DRIV3R

 PlayStation 2
  • Publisher: Atari
  • Release Date: Jun 21, 2004
  • Also On: PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 127 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 127
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 127
  3. Negative: 46 out of 127
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  1. Hypedriver
    Apr 15, 2015
    5
    I wanted to like this, I really did. Personally I feel that as a DRIVING game, Driv3r is actually quite solid; cars have a sense of weight to them, have tight turning circles and excellent damage models. In that regard Reflections have done well. The open world areas of Nice, Miami and Istanbul are quite decent too, enough road to drive around. The major problem is EVERYTHING ELSE! TheI wanted to like this, I really did. Personally I feel that as a DRIVING game, Driv3r is actually quite solid; cars have a sense of weight to them, have tight turning circles and excellent damage models. In that regard Reflections have done well. The open world areas of Nice, Miami and Istanbul are quite decent too, enough road to drive around. The major problem is EVERYTHING ELSE! The graphics are lackluster by PS2 standards, the gunplay is absolutely atrocious, the on foot gameplay is laughably bad and the soundtrack never really changes (in free roam anyway), a different track for each location always the same playing in the ambiance and in police chases. And I won't get started on the career!
    Overall, I wouldn't really recommend it as a whole, the only redeeming factors are the driving itself, and the roads you get to drive around in (and rivers, there's boats too!). At least it's cheap though, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it, that is if you REALLY want to...    … Expand
  2. T.Bone
    Aug 4, 2004
    5
    This game really left me wanting more in graphics, control and gameplay. I did however find the wide variety of cars to be somewhat fun. This game is a rent not buy, in my opinion. To game breaker: Someday you will understand that competition is needed to prevent a monopoly. If sony or microsoft controlled the whole market then they would have no reason to try and gain new customers, This game really left me wanting more in graphics, control and gameplay. I did however find the wide variety of cars to be somewhat fun. This game is a rent not buy, in my opinion. To game breaker: Someday you will understand that competition is needed to prevent a monopoly. If sony or microsoft controlled the whole market then they would have no reason to try and gain new customers, which would mean less groundbreaking innovations and just more of the same. You should appreciate sony as I do microsoft and nintendo because with their competition we recieve new and better games every year. I look foreward to Halo 2, San Andreas and the new Zelda. … Expand
  3. MikeHBC
    Aug 11, 2004
    5
    Would you people PLEASE stop comparing the game to GTA? Can't a game be good or bad on its own merits? Personally, GTA III and Vice City are my two favorite games ever, but that doesn't mean Driv3r should get a zero because I don't think it is as good as GTA. This game has some great aspects: huge cities, a wide variety of cars, and a good Driving Games mode. However, there Would you people PLEASE stop comparing the game to GTA? Can't a game be good or bad on its own merits? Personally, GTA III and Vice City are my two favorite games ever, but that doesn't mean Driv3r should get a zero because I don't think it is as good as GTA. This game has some great aspects: huge cities, a wide variety of cars, and a good Driving Games mode. However, there are SO FEW missions that 90% of the city's roads are untapped in the story mode, and the free ride mode has absolutely no purpose whatsoever. The graphics are OK, but far from great, and there are a lot of bugs. The lifespan of the game is very short- once you've completed the missions and the driving games, there's very little left to do. Driv3r isn't horrible (it's title might be, but the game isn't). The problem is that the game simply isn't that good. The city goes mostly unused, there's no replay value, many of the missions are very similar, the sound is merely average, and overall, a whole lot of things could have been much better.… Expand
  4. TodorD.
    Sep 8, 2004
    7
    The driving is great, the FPS stuff is bad. Lots of scenery out of reach, or too damn difficult to access. Trying to run around like in GTA made me find zillions of bugs and traps where the character just gets stuck forever... Anyways i recommend it for the franchise´s sake.
  5. LarsH.
    Aug 5, 2007
    6
    It's not that bad, but not that good either.. Graphics look great, cars are great, the thing i enjoyed most, was tha ability to kill/die in car-accidents, I've never seen this in any game, ever before. The bad thing about this game is: The missions are SO boring, and it takes long time. I've even heard rumours saying that this game wasn't even 100% finished when they It's not that bad, but not that good either.. Graphics look great, cars are great, the thing i enjoyed most, was tha ability to kill/die in car-accidents, I've never seen this in any game, ever before. The bad thing about this game is: The missions are SO boring, and it takes long time. I've even heard rumours saying that this game wasn't even 100% finished when they released it, they were probably in a hurry, with GTA: San Andreas being released a short while after.… Expand
  6. ArakahsW.
    May 22, 2008
    5
    This game had the potential to be good, but with all of the flaws on it, it ccan barely be called a game. A two year old could have made a better game than this. It was a huge disappointment.
  7. DJCrawford
    Sep 12, 2004
    7
    A good game to have. The driving was fun but how the crap were supposed to walk?
