August 1999 Volume 80 Number 8 "serving the protectors"
Console Games
By Phil White

Driver

Buckle up and get ready for the ride of your life. Driver, the new action racer from GT Interactive, has finally arrived - and it’s much better than expected.

Driver is not your average racer as the gameplay is mission-based. The aim is to race around the city completing jobs for criminals within a given timeframe. If you fail you get busted. This might seem simple enough, but it’s the intense racing action in environments which will keep players glued to the lounge over many late nights. The plot is similar to most B-grade Hollywood cop movies.

As an undercover cop (Tanner), you play a hired getaway driver and complete a series of missions, each time gaining the confidence of your employers and edging your way deeper into the unfolding story of corruption and double-cross. All this is played out to the sound of screeching tyres and burning rubber, with true-to-life obstacles such as traffic lights, pedestrians, on-coming traffic and kerb-side coffee drinkers.

Drive through four amazingly detailed cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Miami. The mission-based format allows the driver to choose jobs at random, but when repeating missions noticeable differences such as cars’ locations and other obstacles emerge.

Driver offers more than just the story-mission mode. If you just feel like a fang, there are heaps of other modes in which to compete, including off-road, pursuit or survival racing.

The controls are reasonably simple to use and when mastered you will be able to pull off all sorts of amazing driving manoeuvres to complete your missions. You will need to complete some amazing moves as you progress further into the game when missions become more difficult.

The full-motion video sequences in Driver immerse you in the games’ atmosphere and make entertaining viewing. Driver is an excellent racing game that will keep most gamers entertained over many nights. It’s available now on PlayStation and PC.

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