Driver San Francisco - Final Look Preview

 

Some games are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. If Driver: San Francisco is going to aspire to any of these categories, it'll be the middle one. The title certainly won't be born great, such is the disappointment of former instalments in the series - for the same reason, it seems unlikely that anybody is going to be thrusting greatness upon it. This leaves achieving greatness as Ubisoft Reflections (formerly Reflections Interactive) strives to reinstate the Driver name after a series of poor design choices in the three major instalments following its 1998 debut. And as far as we can see having sat down for a sizeable hands-on with Driver San Francisco's multiplayer and opening single-player act, Ubi Reflections has been working very hard to produce a game of formidable polish.

Take, for example, how far the code has come since we first saw it this time last year. At the centre of the gameplay is a 'shift' dynamic that allows you to teleport freely between any car in the game's open world (we'll explain why later). In our first hands-on with the multiplayer this time last year, the bird's eye view of the city that you used for shifting was featureless and colourless. Buildings and roads were uniformly grey, almost as if the game was in a proof-of-concept stage at the very start of development. In the current build though, this bird's eye view is fully rendered with all the textures and colours that you'd see from the default driver's perspective. The developers were taking on a hefty task with the innovative 'shift' dynamic - smoothly rendering a full open-world with no noticeable drops in frame-rate or pop-up is a daunting prospect at the best of times - so it's great to see that they've been refining and optimising the process so successfully over the last twelve months.

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the development of DSF though, here's a quick recap: it's billed as a return to the classic gameplay of the original Driver, where the focus was squarely on driving - gone are the GTA-style on-foot sections and gunplay of subsequent sequels. The hook, though, is this 'shift' dynamic. Ubisoft Reflections makes sense of it by placing Tanner, who returns as protagonist, in a coma after a coming together with his long-time adversary, Jericho. Within that coma, Tanner learns that he can shift into any car across the city of San Francisco and embody the driver at that vehicle's wheel. Across the game's main story, Tanner uses this ability (unawares he's in a coma) to infiltrate Jericho's gang and embody his various henchman as they complete jobs for their ringleader. With these details alone, DSF is already the most story-focused pure driving experience in any game of recent times, but it's the variation that Ubisoft Reflections appears to be managing through all of this that's particularly striking.

 

During a couple of hours with t

 

he single-player, we experienced everything from car chases (as both cop and criminal) to illegal point-to-point street races, one mission where we embodied a journalist trying to capture footage of reckless driving, and another where we had to rescue a kidnapped woman in the boot of a car (the key was to take out the kidnapper's car with oncoming collisions by shifting to cars just in front of him). The gameplay hook of shifting really has allowed Ubi Reflections a wide range of tools to flesh out a discernible plot and the studio clearly hasn't shied away from the challenge. Each vehicle you shift into with either a side or story mission attached to it has discernible characters on-board with plentiful lines of dialogue and even minor back-stories to flesh out. There's the driving instructor who bullies the confidence out of his teenage student until Tanner embodies the young boy and scares the living daylights out of the instructor with some crazy driving antics, or the street racer who's trying to win some cash to send his younger brother to college. The scope and breadth of what's going on here is as fresh and invigorating as it is technically impressive.

Of course, no Driver game comes without its focus on American muscle car-style handling, and what better location to frame that than the series' original setting, San Francisco, where Steve McQueen's antics in a Ford Mustang have made the film Bullitt so enduring over the decades. True to the game's heritage, handling is weighty through the corners with a focus on handbrake turns and rung-out drifts. The steep hills of San Francisco make for plenty of ludicrously airborne moments as you chase down the game's various objectives, all of which is then latched onto a Burnout-style currency system. Driving into oncoming traffic, time spent jumping, and drifting all add to the amount of money available for buying new cars and parts, while 'boost' and 'ram' gameplay perks that emerge as the game goes on do manage to keep the driving experience fresh.

From what we've seen of the multiplayer, shifting lends itself as well to the gameplay here as it does in the story missions. Two modes were on offer during our hands-on, one of which was a variant of tag and the other your basic cops and robbers experience. In the tag mode, one player has a trophy and all other players have to steal it off them - the person who holds the trophy longest wins. Shifting has obvious advantages here as you scurry to shift into a vehicle as close as possible to the trophy holder and take them by surprise. The cops and robbers mode, on the other hand, pits numerous cop players against a single robber and, once again, using shifts strategically as a group of cops will soon have the target car pinned into a corner. Ubisoft Reflections has promised 19 multiplayer modes in total (11 online,

the rest split-screen) which is a pretty tantalising prospect, although it'll be interesting to see how many of these turn out to be variants on a theme.

