Driver ’76 Review

Written by Ian W. on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

I am going to say it now that I am not a fan of GTA. Well I mean the 3D versions as I quite liked the 2D ones. I remember that there was something of a bitter feud between Driver and GTA especially when Driver 3 was released. Sadly Driver 3 was a letdown in a series that had proved otherwise rather innovative.

I remember playing the first Driver game on the Playstation and getting so infuriated with the car park training that I very nearly gave up at the start but I persevered and found a very enjoyable game underneath even if the final level was nigh-on impossible to beat. When Driver 2 was released it combined racing with on-foot action way before GTA III. Sadly though it proved to be too ambitious for the Playstation and was doomed from the start which gave Rockstar plenty of time to tweak GTA and then release GTA III and change the gaming world forever.

I never did get chance to play Driver: Parallel Lines so I decided to check out Driver ’76 on the PSP to see if the series had fared better since Driver 3 (which I actually completed). The first thing I was impressed with was the presentation which has a definite 70’s vibe to it. The game also uses a magazine called ‘Driver ‘76’ to show the storyline as it progresses which is a nice touch. The game though smacks of GTA right from the start. It is as if the game forgets that Driver was the series that GTA paid homage to back in the day.

The main story puts you in the shoes of Ray who is a wheelman and takes jobs from the shadiest of characters. The game is split into chapters and each chapter has a certain amount of missions that must be completed. The opening mission does pay tribute to the original Driver as it just demands that you drive as fast as you can out of a tricky situation with the police. The game features a very realistic damage model so your car gets battered and smashed up the worse you drive and the doors come off and everything. As you would expect if your car flips over then you have no choice but to get out and steal another one.

As with GTA you are also expected to shoot people at times and the control system for this does leave a lot to be desired. You hold down the right trigger to cycle through targets and then press the left trigger to fire. It does not seem right and sometimes you are left with an unresponsive game mechanic that leaves you open to enemy fire. This is not too bad though because the enemy, be it police or rival gangs are not the smartest.

The game features an authentic 70’s music soundtrack which is a definite nod to GTA and it serves the game well. Some of the characters are reminiscent of classic 70’s icons such as Huggy Bear. There is also an accurate representation of New York in the 70’s. Sadly though with this being a major city you would think it would be more populated than it actually is. Sometimes you can drive around for quite a while and not see anyone walking along the road.

Traffic is also light in the city which does not give for a very realistic portrayal of a living, breathing city. But the missions in the game are well thought out and add variety to games of this ilk. One of my favourite missions was getting a tow-truck and having to tow cars around in order to complete the objective. The game features mainly driving and/or on-foot sections but there are moments when the game is on rails and you simply have to protect the vehicle you are in by shooting at and destroying anything or anyone that comes in your way.

Littered around the city are secrets and shortcuts. There are stars that you can collect to unlock extra features although these are well hidden and some take some definite exploring in order to reach them. I always preferred the Driver series to GTA because I preferred driving to being on-foot and the driving sections of Driver ’76 are very good. Chases with rival gangs are often exhilarating although the collision detection sometimes ruins it but this is not always the case.

After each mission you unlock the vehicles or weapons you were given to complete the task. You can also perform side jobs which mainly involves participating in checkpoint races around the city against various opponents on various difficulty levels. The main problem with this game though is that it is just too easy. The original Driver as I said at the beginning was challenging but got easier but this just stays the same throughout and seasoned gamers might complete this in one charge of the PSP battery.

But that does not make the game any less rewarding or satisfactory. There are many who will instantly scoff at a title such as this especially when compared to GTA which is why I am not comparing this title to GTA. As its own title it is competent and offers an immersive 70’s driving experience (the on-foot section is still not as polished as this) and it can be entertaining in its own right. The game does feature too many loading sections though which most gamers just will not put up with in this day and age. It loads before every mission and also when you enter certain areas of the city.

We all know that GTA has set the benchmark for games such as this and sadly Driver ’76 has a lot to improve in order to get close to it. It is playable and good at what it does it is just that GTA has improved on every other area of the game tenfold and it really shows. Fans of the Driver series may enjoy this and anyone wanting a quick spin would also be wise to try this otherwise stick to GTA.