Driver 3

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DRIV3R
Developer(s)Reflections Interactive
Publisher(s)Atari
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox, Mobile phone, Game Boy Advance
Genre(s)Action, Shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Driv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3, is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21 2004. In Europe, it was officially released on June 25, although due to the way Atari shipped the title across the continent, it made its way into independent UK retailers before the release date, even making a #6 position in the ELSPA chart for that week. On March 15 2005, it was released on PC for US customers, it was also released on Game Boy Advance October 25th, 2005. A scaled down version was released for the mobile phone in June 2004. At one point a Nintendo GameCube version was planned, but it was later canceled.

Driv3r brings back features from Driver 2 and adds the ability to ride motorcycles and boats, use weapons, swim, climb ladders, and enter certain buildings among other things.

Plot

The game begins in Miami, where undercover police officer Tanner, along with partner Tobias Jones, must infiltrate a crime ring specializing in stolen vehicles. A ruthless woman named Calita, along with henchman and weapons specialist Lomaz run the gang. Tanner convinces them to give him a shot to work for them. Once he is accepted by the group, Tanner begins conducting various jobs for them, in pursuit of a total 40 stolen high performance vehicles.

After a falling-out with an important contact and local crime lord named "The Gator", the outfit moves their operations to Nice, France, and Tanner relocates as well. However, Interpol agents have their own plans to take down the crime ring and are at odds with Tanner. Tanner decides to work the job his own way, which, in several cases, leads him into direct conflict with the Interpol agents.

In Istanbul, Turkey, Tanner is now working as a rogue agent. However, Tanner and Jones are able to find a number of contacts who lead them to the crime ring and its true leader Jericho, a former hitman and minor character in Driver 2. Jericho once appeared at a warehouse while Didier Dubois was using a laptop, first stunning Tanner, who drops his gun, then confronts Tanner and shoots Dubois. A cutsecene later shows Dubois's brother Vauban tell Tanner "Dubois is in a body bag and the bullets are yours." Tanner then walks away and that ended his cooperation with the police force, forcing Tanner to escape to the nearest warehouse. A cutscene earlier in the game showed that Jericho had turned on his boss Solomon Caine and assassinated him in a hotel elevator, probably in retaliation for forming an alliance with his rival Vasquez at the end of Driver 2. Once it is evident that Tanner has found a way to stop the gang from selling the stolen vehicles, he is brought back onto the force and aids in stopping the sale. Following a car chase and violent shootout between Jericho's Crew and the Turkish Police, Tanner faces crimelord Jericho in a final showdown. Both men are injured and the ending of the game shows one of them flatlining. In the mobile phone game, Driver: Vegas, it is revealed that both men survived, and Tanner seeks revenge on Jericho.

Besides that, there is a reference to Tanner's survival in the following game. On a wall of TK's apartment in 2006, the player can notice graffiti that reads "Tanner Lives." Tanner may also have joined the NYPD Police Force in 2006 (Parallel Lines) as there is a photo of Tanner in one of the offices in the mission Bear Cage.

The Story in The DRIV3R Booklet

A Gang of Miami Car Thieves attempts to ship 40 of the world's most expensive cars to a mysterious international buyer. Taking their pick of cars in Miami and the South of France, The Gang keep on the move and co-ordinate the sale in Istanbul, a City straddling both Europe and Asia. But in the Gang of Car Thieves, posing as a getaway driver, is Tanner, an obsessive and ruthless undercover cop, determined to stop the sale of the cars and discover the identity of their buyer.

You play the role of Tanner as you work both for and against the Gang of Car Thieves. You must use your skills in driving and firearms to infiltrate your way into the Gang and then work out how to stop them in time.

There are 40 stolen cars. They have a street value of $20 Million. But there is only one cop who counts.

Gangs

South Beach Gang

The South Beach Gang is the Gang Tanner infiltrates while trying to stop the sale of cars. The Gang is led by Calita, and she and her Gang works for Jericho's Crew. When in Nice, Calita breaks Tanner's Cover and has Lomaz and Bad Hand beat him up. In Istanbul, Calita gets arrested, Lomaz gets beaten up and Bad Hand gets killed.

Gator's Crew

The Gator's Crew is led by The Gator who Calita uses for Deals on Islands, The Gator screwed Calita on the last deal and Calita then orders Tanner to destroy The Gator's Large Yacht, which is docked south of a Large Island below Miami Beach. Sometime after the Yacht Explosion, Calita orders Tanner to go collect a Car from The Gator, but it turns out that The Gator has ordered his Men to set up an ambush, and Tanner escapes in The Car by smashing through a window in The Gator's Warehouse, but is unable to escape with the Car because a Container either blocks his way or The Player can zoom past the falling container, but would still not be able to escape in The Car because of the multiple fences and a warehouse blocking his way. When Tanner escapes back to Calita's Warehouse. She orders Tanner and Lomaz to get back to Dodge Island and assassinate The Gator while he is being transported from his warehouse to another destination, Tanner and Lomaz pursue The Gator to another warehouse just south of Downtown, after a shootout with The Gator's Crew, Tanner chases The Gator on a boat and The Gator stops at Stillsville (A bunch of old shacks near the Miami sign on the Miami Map) and Tanner then shoots The Gator into the Water, but survived in the end.

