Graphics and Sound

Flame on

Driver ran a bit slow at our preferred resolution (1024x768x32) on our testbed (Celeron 400/64meg/TNT2 16meg); we suggest running at something a little lower to gain better control of things. The game itself is all about visuals; not so much the pretty pictures, but the cars in motion. The graphics are so-so; cars generally look pretty good, environments generally pretty bad.

There are some small irritants in the environment; for example, stop signs are sprites, so no matter which way you look at them, they're facing you (which you figure has them pointing the wrong way 359 out of 360 times). There are also large, glaring irritants; for example, "San Francisco" isn't. Being a lifelong bay area resident, I can say with confidence that besides a few big landmarks thrown in (e.g. the Golden Gate Bridge), Driver's version of SanFran is laughably bad.

One graphical peculiarity: the Playstation version of the game includes more animated cut-scenes than the PC version. We really don't understand this one, since the cut-scenes already exist, and cut-scenes in general, when skippable and brief enough, lend a bit of character to the game's story line - a spot where Driver is noticeably lacking.

Causin' damage

Cruisin' the harbor

Sound off

There are few enough distinct sounds in Driver to count on one hand. There's the rev of your engine, the crashing sound when you hit things, the cop phrases (one of which is "Suspect hit another vehicle!" - ironic, since the cops usually do more damage than you when in pursuit), and the voice on your answering machine telling you about the next gig.

Of those few sounds, a whopping none are worth listening to. The ones you'd think most worthwhile - those telling you about your mission - are as pointless as all the rest. Not only is the mission invariably "drive to point X, which is highlighted on your radar," but the messages don't even bother to coincide with reality. In one glaring example, the voice on your machine informs you that it would "like to chat with you - we'll be waiting at the crib, so head on over." Sounds pretty laid back - until you start the mission, and you have EXACTLY TWO MINUTES AND FORTY SECONDS TO COMPLETE THE MISSION OR YOU FAIL. The reasoning behind this is your damage bar, which the game revolves around . . . but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Oops	3 o'clock roadblock