Tag Archives: xbox 360

Snoop Dogg Launches New Video Game

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SNOOP DOGG TAKES THE FIGHT TO THE STREETS WITH NEW VIDEO GAME WAY OF THE DOGG

Entertainment icon Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion) brings his fans the latest news about his forthcoming video game Way of the Dogg available now on Xbox Live® as an arcade game for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

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Drawing inspiration from Snoop’s love of ‘70s Kung Fu movies, Way of the Dogg follows the story of “America Jones” – the toughest street fighter in town, whose two great passions are the fight and his love, Sierra – but when Sierra is taken from him, AJ must step up and take his fighting to a whole new level under the watchful eye of Master Snoop and learn the “Way of the Dogg.”

Dishonoured – Game Review

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I begin this review with an apology – it is to my own regret that it took me so long to sufficiently play this game before I was capable of writing this review. I have always prided myself on never writing a review until I have at least completed the game a satisfactory number of times. I feel that only then can I put a reasonable perspective and objective view to a title. The only exception to this is when a game is crap and a second or third play through is unwarranted. However, with Dishonoured I felt like it was too much of a good thing, like going into a sweet shop as a child, being told that I could have everything I wanted and then being perplexed by nothing other than abundance of choice.

Choice in itself is one of the main appealing factors of Dishonoured; a game which isn’t afraid to demand that you think for yourself, that you make choices and reap either the rewards or consequences. In a world of FPS (First Person Shooters), Open world sandbox games, linear game plays, and storylines that essentially make choices for you it is refreshingly different. But this is not entirely not to be expected, its creative team includes alumni from PC favourites System Shock, Deus Ex, Half-Life 2 and Arx Fatalis; games that prided themselves on open world exploration.

For those unaware of the concept behind Dishonored, it’s a first-person stealth and/or action title. But to merit the game solely on this premise takes away from Dishonoured’s real pleasure which is providing the player with a dynamic open world experience. Taking place in the noir-esque plague ridden city of Dunwall, you take on the role of Corvo Attano, a former bodyguard of the Empress – a woman who is desperately trying to save a ruined city from further destruction. Finding yourself wrongly framed for her murder, Corvo is given to opportunity to take revenge on the corrupt officials who were behind her death.

The game kicks off with a short level swiftly introducing you to the basic controls as Corvo is accused of the Empress’ murder and linked with the disappearance of her daughter Emily. Jailed, tortured and with an execution on the horizon, it’s at this point that an ally offers you the chance to make an escape. From here on in Dishonoured is all about thinking on your feet, choice, variety and surviving. To give you an example of what this means in actual play there are no maps, no objective markers and to pick up food or items you have to actually look at it with your reticule and press the ‘take’ button. For some this might be a tad bit overwhelming; after all for many of us we are used to simply ‘stepping on’ food to pick it up and replenish our health – not so here; in a fight scenario you will have to consistently turn to face your enemy even if there is more than one of them. What’s more you will be required to both block and defend before attacking if you want to survive.

Cast as part-assassin, part supernatural superhero, Dishonored’s levels sets up an undesirable target of wealth of power before allowing you to go about executing them in whatever way you are able or your health and / or supernatural abilities will allow. Even though you are blessed with special abilities the enemies are powerful and numerous enough to warrant the need for stealth for most situations. The AI (artificial intelligence) used in the game is clever; Dunwall’s guards are far from stupid and can be ruthless – they will find bodies, call for reinforcements, send in dogs to sniff you out and once they have you in their sights they have no hesitation in taking you on. This means that you will have to resort to tactics such as creeping across the rooftops, squeezing underneath dilapidated constructions or rewiring security mechanisms.

Corvo’s abilities are split between his left and right hand, allowing you to either dual-wield a sword and crossbow or pistol, or to use a supernatural ability. This is all accessed via a radial menu, and your skills are upgraded by finding runes found in secret places dotted around each level.

Weaponry is a crucial part of Dishonored and is once again, all about choice. There’s a range of weapons that suit your playing style. Sleep darts are great if you want a non-lethal approach as is ‘Blink’ a nifty teleporting ability. But hey, if you’re not too fussed use your gun, sword or grenades; just be ready to take on the enemies as they come to investigate the ensuing noise. It has to be said that the voice acting in this game is truly superb and helps bring the game to life.

