Reviewer (Driver Review) [Singleplayer]

Gameloft has just started their yearly Appvent Calendar, so I figured it was my duty to review their first free surprise: Driver!


Concept:
Driver is a port of a PC game I've never played, so I can't be an accurate judge of the quality of the port.  Driver is very similar to Gameloft's Gangstar series of Grand Theft Auto rip-offs (which I highly recommend). Gangstar and Grand Theft Auto are sandbox games, which means you can follow the story, or just goof around cause property damage.  There's four whole cities to explore, but only two are unlocked from the start.  The two I played around in were very large though and almost identical, so there doesn't seem to be much reason to unlock the others.  There are story missions to complete or you can just drive around and cause havoc.  It is sounds very fun, but it feels like playing a Grand Theft Auto game with most of the enjoyable parts drained out.

Sound:
Like Gangstar and Grand Theft Auto, there are radio stations to listen to in the car.  But the traditional funny commercials are gone.  The only other sounds are the sounds of your car and the police saying useless things like which direction you are going.

Story:
I liked the idea of being a mysterious "driver" who carries out missions for pay, but it doesn't do a whole lot to draw you in.  There's really not any characters to speak of; your character is only ever seen as a silhouette.  The missions themselves mostly consist of "drive here, then drive there" levels.  I lost interest very quickly

Graphics:
Not the best on the platform, but they're still good.  I heard Gameloft improved them from the original, but I wouldn't know...

Gameplay:
To be honest, I can't find the fun in this game.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Grand Theft Auto and Gangstar series, but this is one of the most bland sandbox games I've ever played.  There's really nothing to do except drive around.  I like the kind of sandbox games that let you steal a helicopter, fly up as high as you can possibly go, jump out, and land in somebody's pool.  You can't even get out of the car in this.  You can get the police involved in high speed car chases, but even that's been dumbed down.


Controls:
Whoever thought that driving a car with a d-pad was a good idea deserves to be punched in the face then forced to play E.T. for the Atari.  There are other options, but the only good one I found was the accelerometer.

Replay:
It's a sandbox game so of course the replay value is high.  You can spend hours driving around causing mayhem and still have stuff to do.  The lack of additional cars outside of storymode definitely lessens it though.

Final Verdict:
concept - 4
sound - 3
story - 3
graphics - 3
gameplay -3
controls - 2
replay - 4
Final Verdict: π/5 (Meh...)

Trailer: