Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5184 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Atari
• Released on: 2004-06-25
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Review
The original Driver was one of the most popular and original driving games on the PSone and very much helped to pave the way for Grand Theft Auto III and others. The sequel, however, was a massive disappointment and seemed to prove that the Driver formula could only ever work again on the next generation of consoles.

Now finally Driver 3 (or DRIV3R as it insists on calling itself) is here, and although it's not the disaster that the last game was it's still a considerable disappointment. As you would expect from developers Reflections, who also did Stuntman and the original Destruction Derby, the car handling and physics are excellent--perhaps some of the best ever seen. However, the artificial intelligence of your opponent drivers is almost laughably poor and the incredibly detailed graphics, which look so good in the screenshots, come at the expensive of some disappointingly short draw distances, with buildings and backgrounds suddenly popping up as if out of nowhere.

The game itself is now very much influenced by Grand Theft Auto and you can get out of your car and hijack other vehicles. DRIV3R is still predominantly mission-based, though, and unfortunately the difficulty curve is still as frustratingly uneven as ever with some missions seemingly almost superhumanly hard.

If you're a fan of the series then DRIV3R probably won't disappoint too much, but newcomers to the series may find this has rather more problems than you'd expect from such a heavily hyped title.--David Jenkins

Manufacturer's Description
DRIV3R is an action-packed driving adventure game that stays true to its roots, incorporating the cinematic gameplay and gritty street crime of its predecessors with ground-breaking graphics and three mammoth, wide-open city environments: Miami, Nice, and Istanbul.Featuring Hollywood-caliber production values--with voice actors including Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Mickey Rourke and Michelle Rodriguez--and a gripping, narrative story line, DRIV3R casts players once again as undercover cop Tanner who, alongside his partner Tobias, must infiltrate a global car theft ring, an assignment that leads to tire-squealing chases and fierce on-foot firefights while tailing gangsters, chasing witnesses, stealing cars and unloading massive clips of ammo to bring the criminals to justice.

Customer Reviews

Just take it how it is
There are a lot of negative reviews for this game out there, which really surprised me after I bought the game and found that it aint actually all that bad. With the massive improvements from the original driver games I was expecting a completely different style of game, but a lot of the old features still remain the same. The game feels exactly like the old driver games, the cars drive the same, the game flows like the first two and a lot of the missions are very similar. The only problem with this however is that a lot of bugs still exist in the game, making it rather annoying at times. One example is that occasionally when you try to get off a speed boat, you can just fall dead on the floor for no apparent reason, which can be really annoying when you're halfway through a level!
However the graphics on this game are excellent for any PS2 game, especially during the FMV sequences. There are three new maps which include Nice, Maimi and Istanbul which are incredibly detailed even in the backdrops and are apparently accuarate representations of the real cities. The extra features in the game are the ability to drive whatever you like which opens up a whole new range of missions, most of which are interesting and fit in well with the story line, as well as make things a lot more interesting.
The mistake many people are making is comparing this game to grand theft auto. Of course the game is very similar in a lot of ways, but it obviously isnt grand theft auto. Its clear to see that there isnt quite as many things to do on driver in comparrison, but thats why you have to just take it as it is. There is an option to take a ride and just cause havoc around the city which gives you a similar freedom as in grand theft auto, but during the actual game the missions are often quick, specific and follow a structure, as in you know what you have to do so you do it. Unfortunately because of this the game can often get repetative, especially when you're stuck on the same rediculously hard level for months at a time. The storyline is a bit loose too, but keeps you vaguely interested enough to care. Overall this is good game and a big improvement on the original drivers, but if your looking for another grand theft auto game you wont find it in this. It has its unique qualities though, such as no swearing and unnessecary violence if your not into that kind of thing, and a load of comparitively different missions, a lot of which maintain the old driver standard of difficulty, but keep you excited enough to keep trying until you finally do it, which might be a very long, long time. My opinion, take away grand theft auto and you've got a great game here, even if most of its beauty comes from the shining graphics and recreated cities, not from its impossibly hard missions later on in the game.

Driv3r
I couldn't wait to get my hands on Driv3r. But when I finally did I wasn't too happy. At first it seemed great; brilliant vehicle graphics and immensely detailed cities the problem came when I got out of the car. Tanner bumbles around like an overgrown baboon! The aiming system is shoddy and half the time you end up walking sideways! The AI is also pretty terrible. If you statrt shooting at a bad guy he will just stand there shooting back. But I did take into consideration that this game is called Driv3r not Walk3r or Shoot3r but if you are going to put these options to walk and shoot in, then you should at least make them decent enough to look as good as the driving does. The driving is the one brilliant thing about this game and added in with the film director mode it's even better. I am still pleased that I bought this game, I just wish that atari and reflections had spent a bit more time finishing it off.

Who Knows?.....
This is not a review of Driver 3. I would just like to say what most of us are thinkng. How can these people leave a review of a game that is not even out yet? We have all seen screens and movies of said game, but do we really know if the game will be any good? No we dont. Amazon must start clamping down on this.