• Action driving game
• Go deep undercover in Miami, Nice, and Istanbul
• Detailed cities feature approximately 30 square miles of roads each
• Both in-car and on-foot missions

The original Driver was one of the most popular and original driving games on the PSone and very much helped to pave the way for Grand Theft Auto III and others. The sequel, however, was a massive disappointment and seemed to prove that the Driver formula could only ever work again on the next generation of consoles.

Now finally Driver 3 (or DRIV3R as it insists on calling itself) is here, and although it's not the disaster that the last game was it's still a considerable disappointment. As you would expect from developers Reflections, who also did Stuntman and the original Destruction Derby, the car handling and physics are excellent--perhaps some of the best ever seen. However, the artificial intelligence of your opponent drivers is almost laughably poor and the incredibly detailed graphics, which look so good in the screenshots, come at the expensive of some disappointingly short draw distances, with buildings and backgrounds suddenly popping up as if out of nowhere.

The game itself is now very much influenced by Grand Theft Auto and you can get out of your car and hijack other vehicles. DRIV3R is still predominantly mission-based, though, and unfortunately the difficulty curve is still as frustratingly uneven as ever with some missions seemingly almost superhumanly hard.

If you're a fan of the series then DRIV3R probably won't disappoint too much, but newcomers to the series may find this has rather more problems than you'd expect from such a heavily hyped title.--David Jenkins

Manufacturer's Description

DRIV3R is an action-packed driving adventure game that stays true to its roots, incorporating the cinematic gameplay and gritty street crime of its predecessors with ground-breaking graphics and three mammoth, wide-open city environments: Miami, Nice, and Istanbul.Featuring Hollywood-caliber production values--with voice actors including Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Mickey Rourke and Michelle Rodriguez--and a gripping, narrative story line, DRIV3R casts players once again as undercover cop Tanner who, alongside his partner Tobias, must infiltrate a global car theft ring, an assignment that leads to tire-squealing chases and fierce on-foot firefights while tailing gangsters, chasing witnesses, stealing cars and unloading massive clips of ammo to bring the criminals to justice.