When it comes to supernatural abilities, Corvo has a basic arsenal for which more can be accessed in exchange for artefacts known as Runes which are scattered throughout the city. Each have their uses for example ‘Dark Vision’ shows enemies and their fields of vision through walls. ‘Devouring Swarm’ summons a pack of rats to devour enemies whereas ‘Possession’ allows you to take control of animals and people for a short duration; useful for getting into hidden areas or sneaking into rooms unseen.

At the end of each mission an overview will reveal your ‘Chaos Level’ which ranks you on the amount of times you were spotted, amount of times alarms raised and amount of dead bodies found. A ‘High’ level will result not only in fewer points but in raised defences by that city, more advanced level security systems implemented, a higher number of rats and plagues and an overall darker ending for the city. I’m not going to lie, the first time I played Dishonored I was like ‘whatever’ as I brutally took on guards left and right, however it was just a matter of time before that attitude faded as I realised my actions always had consequences especially towards the end of the game.

There are some areas Dishonoured falls short. The difficulty seems to jump from low to high and back again very quickly. Saving also seems to be sporadic when left to its own devices so I wholeheartedly recommend players to save whenever they can. Graphically Dishonoured does not disappoint but is far from what I was expecting. When you hear some reviewers saying that ‘it looks like a painting…only it moves’ and ‘Graphics that will make your eyes cry…’ one cannot help but build up expectations which lead to let down. I came away thinking these are reviews written by individuals that have been locked under the stairs for far too long. I’m sorry but no, the graphics are nothing special. Granted, they may look nice and moody and there is little in terms of gaudy shading that you tend to see in open world titles but no, my eyes did not cry and no, it did not look like any piece of artwork I have ever seen. I would say that graphically the game is both great and functional but not of a higher finesse than say Uncharted 3. Finally my last gripe is that there is no online multiplayer options which would have taken this game to the next level, it would have been incredible to play with or against friends in teams or even as part of the story – it is a huge shame that this is missing from the game.

The Verdict
Dishonored has one of those rare things in a game and that is choice, repercussions and consequences. Developer Arkane Studios had a tough order but they delivered with a game that is great fun and that rightfully deserves all the awards it has merited. Whilst the game is not without issues, it is a title I definitely think of as one of the best of the year – an enjoyable free roam experience that players can visit and revisit over and over again.

9.3 /10

The Amazing Spider-man Game Review

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Whilst The Amazing Spider-man Video Game may lack the all out ‘spit and polish’ of some premium titles it does bring something new to movie-game tie-ins of late; it is genuinely fun and exciting to play, is full of features and successfully regenerates the Spider-man franchise under software developer Beenox.

Excuse the pun but Spider-Man’s web franchise has been a bit of a sticky web in terms of quality and variety over the past number of years. When it has been good it has been great, but let’s face it when it has been bad, it has been crap. Beenox have been in-charge of the franchise since the highly acclaimed Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a game that really showed what could be achieved when game’s developers who love the material actually put their minds into bringing the concept to life and who are willing to put in blood, sweat and tears so that new ideas become reality and that these ideas work well. It was for these reasons amongst others that Shattered Dimensions was so well received. Tragically though, the follow up – Edge of Time saw Beenox dropping the ball somewhat almost spectacularly by condemning our beloved wall crawler to confined spaces, changing the control system so that it was tricky to play and having a ho-hum storyline that did little to engage players.

Listening to the critics of Edge of Time and looking at the efforts put into what some would say the ‘all too soon’ reboot of the Spider-man franchise Beenox knew they had to up their game. Mentality wise, they had to approach this just like Marvel Studios were going to approach the movie – it was going to be a one shot gun; they knew they were either going to re-energise the title or kill it. Restore the hope to millions of spidey fans, or destroy it.

Games that successfully manage to re-create the magic of comic books and movies is no mean feat; superhero games especially have a hard time translating the mass of abilities with ease of control. With the exception of Rocksteady and their Batman franchise there are few others that actually do it well. Thankfully though, Beenox fulfilled what some would say is a tall order The Amazing Spiderman plays very well indeed, in places it is incredibly cinematic and having it linked so closely to a movie which is heavily anticipated does it no harm at all.

The story in The Amazing Spider-Man the video game takes place some months after where the movie ended. After the Dr. Connors’ incident, Oscorp Industries went on to create an army of robots that maintain peace inNew York, scanning and attacking infected life forms. Unfortunately Oscorp also continued Connors’ research into cross-species and in one of the opening stages these potentially walking infectious diseases attack and infect Parker’s high school sweetheart: Gwen Stacey and escape intoManhattan, infecting innocents on the way. This leaves Spider-Man with no choice but to break Connors out of prison and work together with him to come up with an antidote to cure the infection in the city and save his girlfriend Gwen.

