Driver: San Franciso Review

This game was a surprise, quite the surprise, I always heard this game was a hidden gem and was underrated and while I don't take either of those terms seriously, I was in for a shock for how well made this game turned out to be. I am not super big on driving games and open world games but who would've thought that a Grand Theft Auto style crime sandbox game with all the most of the mechanics removed except driving would actually make for a more compelling open world game than most. What makes me like this game over a lot of the games in the genre is that there is actual situational depth here. Where most open world games has a hodge podge of mechanics and ideas like driving, stealth, combat, traversal, and exploration and doing all those things worse than other games dedicated to those said idea and mechanics, Driver San Francisco is basically driving and nothing but that with plenty of shake ups and gimmicks thrown in almost every mission you do. It makes for a far more compelling experience to focus on one gameplay style and constantly put new ideas and gimmicks to shake things up than to be a worse shooter and a worse stealth games. Another thing that makes this game unique outside of the focus on driving is being able to possess any car of your choosing and this also gets pushed to it's limit.

The amount of different missions you will partake in Driver SF is so numerous that it would take far too long to list. You got bomb disarming on a timer, defending trucks using your other cars to crash into enemy cars, getting chased by enemy vehicles and cops while worrying about your car is taking damage, doing stunts, racing past checkpoints, stoping street racers before the race is done and so much more. The game throws so many ideas at the player that by the end it makes for a satisfying experience where it feels like you are a badass driver that John Tanner is supposed to be. The final level and boss fight is really well done too, you take him down first, then you dodge his vehicles while chasing him and then you get access to the same ability while he has his and then you end it off with a final epic chase with no powers. It feels so satisfying and well structured that even though the game is 5 hours and can be beaten quickly, the experience of the going through the game feels like a fuffiling one. When a short game is as well structured and well paced as this, who cares if the game can be gone through quickly. Another good thing is that the game checkpoints really well and it never gets overly frustrating outside of the mandatory races, more on that later. The story is also solid and decently told if nothing remarkable and is mostly deriative of a lot of crime stories, but the interactions with Tanner and Jones as well as the various people he interacts with when he possesses them does much of the heavy lifting for the writing. The mystery box is decently handled if nothing special since you don't really know much about Jericho which is fine since the story is more about solving the mystery.

My only big gripes with the game is that the vehicle handling is not the great, not terrible but during missions that requires precise driving like racing, it can lead to frustration especially during races where if you go to fast and turn the game will over do it and it can lead you to crashing and smashing into cars which can make you lose the lead a lot, and the faster race cars control so unevenly that it's hard to maintain a good rythmn since moving left or right while moving fast can lead you to going out of control. It's a good thing you don't need to win first place so it makes the races more tolerable. Another issue is that the supernatural elements of the story can feel like it's at odds with the more granded setting and tone, it could be a turn off for some but if you bear with it's nothing too bad and could arguably put a different spin on the crime genre.

Overall, Driver SF is a great game and one of the better driving and open world titles you can find. If you are tired of open world games being sub par shooters, stealth games and other genres they are borrowing from then this game is a breath of fresh air regarding that.