Review: Driver (San Francisco), For PS3

When it comes to driving games, there are certain things that I find absolutely irreplaceable. I have to have a free range option to check out the city, town, track or whatever I am expected to be driving through. Driver: San Francisco is a game that takes that option to the extreme. They offer up 200 square miles (virtual) of driving space to explore and some of it is true to San Francisco. That alone makes this game attractive to me right out of the gate. Will it pass the ultimate test, though?

The Cars, Trucks, etc

Driver: San Francisco offers up an insane number of vehicles of all types. They have trucks, semi-trucks, race cars, classics, regular type cars and much more. The one thing I wish it had in this area would be motorcycles, but it certainly does not suffer from it. The options are through the roof, here.

The San Francisco Treat

The city of San Francisco is the ultimate playground and they do an awesome job of bringing in some of the coolest areas. The map is not exactly accurate to San Francisco, but it is not completely out of place either. The landmarks sometimes come out of nowhere in comparison to the actual city, but it certainly is not a huge hang-up unless you happen to live there and was looking forward to accuracy. The detail is insane and everything seems to interact properly. There are cops everywhere and the action seems to simply explode off the screen.

How tough are the controls?

Another sticking point for me, I have to have controls that are reasonably easy to manage. Some gaming folks like it complicated, but I don’t. Give me a gas button, brake button, reverse and maybe a horn and I am happy. This game should make everyone happy as it is simple enough for folks like me and complicated enough for the serious gamers who live for the challenge rather than the gameplay. The game is very responsive and easy to pick up in general. PlayStation 3 rocks this area most of the time.

General Gameplay and Options

The new “Shift” feature of Driver: San Francisco is one of those things you will love or hate. You do not get out of the car and pull people out by their ears like GTA. This game allows you to zoom up in the air, see a vehicle and instantly be riding in it. This flexibility is cool in some aspects and not so cool in others. If you like the real life interactive parts of these games, then this will feel very fantasy like. If not, then you will love it.

There are great options as far as what you see and hear as well. The game has one of the best soundtracks of any game in history in my opinion. The classic sounds and mixture of city life is impeccable and perfect to the game. The music is top notch and seems to fit the characters and city as well. Camera options are equally fantastic, with several different highly playable options.

Story

The story is fairly straightforward and all about the chase. Jericho is the arch enemy and Tanner chases him. There is plenty of action, but the story does not seem to be the focus here. It is all about the driving excitement and action. Some see this as a weakness and others love it. I guess it simply depends on what you love in a driving game.

Final Conclusions

Driver: San Francisco is every bit as good as part one and two and in my view a bit better. I love the chases and the open atmosphere of the game. Every time I sit down and strap in, I feel as though something different will happen. With the large map, you have virtually unlimited replay ability.

The game is not perfect. I would truly have loved to hop on a motorcycle to go through some of the areas and I do wish the map was a bit more true to scale, but I understand the game would not have had nearly as much excitement with the actual map. The roads would have been too structured if that makes sense. Regardless, the cons of this game are severely limited.

Overall I think that Driver: San Francisco is a pretty good example of what a PlayStation driving game should be about – fun and excitement!

You can pick up the game at a great price here on Amazon, or in your favorite gaming store.