The first time I ever played Driver was when the free-roaming / driving / action game took its place as my favorite genre. There’s something about being able to just hop in a game and go where ever you want to and explore that has always appealed to me and this type of game fits the bill. I want to say it was the Grand Theft Auto series that originally made the concept a reality, but it was Driver that revolutionized it by making it 3-dimensional, third-person point of view instead of top-down.
Driver 2 made it so (gasp!) you could actually leave your car and had a limited amount of on-foot scenarios, but no weaponry. Along came the PS2 and the titan of titans, GTA III, which really brought attention to the genre and was the game to have for the new Playstation. Not only could you get out of the car, but there were tons of different ways in which you could interact with the other citizens of Liberty City. With GTA showing how much money a company could rake in if they did it right, a number of other franchises began, most notably The Getaway, based in real-world, present-day London, and True-Crime, in which you play a police officer doing his part to clean up the city. As similar as the basic concepts sound (drive around, run around, shoot stuff), the games all vary dramatically and none of them are spot-on perfect.
Driv3r is probably the weakest of them all. The game in general feels as though it was rushed to completion and there are certain things they didn’t seem to give much thought to. You can swim, but not very well, and if you end up in the water on some parts of the map you may as well start over because there’s no way out. There are times when police or other objects will just randomly appear on top of you, and the environments in general seem repetitive at times and very sterile. It’s not that there’s no debris or anything like that but that there’s no interaction with anybody and even pedestrians are sparse. When in the open-roaming mode you can set the weather and time of day before starting but they will not change. The on-foot controls are horrible as is the ridiculous grunting sound Tanner (the main character) makes when trying to jump. The music is horrible. The other bizarre thing is the tie-in with Nokia, despite the fact that the vehicles suggest the game takes place in the 70’s. It’s impossible to tell. However, all is not lost – I really like both the handling of the cars and their appearance and damage models. But everything else is mostly worthless.
The Getaway: Black Monday is better in many ways. This new version actually has an in-game map so you can figure out where the hell you are, even though some roads are not shown. On foot controls are really good and the in-car stuff is mostly decent but still a little too tight for my liking. The environment is pleasantly realistic although the weather here always seems to be really overcast which is kind of depressing. One of the biggest draws of the game is that they actually have licensed vehicles rather than generic interpretations like the other games have, and this time around you also have access to motorcycles. I like the general feel of the game too – it seems the most realistic and unexaggerated and I think the game accomplishes exactly what it wants. Sound is good, but I’m pretty tired of just generic trance-y background music.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a title that pretty much speaks for itself. There are only a few things I don’t like about this game, but they are not enough to keep it from being enjoyable. The cars could be better looking and the controls could be a little tighter; this is actually the opposite side of the spectrum from The Getaway if I were to put Driver in the dead center. On-foot is good in this game also, and CJ is probably the most agile in his movements of all the characters in this genre. You also get to know him really well as a person, and you know exactly why he does everything he does. There are some dopey things, of course, like the fact that to keep the game fresh Rockstar continues to add more content and variety even though some of it is rather silly and unnecessary. On the opposite end of that spectrum, they are gradually making the world more and more realistic even though it’s a non-existent place and that really makes the game worth going back to even after you finish it. What makes me the happiest is the anticipation for the next-generation GTA game on the new consoles, especially given what they’ve accomplished with such limited space and power on the PS2. And who could forget the audio? Everything in San Andreas sounds great, from the swearing pedestrians to the ambient noise to the hott early 90’s music and talk shows. And on top of everything else, it’s got a sense of humor! This is the benchmark, hands down, and for good reason.
True Crime: New York City is the closest thing to the GTA series of this bunch and in some ways is almost better. I really like that the game give you purpose and it’s actually for a noble cause, unlike all the other ones. Your main goal is to clean up the city, and this is reinforced by actually interacting with your boss and continually resolving small crimes while working on larger cases. The car models here almost on par with Driv3r’s which is pretty impressive although the driving itself, like GTA, is a bit loose. Of all the games, this one has the best on-foot controls especially when dealing with weapons. Almost every building is enterable in this game which amazes me, and there’s a lot of interaction with shopkeepers and street vendors as well. The voice acting is really good but the music overall is not really my thing. Even so, there’s a lot to like about this game and if you already own the entire GTA series this should be next on your list.
That said, it’s easy to see that GTA continues to be the winner, although all of the games are worth playing and even owning (with the possible exception of Driv3r — I’d maybe wait for the the next one).
