Short version of the post below: I have no money hat. I didn't have a cow over the technical problems. I liked the story mode.
Normally I wouldn't bother defending my writing, but since I'm the only man in America who likes Driv3r so far, I feel I should say something. (Even my co-workers are befuddled; my esteemed industry colleagues all call me "Lov3r" now.)
First, for sake of disclosure: I did indeed visit Reflections back in the spring, along with writers from IGN, GameSpot and GamePro, as well as a large sampling of freelancers. I did so in order to write the cover story in last month's EGM, as well as other articles in the Official US PlayStation Magazine and GMR. Ziff Davis Media paid for my plane ticket and I paid the other expenses.
Now, so far reviews have fallen into two camps: hate and (allegedly paid off) love.
Hate reviews (GS, IGN):
- Driving is needlessly difficult
- On-foot control is a total mess
- Cop AI is stupid
- Graphics suck because they're marred by technical bugs
- Cutscenes are badly acted
Love reviews (Gamesradar):
- Driving is frenetic and exciting
- On-foot control is serviceable
- Cop AI is tenacious
- Graphics are amazing in their detail
- Cutscenes are high-budget and impressive
Those are a lot of differences, of course, but the main one is how each review treats the experience of playing the game. U.S. reviews have pretty much ignored it, listing up all the anecdotal technical glitches they found and presenting it as evidence of their low scorings. British reviews, on the other hand, concentrate on almost nothing but the experience, tossing legitimate concerns like iron lightposts and selectively stupid AI out the window.
In my opinion, then, the "hate" reviews so far are missing the point a little. You might infer the idea from them that Driver is falling apart at the seams, ready to crash at any moment, which isn't the case. It's a game that runs competently, and if it's got technical problems, then titles like GTAVC and True Crime have many times more.
I liked True Crime, too (not as much as Driver), but I did not like The Getaway at all. That was why I thought it interesting that this Driver was basically structured like The Getaway, with a bone or two tossed at GTA-style mayhem and destruction. I was even more surprised, though, to find that I liked Driver's shot at a cool action-movie story far more than The Getaway's. There's something immersive about this that wasn't in team soho's efforts, despite how hard they tried. When you're in a chase, you really do feel like you're in a chase, rather than simply carrying out yet another boring mission. That's the difference I found here, and that was the main gist of my review.
British reviews may or may not be biased, and they are glossing over some real problems, but in the text they concentrate on the fun behind this movie-like gameplay. I think that's the right way to approach this game -- not as a technical achievement, but as a immersive one.