As the arcade driving game genre misfires on current-gen consoles, it's refreshing to have Driver San Francisco come in and fill that void with all kinds of refreshing ideas across its gameplay and storyline. There are genuinely shades of Burnout's previous-gen brilliance here.

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Driver San Francisco Review

If we’re being honest, we probably weren’t expecting much from the Driver franchise. With Driv3r sporting more bugs than your average rainforest and the follow-up, Parallel Lines, failing to deliver much more than an economy class GTA experience, no-one was really giving it much thought. When we made the leap to the current generation of consoles, we weren’t anxiously anticipating another instalment in a series already running on empty. And so, when the Driver San Francisco press releases began circulating, they were met with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for the announcement of a new National Lampoon’s film.

But then, something odd happened. Following press events, there were whispers of something a bit different. A bit clever. And more than a bit good. And you know what? The whispers were right.

Taking place only a few months after the events of the much-criticised Driv3r, this latest instalment begins with Tanner’s nemesis Jericho imprisoned in San Francisco. Ever the fiendish master criminal, Jericho engineers his escape as he’s being transported through the streets of SF. Tanner, one of those 80s style cops who relies almost entirely on hunches, predicts trouble and luckily is nearby when the shizzle hits the sizzle. A car chase ensues and Tanner is involved in a serious collision which leaves him comatose with a nasty looking bruise on his nose. The majority of the game then takes place in Tanner’s unconscious mind in what is quite a hefty nod to policeman-in-a-coma TV serial, Life on Mars.

And, surprisingly, Reflections has handled the story pretty damn well. While you shouldn’t expect BAFTA material - there’s a lot of the wise-cracking hit and miss humour we’re so accustomed to seeing in games - there are also a number of nice narrative touches that make the game’s storyline pretty interesting. For one, it’s presented as a kind of action TV serial, complete with “previously on Driver San Francisco…” recaps when you start new story missions and a voiceover/evidence board at the end as Tanner attempts to piece together the puzzle and discover what Jericho’s up to. Sure, these are simple, subtle little devices but they all contribute to a decent single-player game that you’ll want to see through to its conclusion. But, of course, the most impressive aspect of the narrative is that it sets up the game’s primary new feature: shifting.

See, because Tanner’s all unconscious and that - and this whole tale is taking place in his noggin - he can break the rules of physics a little. What this means is that at almost any point in the game, you can leave Tanner’s body behind, float up into the sky of the game’s open world and choose to inhabit the body of another driver. This not only allows Tanner a significant advantage in investigating Jericho, but it also opens up a variety of City Missions to complete. City Missions are basically your side missions in Driver San Francisco and you’ll need to complete a couple to unlock the next episode in Tanner’s story.

And Reflections has cleverly made sure that there’s a fair amount of variety on offer in the City Missions. With races, police chases, stunts and more, the City Missions rarely feel like a chore, but the nicest touch is that, throughout the single-player game, you’ll encounter the same characters at different parts of their own stories. There are the street-racing brothers, for example, attempting to earn enough money to pay their way through college; or the beleaguered TV stunt show camera crew, constantly under pressure to find (or engineer) some good footage for their show; or the two cops who take it upon themselves to rid the city of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. It’s a smart way to keep the side missions interesting in an open world structure and they’re often as engaging, both in terms of narrative and gameplay, as the story missions.

But the impact of the shifting mechanic doesn’t stop there. Because you can do it at almost any time (a few missions prevent you from shifting) it opens up a whole world of options to the player that allow them to get a little creative with their driving. In a race for instance, rather than simply concentrating on your driving, why not make things a little difficult for your competitors? Perhaps you could take control of some oncoming traffic and try to take them out of the race, or maybe you could find yourself a whopping great truck and park it across the road, hit the rearview button and watch the carnage?

It’s a wonderfully subtle and inventive system and you sometimes forget that you have it at your disposal, only to think things through for a second and have a “Eureka!” moment. Reflections is clearly quite proud of the mechanic too, showcasing it in a number of shift-crucial missions. While some may bemoan the game’s lack of on-foot sections, I’d argue that the shift mechanic offers so much more to the player and is a genuinely impressive addition to the series. And, let’s face it, it’s not as if the on-foot sections in previous Driver games were any good, is it?

But, of course, all of this praise for the shifting would be for nought if the driving gameplay wasn’t up to scratch. Luckily, Reflections has managed to craft a driving model that is both solid and will feel distinctly familiar to fans of the series. Car handling in driving games tends to be the boniest of contentions and, gauging response to recently-released demos, opinion seems to be divided. Some may argue that the cars are too geared towards oversteer and drifting, and that it’s all a little forgiving (allowing you to pull off some ridiculous manoeuvres), but this is a Driver game after all. This isn’t about hitting apexes and shaving milliseconds off lap times – this is about weaving through oncoming traffic at 100+ mph, sliding sideways through corners and enacting your 70s cop show fantasies. And Reflections has done a bang-up job with the handling in this writer’s opinion. When you consider that this is all happening at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, you have an adrenaline-fuelled driving experience to deal with.

If this is all sounding a little too positive for you fans of disappointment (read “British gamers”) there are some annoyances to be found in the game. Some of the mission checkpointing seems a little inconsistent and you’ll frequently have to replay sections of missions so many times that you can memorise the dialogue. Also, while it’s nice to see licensed vehicles in a Driver game for the first time, you get the feeling that a little more work could have gone into making their respective handling models unique. You might also find yourself thinking that San Francisco ought to look a little prettier than the soft focus, hazy offering that Reflections has crafted (well, I suppose it could be the famous SF fog). But it’s safe to say that the good dramatically outweighs the bad in this latest Driver and perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game is its longevity. In the single-player game, as well as the story and city missions, the game map is also littered with driving challenges (or Dares) which will test your skills even further. And there are the collectibles which unlock a series of film-inspired challenges like the Mustang chase in Bullitt, for instance. And, of course, Director Mode returns allowing you to craft some tasty replays of your driving prowess. Or, in my case, lack thereof.

But it’s the game’s multiplayer modes that will keep you coming back to San Francisco and it’s all credit to the developer that it has ensured the game’s USP – the shift mechanic – remains central to the fun in multiplayer. With a wide variety of game modes on offer (we were sadly only able to try Tag and Trailblazer) there’s a lot to appeal to the online driving fan and shifting adds a new dimension of chaos to the standard competitive driving experience. Creativity is the name of the game and, from just a few minutes online with the game, you’ll witness some fiendish attempts to ruin your race and an awful lot of crunching metal.

Somehow, it seems as if Reflections has managed to achieve the impossible with San Francisco – it has taken the Driver franchise back to its roots whilst also pushing it forward into new territory and the result is undoubtedly the most complete, polished offering in the series to date. Tearing through the streets of San Francisco, forcing your car into manoeuvres that it probably shouldn’t be able to do with the knowledge that you can hit X and take control of another car at any time is just as fun as it sounds.

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Driver San Francisco

Remember the hazy days of 1998? B*Witched had two UK No.1s. ITV's Airline was pretty much the most popular thing on the goggle box. And Godzilla was the third-highest grossing movie of the year.

Basically, we were all idiots.

Except, that is, for a bunch of smart-thinking types over at Reflections Interactive - who treated us to genre-busting gaming classic Driver.

If you witnessed it, you probably ached for a return to form with each further addition to the dwindling series. And just like us, you were probably perennially disappointed.

And just like us, when you heard about Driver: San Francisco for the first time last year, you probably shared a mini-sick with fellow fans - especially when the whole 'Tanner can float between cars like a ghost because he's in a coma' thing dropped.

If you're really new and this is the first you've heard of the spooky mechanic, swallow those chunks and allow us to explain.

In Driver: San Francisco, everybody's favourite Green Cross Code-curbing cop John Tanner is blasted into a coma by long-time nemesis Charles Jericho. A ballsy move, and ultimately a game-breaking one, you might think: the amount of driving you can do from a hospital bed is limited at best.

Think again. This is John Tanner we're talking about - he can rattle four wheels through a box-heavy alley in his sleep. Literally.

In fact, that's exactly what he does. The majority of Driver: San Francisco takes place inside Tanner's head, in a reality where he can make like Google Earth at a moment's notice and 'Shift' between vehicles.

It's a simple device. As you're tooting around like some road dependent schmuck a press of the X button will lift you out of your body and high above the streets, where you can glide about with the left stick, target another vehicle and possess its driver.

