The last time I saw Driver: San Francisco was nearly a year ago, and I remember walking away thinking that this game was a really dumb idea. You're always playing from behind the wheel -- and I'm fine with that -- but the whole thing happens in the main character's head. He's in a coma and you have these body-swapping abilities; it's ridiculous.
After finally getting the chance to play the game, I still think Driver: San Francisco is absurd, but the dialogue and action seem to hint that the developers are also in on the joke.
The game starts with a polished cutscene six months after the events of Driver 3. The super-evil Jericho breaks out of jail, and storied Driver protagonist John Tanner gives chase, gets in a car accident, and --voila -- he's in a coma. From there, the game takes place in Tanner's coma dream. He's not really awake, but he's awake in the coma dream. At first it seems like Tanner's just driving around San Francisco, but in a flash he's out of his body and I'm controlling a floating camera that I can use to target other drivers and teleport into their bodies.
Crazy, right? Throughout my 45-minute demo I used this power -- called Shift -- to take on side missions. These unlock story missions but were more notable for being goofy. I'd teleport into the body of an ambulance driver and have to take the patient to the hospital. I'd teleport into the body of a nerd driving a sports car and have to scare the passenger riding with us. When I jumped back to Tanner, he had just been silently driving around the city with his partner. The game went on like this and I heard goofy dialogue for pissing off people as I careened around corners, smashed into walls and took various cars off of moving ramps.
The action matches the setup with e-brake turns, the inability to run down pedestrians, and billboards that send Tanner subliminal messages. But, it gets better. The soundtrack is this bass-y mix of '70s style instrumentals and newer stuff from folks like the Beastie Boys; Tanner's voice work is hokey but charming (like his overacting when he warps to another car and exclaims "I'm IN the ambulance!"), and there are more than 200 miles of street to speed down in the game's eight chapters.
Do I think Driver: San Francisco is in line for IGN's Game of the Year award? No, but I definitely had a grin on my face when I played it. The setup and dialogue may be goofy, but the driving and challenges are also fun. There are stunts to perform, cars to unlock, and you're earning money for upgrades. It's early and I'm sure the inherent ridiculousness of Driver: San Francisco will be a turn off to some, but I'm down with the b-movie vibe.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/116/1164746p1.html
