues are presented with beautiful calculated videos. Fortunately, the main "talking heads" - Tanner and Jones - do not part with their beloved orange "Dodge", saving artists from migraines. The solution is quite in the spirit of the late 1990s, when computer hardware was able to draw only walking logs. But, whatever one may say, also a return to the origins.