Driver 2 Preview

Driver 2

Driver was one of the best-selling PlayStation games of 1999. The mission-based, car-chase game, set in freely explorable cities was also a favourite of the critics. Reflections are already working on the sequel, logically titled Driver 2 and have doubled the size of the team so their new goals can be met in a shorter development cycle. Current plans see Driver 2 arriving sometime at the end of the year.

Driverâs engine is to be used for its sequel but will be enhanced to increase speed and so provide for more detailed environments (Driverâs own environments could be quite bland). As well as the generic towns (as seen in 70âs car chase films and TV programs), cities set to be included are Chicago, Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro and Havana. The stakes are obviously higher than ever â“ I am sure Fidel Castro doesnât approve of undercover US cops doing anything other than sightseeing on his island.

Since the cities are not all situated in the USA, Reflections are giving themselves more opportunities to show off the enhancements that theyâve promised us in the gameâs engine. Driverâs cities were the âwell-plannedâ US (i.e. boring) type which means blocks of buildings surrounded by grids of roads intersecting at ninety degrees. Driver 2 should wow us with its more natural-looking environments, providing for more familiar, poorly-planned-and-sprawling-out-of-control cities with twisting roads, that no one would be ashamed of getting lost in.

Another cop called Tobias Jones will brief Tanner (the main character) on his mission objectives. Hopefully such characters will play a more integral role in the plot than just telling you where to go. The detached âIâm just the driverâ feel should at the very least be removed by Driver 2âs most exciting new feature â“ the ability to leave your vehicle. As if this wasnât going far enough, other vehicles and even certain buildings will be accessible. At this point itâs not clear whether entering a building will result in the loading of a separate internal area or that the engine is powerful enough to deal with both internal and external areas.

Travelling on foot, for whatever reason â“ meeting and collecting people/items or even chasing someone brings up many questions we would like to ask Reflections. For example, in Driver the pedestrians always manage to leap out of your way if you try to plough them down Carmageddon-style. Itâs doubtful that the same will be true for Tanner, so can pedestrians be road-kill in Driver 2? If they cannot, it would be hard to believe even more than before. If Tanner also has the knack for diving just beyond an autoâs jaws it would remove some of the fun of travelling on foot.

Hopefully this potential problem will be resolved with the addition of a dive button for avoiding cars and pedestrians everywhere can then feel safe once more. Another major point that needs clearing up is whether there will be any out of car violence, which would prompt the inclusion of guns and fistfights. This might, like the running down of pedestrians, be deemed too far removed from what driver is all about â“ the chase. When you remember this Driver 2 sounds less than just a 3D equivalent of Grand Theft Auto.

Driverâs plot was insubstantial and the part about you being an undercover cop seemed to be tacked onto the end to avoid the bad publicity other crime-related games received. This time around Reflections promise a much more involving plot that takes in forty missions. Unbelievably, given the demanding Driver engine, two-player competition and co-operative modes are to be included. Competition mode would normally suggest special two-player only levels with minimal detail, but co-operative usually allows two players to participate in the story-driven part of the game. Unless it refers to a separate set of co-op missions, Iâll have to see it to believe it.