Driver (computer game)
| Driver | |||
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| Original title | Driver: You Are The Wheelman | ||
| Studio |
 Reflections Interactive Gameloft
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| Publisher |
 GT Interactive
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
PlayStation June 30, 1999 July 2, March 9, 2000 Game Boy Color April 2000 2001 Microsoft Windows September 10, 2000 October 13, 2000 Mac OS December 2000 PlayStation Network August 14, 2008 iOS December 8, 2009   |
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| platform | Mac OS , Game Boy Color , Windows , PlayStation , Apple iOS | ||
| genre | Racing game , action game | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad , keyboard | ||
| medium | Cartridge , CD-ROM | ||
| language | English , German | ||
| Age rating |
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Driver is an action-oriented racing game and the first in the Driver series . The game was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by GT Interactive . It was launched in October 1999 under the title Driver - You are the Wheelman, initially only for the PlayStation . Versions for Windows , Mac OS , and Game Boy Color followed . In December 2009, Gameloft implemented the game for iOS .
The game is about the undercover cop John Tanner, a former racing driver who is smuggled into a criminal organization and tries to smash it from the inside out. The story takes place in four American metropolises, New York City , Miami , San Francisco and Los Angeles .
In 2000 the successor Driver 2: Back on the Streets was released .
Gameplay
General
For the first time in video game history, car chases were offered as a game world in a three-dimensional freely drivable city. The driving behavior of the 1970s cars is more realistic and there is a damage model for the vehicles.
A novelty in the history of video games was the film director included in Driver . This made it possible to record a completed mission, free journey or a driving game and to define the camera position, angle and pan with an internal editor and thus to record one's personal chase on film.
The setting of the game in the 1970s with corresponding vehicles on the streets and the background music mainly consisting of funk and soul are further characteristics and at the same time references to the intellectual role models of the game. These include above all films such as Bullitt , The Streets of San Francisco , Just 60 Seconds or Focal Point Brooklyn , all of which offered spectacular car chases. The game has most of the similarities with the 1978 film Driver .
Game modes
The game is divided into a so-called undercover mode , free travel and several driving games. The undercover mode is the centerpiece and tells a story about the undercover cop Tanner. In a motel room, the player accepts different jobs via the answering machine. With the car made available at the beginning of the mission, the given task must be fulfilled, whereby it is not possible in principle to leave the vehicle in the game. The story told by means of pre-rendered cutscenes contains a total of 35 missions in four different cities, whereby the basic structure of the two-part tasks is always similar: In the first part the player has to reach a certain goal in the game environment under time pressure, in the second part it is important to go unnoticed by the Police and with a working car to complete the mission.
In the mode of free travel , the player can move freely through one of the four selectable metropolises without any objective tasks. As in undercover mode, it is not possible to leave or change vehicles. Here, too, in addition to normal civil traffic, there are patrolling police patrol cars that pursue the player in the event of a traffic offense and ram him until the player's car is totaled. Free travel is suitable for getting to know a city or for fast car chases with the police.
In the driving games mode there are several variants to choose from, such as B. Escape , persecution or survival . For example, if you escape in a selected city you will be exposed with a chasing police car and the aim of the game is to shake off the chaser within a very short time. In pursuit , the player must pursue another vehicle until either a certain time has elapsed or the vehicle to be pursued has been scrapped.
Cities
The game includes four major American cities: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. All are based on their real models and feature original sights, but are abstractions of reality due to technical feasibility. This is most evident in the orthogonal street grid and the flat modeling of the cities.
At the beginning of the game, only two cities, Miami and San Francisco, can be selected in Free Travel mode . The other two cities will be unlocked once the player reaches these two cities in the career.
As a hidden fifth city, there is the British location Newcastle upon Tyne , the place where the developer is based. This level is much smaller than the other four. A jaguar is available to the player here. Newcastle is unlocked by completing the campaign (PC version) or by entering a cheat code (PlayStation version).
action
Lieutenant McKenzie of the New York City Police Department has received information about criminal activities surrounding the alleged murderer Rufus from Miami and sees in Cop Tanner, a former racing driver, due to his driving skills, the suitable man for undercover investigations. Tanner then goes to Miami and hires local petty criminals as a getaway driver. Word of his talent spread quickly and he soon got to know the infamous Rufus. However, the criminal cartel is bigger than expected. The investigation finally leads Tanner to the west coast of San Francisco. He gets deeper and deeper into a network of crime and corruption. The crime boss Castaldi is suspected to be at the helm. Constantly afraid of being exposed as an undercover investigator, Tanner walks a fine line on the edge of the law. The tracks finally lead him on to Los Angeles. There he made the acquaintance of Castaldi's daughter. Tanner manages to consolidate himself in the circles of Castaldi and can get closer and closer to him. Ultimately, he returns to New York, where the big coup is to take place: an attack on the president. With the greatest effort and the best possible use of his driving skills, Tanner finally succeeds in bringing the president to safety and handing Castaldi over to the police.
reception
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The German-language computer game magazine Bravo Screenfun named a great game idea, multiple modes and spectacular crash scenes as positive points, while graphic errors, weak cutscenes and persistent police force were criticized. In the PC Games test , the first mission was described as a “real low blow”. The computer image wrote "appealing driving physics, successful graphics and a crisp in places of difficulty" for the game in retrospect. In particular, the exercise mission in the underground car park could drive players to despair. An editor of the GamePro also stated this in 2011 in an article on the history of the Driver game.
"[...] provided you pass the legendary difficult training level in the underground car park. For many gamblers, this causes more frustration than pleasure, because you have to perform specified maneuvers without destroying your vehicle. "
Web links
- Driver at MobyGames (English)
- Driver in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Christian Ströhl: Driver History - Tops, Flops and Cops! In: GamePro . September 1, 2011, accessed August 29, 2020 .
- ↑ Test Driver
- ↑ German Driver Fan Page ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Driver for PlayStation Reviews. In: Metacritic . Retrieved on August 29, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Driver . In: Bravo Screenfun . No. 7/1999 , July 1999, p. 30–31 ( archive.org [accessed August 29, 2020]).
- ↑ a b Harald Wagner: Driver - Drive In! In: PC Games . No. 11-99 . Computec Media , November 1999, p. 152–159 ( pcgames.de [accessed August 29, 2020]).
- ↑ a b c d e Driver Reviews. In: PC Games Database . Retrieved August 29, 2020 .
- ↑ Denise Bergert, Dennis Bangert: Driver - San Francisco: Interview with serial father. In: Computer Bild . July 14, 2011, accessed August 29, 2020 .