Jericho's Crew

Jericho's Crew are the main group of antonganists in the game, it is led by Jericho after he assassinates Solomon Caine in a hotel elevator. Jericho's Crew are the main group of people involved in selling the cars to a Russian Buyer. On the final mission, Jericho's Crew gets involved in a violent and massive firefight with the Turkish Police, which ends up with both Tanner and Jericho being brought into the Istanbul Hospital.

Tico's Gang

Tico's Gang are working for The Gator, Lomaz and Tanner trash Tico's place at the Downdown Docks, and later Tico attacks Tanner and Lomaz at Tanner's home. Tanner then pursues Tico's Boat with a Motorbike (Then a Car as Tico also ends up using one) and Tanner eventually kills Tico.

French Mob

The French Mob are the South Beach Gang's Rivals in Nice, they are led by Fabienne, who traps and attacks Calita as revenge for the theft of a car they used to have. She is eventually killed by Tanner, and her Gang is presunably destroyed.

Gameplay

See also: List of characters in Driv3r

The cars are nameless in the game, but all vehicles are modelled after the real automobiles. The official names were confirmed in some game guides including a 1969 Ford Mustang, 1975 Pontiac Firebird, Citroen CX, Renault Alpine, Lamborghini Jalpa, BMW 507, Seat Ibiza, GM New Look (Fishbowl) Bus and a Lamborghini Countach.

In Miami, all vehicles are from the 1970s and earlier. In Nice the cars are of newer and the traffic is more like the present. In Istanbul the cars are from the 1950s and 1960s, including a 1961 Chevrolet Impala.

The vehicles in Driv3r are modelled to behave as in real life. For example, bullet holes appear when a car is shot, vehicles only take significant damage when the engine is hit, rims of blown tires screech against the curb, and individual pieces of the car can be shot out or can fall out after taking damage.

Weapons are unnamed in the game. Weapons' firing range and rate vary depending on their type. When the game starts in Take A Ride mode, Tanner is only equipped with one weapon. Other weapons can be claimed by seizing them from police and road gangsters who have been killed, or from hideouts or safehouses. Weapons vary from pistols to grenade lauchers.

The PC version of the game has an extra mission called "The Hit". The Xbox version allows for custom soundtracks within the game, although the player cannot change the song track.

Connection to Grand Theft Auto

Rockstar North had started the rivalry with a mission in Grand Theft Auto III called "Two Faced Tanner" in which players had to kill an undercover cop who was "useless out of his car", a reference to Driver 2's game play (they even went so far as to give the pseudo Tanner a female's walking animation).

Reflections responded by adding tanned men with waterwings on their arms and Hawaiian shirts hidden throughout the game, as a mocking reference to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, whose characters were unable to swim. They were called "Timmy Vermicellis" after the playable character in Vice City, Tommy Vercetti.

Rockstar responded to this in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. There, in a mission where the player breaks into Madd Dogg's mansion, a person can be overheard playing a video game and making fun of the way the main character walks (Tanner's walking animations were often criticized) and asking how Refractions (a play of the Driver series' developer, Reflections) could have "messed up so bad." He also says "Tanner, you suck ass!"

Ironically, Michael Madsen, the voice actor for Tanner, provided the voice of Toni Cipriani in Grand Theft Auto III, but did not provide the voice of Toni in the prequel, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Reception

After an extensive and intensive promotional campaign, Driv3r was met with a poor critical reaction, with the vast majority of magazines and websites giving the game mediocre scores; IGN and GameSpot both gave the game 5.4 out of 10. [1][2] However, two magazines published by Future Publishing (PSM2 & OXM) gave it 9/10.[3]

Driv3r was criticized for Tanner's lack of hand-to-hand combat skills and meleé weapons. There were also criticisms for the poor implementation of the 'on the foot' missions. This was also a criticism levelled at Driver 2.

The game won the MegaGames.com award for Worst Game of 2005.[4]

Police AI vehicles were criticized for the use of "doublespeed", a way of cheating in which a pursuing cop would suddenly double its speed making it hard (if not impossible) for the player to escape. The AI can easily stem from the series' long use of rubberband AI. No matter what vehicles players can pick (either fast or slow), the police AI seems to always catch up and stay with the player.

Soundtrack

  1. C'mon And Try - Mellowdrone
  2. Big Brat - Phantom Planet
  3. Gimme Danger - Iggy and the Stooges
  4. Bowels Of The Beast - The Raveonettes
  5. Boy From The City - SLO-MO
  6. Destiny - Syntax
  7. Ripe For The Devil - Okuniev
  8. Move Over - Teddybears STHLM
  9. The 2nd Evolution/Stand Off - Narco
  10. Evil Brother - Narco
  11. Black Thread - Los Halos
  12. Exit - Stateless
  13. Zero PM - The BellRays
  14. Static In The Cities - Hope of the States
  15. Streets of Miami - Narco

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Perry, Douglass C. (2004-06-21). "DRIV3R Review". IGN. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  2. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (2004-06-23). "DRIV3R for PlayStation 2 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  3. ^ Driver 3, incompetence and corruption: one, two or three things
  4. ^ The Worst Game of 2005 - MegaGames pc

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Driv3r.
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