Driv3r

Driver 3
Studio	Reflections Interactive
Publisher	Atari
Erstveröffent- lichung	PlayStation 2 & Xbox June 21, 2004 June 25, 2004 October 28, 2004 (PS2 only) Windows March 15, 2005 March 18, 2005 Game Boy Advance October 14, 2005 October 25, 2005
platform	Windows , PlayStation 2 , Xbox , Game Boy Advance
genre	Action game and racing game
Game mode	Single player
control	Gamepad , etc. a.
medium	DVD-ROM
language	German English
Age rating	USK PEGI

Driv3r (also: Driver 3 ) is the third part of the Driver series and was released in June 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox and in March 2005 also for Windows . Furthermore, a version for the Game Boy Advance was released again . According to publisher Atari (formerly Infogrames ), the development should have cost 30 million dollars.

The basic concept of the previous parts was also retained in Driv3r , so that the game is again divided into the three modes undercover mode , free travel and driving games . The game world in the form of large cities, as well as the main character John Tanner, has also remained the same.

action

Istanbul , Turkey: A street battle between gangsters and police is ongoing. In the hail of bullets, people fell on both sides, including Tanner. He is then taken to the hospital and after connecting to the heart rate device, only the zero line can be seen.

Six months earlier, Miami , USA: Tanners and Tobias Jones's everyday police life is suddenly interrupted when a hostage-taking turns into a spectacular police operation that ends in a car chase. The caught criminal Baccus turns out to be the driver of the local South Beach gang , which has obviously worked out a big plan. Tanner manages to get into the aisle undercover as a driver. He learns that 40 of the world's most expensive cars are about to be delivered to an international buyer. The head of the gang is Calita, who is supported by Lomaz and Gator. However, after the latter tried to cheat on Calita in the past, Tanner is set to blow up Gator's yacht. Not intimidated, Gator hands over information about South Beach to the police, whereupon Calita gives orders to kill him. Lomaz and Tanner do what is asked of them. They track down Gator in the Port of Miami and shoot him.

The cars go to the Côte d'Azur . Tanner travels to Nice with Calitas Gang . Once there, Tanner seeks collaboration with colleagues from the French police, Henri Vauban and Didier Dubois. They want to secure the arriving truckload, but Tanner is interested in the people behind it. Dubois penetrates Calita's hiding place, tries to attach a tracking device to a car, but is caught by a surveillance camera and captured by the gangsters. Apparently, Tanner's cover threatens to be blown, because Calita's people put him to a loyalty test by asking him to shoot Dubois: the gun turns out to be unloaded, but Tanner had calculated the trigger before. In a dispute with a local criminal organization, Tanner has more problems until finally Henri Vauban demands that Dubois be freed from Calita's clutches. This succeeds in a spectacular rescue operation followed by a chase, but Tanner and Dubois are discovered by Calita in a hiding place. At her side is Jericho, whom Tanner had already met in Driver 2 and who now recognizes him. Dubois is shot with Tanner's weapon, but Tanner manages to escape.

Calita's team travels to Istanbul. The delivery of the car and payment should take place here. Tanner follows to the Turkish metropolis together with Tobias Jones. Henri Vauban also follows the two and tries to arrest Tanner together with the Turkish police. They think he killed Dubois in France. Tanner escapes from police headquarters with Jones and goes into hiding. Gator, who survived the attack in Miami, gave them useful information about a certain Bagman, a Russian money courier. Tanner finally manages to get hold of Lomaz and then Calita through a local arms dealer. Tanner delivers them to the police and can prove his innocence in Dubois' death. The delivery of the cars to the Russians has already taken place, only the payment is still outstanding. Calita tells Tanner and Jones where the deal should take place. At the handover point, Jericho and the Bagman meet, which happens differently than planned. Jericho kills the Bagman and flees with the money. Tanner takes up the chase and it finally comes to the final street battle. Tanner manages to injure Jericho, then turns away, which turns out to be a fatal mistake. Jericho reaches for his pistol and shoots Tanner. Both are taken to the hospital, with Tanner's signs of life fading. The game ends with the doctors trying to reanimate one of them using a defibrillator . It is not clear whether it succeeds and who will be revived by the two.

