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Driv3r - Atari's Savior, Or Lara Croft-Style Travesty?
Thanks to Eurogamer for its hands-on preview of a near-complete build of Atari's PlayStation 2 title Driv3r, as the article notes: "Never before has an entire company's fate rested so heavily on the release of one product [financials reveal $20 million for 'production costs'... and 'marketing costs... double that amount'], but Reflection's long-overdue sequel is that kind of game, and Atari is doubtlessly slightly peeved that... it has had to watch from the sidelines while Rockstar, Sony and even Activision have cleaned up in mission-based driving stakes." Although the previewer rhapsodizes: "Anyone who loves pure driving will have a fantastic time in Driv3r", the out-of-car elements are another story: "The third-person control system feels sluggish [and] the combat/shooting is currently nowhere near the standard it needs to be", and the preview ends with the warning (though it's possible the gameplay "may well come together at the last minute"): "Releasing [the game] in an unpolished state would be a crime of Angel Of Darkness proportions."
The Driver series has never been well-polished...both Driver and Driver 2 suffered from ugly graphics (even at the time), one hell of a difficulty curve and the worst pop-up ever seen.
They were somewhat enjoyable, and the huge, real cities were fun, but other than that I don't expect too much out of the third game either.
--Moo.
Infogrames is betting the farm on a type of game that has probably already peaked in popularity. They are being reactive here instead of proactive. They need to break new ground instead of trying to go with the flow. They also need to not put all of their eggs in one basket. I see this as an unwise move that might lead to Infogrames demise. Even if this game is popular, I don't see it making the kind of money they need to make in order to qualify it as a success.
Back in its heyday on the PSone I was a massive fan of both Driver and its sequal, the games seemed fresh, innovative, providing a real challenge with it's misson based diving (and the occasional time on-foot in the sequal) However this was during the murky distant times where the GTA series was confined to a mere 2-dimentions.
The gameplay sounds hauntingly similar; From the wide selection of vehicles to commandeer, the on foot aspect thrown in, the mission based gameplay (albeit with more arcade leanings), and even the HUD itself. All of these draw faint echos of Rockstars creation and its rapidly expanding list of somewhat accomplished clones.
Conisdering the protracted and near aborted development alongside this, I fear that not even the minor wave of nostalgia for the prequals could save this game from being another albatross around the already weighty neck of Atari.