  8. Harry210
    Feb 6, 2011
    6
    Driv3r is a good but glitchy sandbox-style game. You play as Tanner, an undercover cop who infiltrates into a gang trying to sell illegal cars or something like that. Basically you work for both sides: the cops and the gang. First thing you notice is how good the game looks. The cars you drive look good and based on real life cars, the 3 cities Miami, Nice and Istanbul are detailed andDriv3r is a good but glitchy sandbox-style game. You play as Tanner, an undercover cop who infiltrates into a gang trying to sell illegal cars or something like that. Basically you work for both sides: the cops and the gang. First thing you notice is how good the game looks. The cars you drive look good and based on real life cars, the 3 cities Miami, Nice and Istanbul are detailed and look identical to their real life counterparts: The Driv3r team actually went to these 3 cities and took over 70,000 photos and using the data, built the roads, landmarks and other things into the game. The games cut scenes are great as well and I like the way they used motion capture for these scenes and they look like your watching a movie and have a cinematic feel to them. The story is interesting, dark and full of twists. Some of the voice acting is great (especially Tanner's voice actor) and fits the characters well. Driv3r car damage model is probably the best I've seen in a video game: The cars that you drive can take realistic damage. These cars have been built with up to 20 detachable panels and things like doors, bumpers and bonnets can come off your car if your damage your car by smashing it into traffic or a wall. There are a good number of vehicles to drive like sports cars, sports bikes and go karts! There's a campaign to complete and a Take a ride mode which allows you to drive and have fun around the 3 cities and getting into trouble with the police which can throw some good chases at you. There's even a Film Director where you can take a replay that you saved from a mission or a take a ride moment and edit it with camera angles, slow motion and in car views which is awesome; you could make a movie out of a recorded chase! Driv3r sounds great doesn't it? Sounds like the best game in the world. A lot of problems really ruin the game. I encountered loads (and I mean loads) of glitches in the game ranging from cars driving constantly forward with a dead driver inside, pedestrians getting caught on walls and discovering a deserted unfinished Ghost Town in Miami. The glitches may seem funny but some are annoying. Another thing is the AI: The Police are so dumb. If you go into a building (say your safe house), and there's a wall separating you from a policeman, he won't follow you. He'll just either stand and look at the wall or just walk into it constantly and get stuck. Also the police cars that pursue you always seem to keep up with you regardless on how fast your vehicle is. Despite the graphics looking good, Tanner's walking animation is ridiculous: He walks like a crab! Tanner can't fall from a great height either, probably 4 or 5 feet and a chunk of health is gone from your life bar. I mentioned that the Film Director is great but sometimes the game corrupts your movies; sometimes something happens in your movie which actually didn't happen it when you were recording it and that can screw up your movie. Also the Film Director starts recording your game play the minute you start the game. It would have been nice to pick a time to start recording. At times, Driv3r is a poor version of Grand Theft Auto because there are shooting sections and walking sections in the campaign which are pretty poor. What? This is supposed to be a Driving game! Anyway, you have a selection of guns from the usual rifles, shotguns and handguns and in some sections you have to shoot your way through enemies. The shooting mechanics are poor but at least the driving sections are nice. As well as the Take a ride mode, there are some driving games but to be honest, I couldn't be bothered with any of them other than Survival which can be a laugh at times seeing supercharged mental Police cars flying around the place trying to damage your car. The voice acting maybe good but the audio isn't: Tanner sounds like cow when he gets hit or falls from a great height (HUUUUUMMMMM) and the Police chatter is very repetitive. They only say a few lines of dialog. Also the music in the game itself is repetitive and poorly composed. There isn't much to do in Take A Ride mode other than find hidden cars, kill 10 hidden men known as Timmy Vercetti's in the cities or just mess around with the police.To wrap this review up then: Driv3r is a glitchy game that people like to play if you want a laugh but if you want a serious action game, just buy one of the Grand Theft Auto's instead. If this game was given a few months more to iron out the glitches and take out the on foot sections, maybe this game could have been special.… Expand
  9. SrPepe
    Oct 29, 2017
    7
    La cámara y el sistema de disparo es malo, pero por lo demás es un muy buen juego. Me encanto, si bien tuvo sus bugs, personalmente ninguno afecto mi experiencia como jugador.
  10. neojotic
    Aug 28, 2020
    5
    Driv3r fails to bring back the magic for the series in generation 6. the landscape for these games changed and I feel that Driv3r did not adjust to remain competitive against GTA or even True Crime. Not the worst game ever it just didn't live up to the rest of the series and the standard it set in the 5th gen.
  11. Xrayplayer
    Dec 17, 2020
    5
    I kinda enjoyed this game for nostalgic reasons but I don't recommend this game at all skip it It's very buggy and unfinished the only positive thing I can say about it it's the graphics it looks good for a ps2 game and the driving controls fine enough, other then that it sucks in every other aspect.
  12. basic123
    Oct 18, 2022
    6
    They wanted to become better than Grand Theft Auto but failed at most times. The driving itself was still very enjoyable.

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2004
14
#14 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 51
  3. Negative: 11 out of 51
  1. VideoGamesLife
    51
    Ultimately, despite being the solid and enjoyable game that Driv3r once promised to be, it’s buried far too deep under all the shite to rescue the game from being anything more than just a gaming folly.
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  2. GMR Magazine
    50
    Unlike "GTA's" open-ended gameplay, DRIV3R is both linear and confined. [Sept 2004, p.83]
  3. PSX Extreme
    48
    A buggy, unfinished and uninspired game.
    Read full review
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