Gameplay

General

Since the game, unlike its predecessors, was developed for the next generation of consoles, the differences can largely be found in the technology. Although there are no longer four, but three large cities in Driv3r , the level of detail of the elaboration is much higher than before. There are now side streets, winding alleys and a generally more varied topography in the game. The cars are also designed in more detail and have a more differentiated damage model than before. The undercover mode again offers a continuous story, told by pre-rendered cutscenes and with 25 missions to be completed, most of which can no longer be completed under time pressure. The use of weapons is completely new in Driv3r . In contrast to the first two parts, Tanner can now not only get out of the car, but also use pistols, rifles and grenade launchers. Previously, the gameplay in both undercover mode and free travel mode consisted of driving, but according to the developer, the proportion of walking in the Driv3r story is almost a third.

vehicles

The vehicle fleet in the game has been increased and now includes 70 different vehicles, including motorcycles and boats for the first time. Furthermore, the character can now swim.

The concept change (use of weapons and other means of transport) is due, among other things, to the success of the Grand Theft Auto game series , which uses a similar gameplay.

Cities

The game environment of Driv3r consists of the three metropolises Miami , Nice and Istanbul . All of them have a much higher level of detail than before and can be explored not only by car, but also on foot, swimming and by boat. Due to the size of the cities, it is possible to select seven different starting points in free travel mode , four on land and three on water. The cities are unlocked as you progress through the story. Istanbul can also be entered with a cheat code (see the point "Development").

Development history

development

The development time for the game, in which up to 80 people were involved, was more than three years. A total of 90,000 pictures of the modeled cities were made, 70 cars and approx. 250 km of streets were modeled. The short film Run to the Gauntlet was also shot. The short film describes the pick-up of one of the 40 sports cars, which in turn ends in a chase. According to Martin Edmondson, shooting the film was just as time-consuming as the game itself. The film is available on the Driv3r bonus DVD.

Cheats were built into the development of the game (on the PS2 ). These changes in the game resulting from key combinations allow the player in Driv3r to adjust the following attributes: unlock all missions, unlock all weapons, ammunition is now unlimited, mode "invincible" (in the game area "free travel"), immunity (no police pursuits) , all vehicles can be selected as starting vehicles and the game can also be expanded to include the city of Istanbul .

Sound and synchronization

Not only was a separate soundtrack composed for the game, but songs by well-known artists were also used. The Driv3r soundtrack was released on CD in 2004. It contained songs by The Stooges , The Raveonettes , Syntax , Phantom Planet and The Bellrays , among others . The soundtrack was commentated by Iggy Pop .

In the English-language original version, well-known speakers for the main characters of the game were hired for the first time.

role	English speaker	German speaker
John Tanner	Michael Madsen	Pierre Semmler
Tobias Jones	Ving Rhames	Werner Kolk
Charles Jericho	Mickey Rourke	Jörg Schnass
Calita	Michelle Rodríguez	Andrea Schieffer
Baccus	Iggy Pop
Vauban	Stephane Cornicard
Dubois	Jake Canuso
Fabienne	Sirine Saba
Gator	Quarie Marshall
Lomaz	Eluid Porras	Florian Schneider

Web links

• Driver 3 at MobyGames (English)
• Driv3r in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Strange game marketing: Always step on the gas at Spiegel Online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ spiegel.de: Always step on the gas
2. ↑ golem.de: Game test: Driv3r - Action racing game with quirks
3. ↑ GEE magazine The Driv3r
4. ↑ Driv3r making-of
5. ^ Ridley Scott Associates working on DRIV3R short
6. ↑ Driver 3 - Cheats for PlayStation 2. Accessed December 1, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Cast list of Driv3r