DRIV3R Review

So even with the fact you are granted a solid range of different weapons and more than 70 drivable vehicles, that does not help you from having this vague feeling you are there only in order to fill the time between the cut scenes. The game does get engaging at times, especially when you are assigned with a few timer-based and rather difficult tasks. Still, even after doing this you won't feel that much satisfaction as you thought you would, so there...

The entire experience will become a bit meaningless and anti-climatic, and definitely not intense enough. While we're on the subject of intensity, let me just mention another thing: your virtual opponents are just dumb assholes that could not hit the proverbial nail on the head even with something as large as a frying pan. The most excitement you'll get will definitely come from the driving segment of the game - well, you must admit it's exciting when your wheels start sliding over asphalt as they would do on sand and you hit the wall in full speed. Lovely isn't it? Don't worry, it's not that you don't possess any driving skills; it's just the Driv3r physics.

What else to say? Driv3r also offers several other modes such as Take a Ride or Driving Games modes. Take a Ride is pretty self-explanatory, while Driving Games include modes such as Quick Chase, Survival or Trail Blaze... You get the idea. Nothing particularly original or interesting.

From a visual standpoint, the three main cities where the game takes place don't look that bad, but the environments are rather uninspiring and monotonous. As I've said, the textures are mostly plain and chunky, there are occasional clipping issues, the animation is rather poor and body physics is just goddamn awful. I shoot a guy, he falls over a barrel... No, wait, he manages to sweep his dead body *under* the barrel, and by the time he gets trampled by it, other barrels also hurry to follow its example. Are you guys serious?

As for the sound, it does the trick most of the time - the ambient sounds are not very various or impressive, but the background music sounds quite good and appropriate for this type of game. And when you only think Michael Madsen, Iggy Pop, and the ever-so-cool Mickey Rourke lent their voices to the game characters... I could weep now if I wasn't such a cold-hearted bitch.

The main problem with this game is that even the rare exciting and fun moments in it have been ruined by... well, by practically everything else. I assure you that I am not happy to write this, but a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do. And what I gotta do is tell you that this game's no fun to play at all. And it's frustrating, too, in a bad way. It's as simple as that. (Soooo, I guess it's back to Soldner for you then? -Ed)