'Driver' Hands-On Preview and Screenshots
posted by Eli Hodapp on November 23rd, 2009 9:01 AM EST in Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
As critics of Gameloft will no doubt mention in nearly every post we make about Gameloft games that are "inspired" by other popular franchises, but in the case of Driver, Gameloft has taken a sharp turn from these types of games to bringing a remastered version of one of the best PC driving games of the late 90's to the iPhone.
In Driver, you play as an underground NYPD detective who was chosen by the force for his impressive driving skills to infiltrate the filthy underbelly of four in-game cities. You will be tasked with a series of missions that will have you racing around the city, evading the police, and generally doing most of the things you do in Grand Theft Auto games without the ability to ever get out of your car.
Gameloft has brought nearly everything from the original Driver to the iPhone, including the exact same physics and driving engine present in the PC original. As players of the PC version may remember, the game was fairly dark with low-resolution textures– Gameloft has completely spruced up all the original graphics making for a much more colorful and visually impressive game than the original.
As a faithful port of the PC classic, Driver will have a complete car damage system and four in-game cities– each being larger than the whole city in Gangstar. All of the UI elements that would require a keyboard or mouse have been refined to be touch friendly, and the game can be controlled using tilt, a virtual joystick, or a virtual D-Pad.
Other improvements from the original include a GPS system to help gamers find their way to each objective, and the checkpoints themselves have been made much more obvious. Essentially, everything that was great about the original Driver has been preserved, and everything that wasn't so great has been brought up to today's standards.
Regrettably, the only thing that is missing from the PC original is the replay editor. Gameloft felt the UI was just far too cumbersome without a keyboard and mouse, and having played the original, I tend to agree with them. The best thing about Driver is it is by no means a mobile game. In its day, Driver was an excellent PC game that provided over 6 hours of gameplay that gamers happily paid full PC game price for.
Fans of the original no doubt remember its difficulty level which could be best described as "brutal", and Gameloft having recognized that gamers today might not be too in to the idea of redoing missions dozens of times has included both an easier mode along with the original difficulty level configurable in the game's options.
All of the cinematics and voice-overs are preserved from the 1999 Driver, and as a fan of the original, I am extremely excited to have one of my favorite games of the 90's on my iPhone. Gameloft is hopeful to submit Driver to Apple soon and plans to have it on the App Store sometime next month.
Hell…..Yes!
Awesomeness!
Wow – assuming the controls hold out, between this and Jet car stunts, I'll be all set with driving games
(If you haven't heard of JCS, drop what you're doing, search it in iTunes and buy it now)
haha ya
I'm pretty sure Driver was originally a PSX game, at least that's where I played it. The replay editor worked fine on a gamepad, but I suppose it would present some problems trying to squeeze all those buttons into the limited space available on the touch screen. Looking forward to this game, although that last mission was a real headache…
Yes, PSX originally.
Im in btw
theres something about trying to outrun another car that makes driving like a maniac so fun
This is awesome. Gameloft is really takin' it to the next level,although the graphics seem a little blurry and shy. But there is much time to go, just keep all those great projects up!
And driver series ended in ~2007 with Parallel Lines(not a great game though). Thats a pity you wont be able to get out of the car but if they polish the driving part I will wait for it. And JCS hasnt impressed me at all-too hard
regarding JCS – practice makes perfect. Some of the stunts can be unforgiving, but making it through a course for a gold is extremely satisfying once you do it. For $1.99, I'd take the risk and try it out. If you like driving games, it's really worth it.
Driver is about driving. They killed the series when they let the driver step out of the car. Since the first Driver they have never been able to recoup which is why the series died. If they had left the driver inside the car the series would still be going strong.
Looks so real…. Gangst$r actually has this Technicolor scheme IMO,
Looks bettr than Gangst$r, surely
I am buying this the instant it's available, at whatever price they set.
The very first game I ever played on the first Playstation was the first Driver game, and it was the first console I owned. (I'm getting old!!!) I remember getting pissed off at the tutorial, but the game wasn't that bad at all.
Some difficulty is welcome – I have too many simple time killer games. Bring it on Gameloft. Stay true to this one. This game was my baby!
I had this for the PC way back and liked it, though the difficulty level was indeed pretty brutal. The second one was okay too, but the third one sucked hard. I am definitely getting this as soon as it comes out. It's looking pretty sweet.
Personally I think a replay UI would be far more simpler than actual game controls considering you're under no stress regarding timing. You can take as long as you want selecting an action from a list, moving the screen around and then placing a camera… there were only about 10 buttons to choose from anyway.
The original Driver was great, they really nailed the suspension and steering of these muscle cars. It looks and feels just like the old movie "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen. Yet another day one purchase for me from Gameloft.
I always thought that. Driver's car physics are the some of the most accurate I've seen in a game, possibly rivaling Gran Turismo and Forza. This is a fine game on all fronts.
I'm glad they decided to adapt the original, instead of coming up with some cheesy touch-lite edition.
GangStar's engine is still my fav from Gameloft, and this should be that, improved. Can't wait!
OH.MY.GOD! gameloft you just earned some respect points from me!! gonna put this on my sig
Gameloft is really kickin it while the real big companies are taking their wintersleep
5 Gameloft games on the front page all at the same time? Come on TA, how about a little variety here?
They had a press day or something. Would you rather ta not report on the latest developments from a major game developer?
Heck – I used to love Driver! Was considering getting it on PSN, but I'm liking the iPhone idea more!
Those graphics look amazing!
THis games was the best…i can't believe Iphone is pulling of this shit…..WOW. Give me Star Wars Racer.
do u guys think i should get this cause i dont really like driving games where u cant get out of ur car (im a big fan of gta lol) but the graphics look great
Great Post…..
I found your site on stumbleupon and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
Thanks for sharing….