If that premise sounds a bit dumb, that's because it is. But the team at Reflections knows exactly that - which is what allows it to work. Instead of trying force the idea into the bleak, super-serious Driver world we're used to, this is a brighter, funnier game that doesn't try to be anything more than fun.

It means that the opening hour or so bumbles through something close to narrative explanation that, to be honest, could be omitted entirely. Once everything's in place and you're back behind the wheel, you don't really care why you can pull a Casper at will.

On the road the Shift mechanic is smooth, well implemented and actually pretty useful.

If you're chasing a perp, for example, and your fellow road-users aren't doing their bit by risking their life and limb to slam into the high-speed getaway car, you can do the old up and down, whoosh into their head and take matters into your own hands.

Similarly, if you're falling behind your target you can use Shift to hop forward a few cars to get you back in the game.

Side-missions are based on Shift as well. A number of different tasks are triggered by possessing certain citizens. Old favourites to the genre are all accounted for; cops v robbers, stunt runs and races are all but a Shift away and more inventive scenarios such as possessing a kid on his driving lesson in order to make his instructor kack his pants are welcome.

Of course, the glaring problem with having the ability to Shift is that you can go through the game without actually doing all that much driving. It means that the single-player campaign (coming in at around seven or eight hours) can be rattled through pretty quickly because its very easy to give yourself the upper-hand.

The way the game combats the quick-fixers though is, thankfully, by making the driving itself really fun. While Shift allows for some mischievous moments that are certainly very satisfying, to cut down the time you spend actually behind the wheel any more than necessary would be a massive own goal.

There's over 200 miles of San Francisco road out there to barrel down for a start. Again, allow us to hark back to the brilliant original Driver and you'll remember the excitement surrounding massive, detailed open-world replicas of San Francisco, LA, New York and Miami.

San Francisco was by far the most fun to play back in the day with its nice long straights and ridiculously steep inclines perfect for some air time (Remember Nob Hill? Snigger), and so it makes a welcome return.

But this time San Francisco has been tweaked to offer only the most car chase friendly elements. The massive hills and swooping bends have been taken and squished together to form a version of the city that's geared towards fun.

It works as well, with chaotic pursuits constantly taking unexpected turns, narrow misses and the odd mid-air collision.

Of course the intricately detailed city can only be partially credited for the experience. It provides a playground but it's the inhabitants that make the game. While in previous Driver games a target would sometimes reach an area of the map and just start circling the block and police, although relentless tended to choose bunching over well thought out tactics, San Francisco's AI is smart.

You won't outrun the police with a brainless sprint down the nearest and straightest road, you'll need to skim on-coming traffic and take sudden turns to shake them. When you're the chaser, you'll know exactly how it feels as well. With the AI being particularly crafty on the escape, it's a case of anticipating when and how they'll turn and intercepting at the right time.

While Reflections might have gone with the crazy when it comes to premise, the actual handling is as solid, weighty and realistic as ever. Obviously we're not talking simulation racing here, drifts are easily executed, there are enough jump opportunities to warrant a town planning enquiry and cinematic sizzle is at the heart of everything. It's the two elements combined that make Driver: San Francisco great.

And it looks as good as it feels, thanks in part to that Hollywood blockbuster ambition. Taking a leaf out of Burnout's book every totalling crash is slowed right down so that you can see every splinter and shard litter the road. And splinter they do, with paint peeling, glass smashing and tyres ripping like a destructive take on an M&S advert.

It's almost a shame because the line-up of licensed 1970s cars - 100 in total including Tanner's Dodge Challenger - has been lovingly recreated in lush detail. They're a key part to creating that feel of being in a classic roadster film.

Clear inspiration from the likes of Bullit inform every stylistic element right down to the impressive soundtrack. It's made explicit though when you pick up one of the many Movie Sequence tokens scattered about the city.

They're another string to the side-mission bow, unlocking special challenges in the main menu allowing you to recreate iconic Hollywood car chases

That's the power of Driver when it's done well; it makes you feel like you're in Tinseltown's biggest, fastest car chase. But it shouldn't try to recreate the rest of the film - that's the important bit.

So the story will get in the way at first - Reflections is obviously a bit nervous about introducing its zany Shift concept without narrative explanation - but, once you're behind the wheel, you'll realise that San Francisco is definitely a long-overdue return to form for the Driver series.

Oh yes. It's time to party like it's 1998. Stick some B*Witched on, would you dear?

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