Set in a free-roaming open-world you will protect innocents of the city, battle with the infected, come across and battle super villains, tackle muggers and other perps of criminal activity all with the ability to explore and swing to your heart’s content.

The mechanic feels great and both looks and works tremendously well. Out in the city whilst you are web-slinging the camera moves in nice and close, and there is this immense feeling of motion, propulsion, gravity, speed and not to mention impressive grace. Swinging through the city you can swing really low between traffic like the movie, you can also free fall and swing at the last second. If you have seen any of the previous Spider-Man movies, you’ll experience that same feeling Peter Parker did the first time he mastered his new abilities. Sometimes in the game you even hear the character whoop with excitement as he enjoys the rush of flying through the air. This helps bring the game to life and I thought a nice touch by the developers who obviously had the master of movement as one of their core angles for this title. It is something perhaps I might not get tired of for a while and in my view makes up for any lack of online multi-play which could have further benefitted this game.

Combat wise this title doesn’t disappoint either. Spidey can confront enemies head on or attack from the shadows. Much has been borrowed from the control method of the Arkham series of Batman games; a single button to initiate and carry out a combo which builds your combo meter with every successful hit, and when the spider-sense goes off around Spider-Man’s head, you know someone is about to attack you so you tap the reversal button to stylishly take them out.

I’ve heard some reviewers complain that it is ‘too borrowed’ from Batman (including the degradable suit) but how can you realistically complain when a formula works so well. It makes it easy to look like a superhero when you skillfully drop down above an unsuspecting enemy, web them into a cocoon and propel them to the ceiling. If you don’t fancy going down the stealth route then you can take them on one by one or in a group with webs and signature moves galore which can be upgraded. Very nice indeed.

New to this Spider-man game is the inclusion of Web Rush. By holding a shoulder button, time slows down and you go into Spider-man’s ‘eyes’ where you can look at and select locations you desire to zip-line to, interact with or attack. It’s an elegant way to get Spider-Man around quickly and in a room full of enemies it allows you to quickly see objects you can use to your advantage.

Of course, there are some areas in which this title falls short of the mark and whilst they are not in my opinion deal breakers (because they are common issues found in most open world games) they do detract from what would otherwise be a quality title. Firstly, whilst the model for Spider-Man is exceptional, there are ten times as many average looking character models in the game. So many people just look the same bar a few palette changes here and there and many sound the same or say the same things. This equally goes for many of the adventures you have around the city. The first time you stop a robbery and hear Spidey deliver a cool line like ‘Stay frosty’ you are going to be excited and the second time and the third but by the time you take out your 15th armed robber who looks or sounds the same or has stolen exactly the same car, stopping robberies wont be high on your agenda. There’s a lot to do in the life of Spider-man but be prepared to repeat these missions over and over again; you’ll hear the same one-liners from Spidey and help the same police officer over and over again. That’s one of the things I think LA Noire got right; each of the side missions were individual crimes in their own right. This is an area for improvement for any future titles. Secondly, Spider-man falls foul of another typical issue of open world titles which is of graphical dexterity. Some of the surfaces especially those which are indoor just lack that spit and polish and look gaudy up close. I found this more noticeable on the Xbox version than on the PlayStation 3 but really, should it be there at all? There are also some niggling camera issues especially when you are in combat or adopting a stealth approach to attacking enemies. Sometimes you’ll find yourself backed into a corner that brings almost certain death and inevitably, some frustration.

On the PlayStation 3 you can play with the PlayStation Move. Now before you get images of two motion controllers in your hands flicking your webs acrossManhattan, think again. You hold a navigation controller or regular controller in your left hand and then the PlayStation Move controller in the right.

Basically, the Move puts a cursor on the screen and gives you a more accurate way to Web Rush or fire webbing. That is, rather than cycling through your options with the right analogue stick you can now just point. Flicking the Move also does an immediate Web Retreat. Whilst it works o.k. and has some novelty value I found it by no means a necessity. I played through the game with normal controls and never actually felt like more precise aiming would greatly help me or make the game any easier; in fact using the move controller just made my arm tired for all the wrong reasons.

The Verdict

With stunning visuals, decent enough storyline and lets not forget incredible web-slinging, Spider-man might not be the best game but is probably one of the best movie tie-ins of late. Fair play some of the missions get repetitive and some of the graphics are rough around the edges but The Amazing Spider-Man is still fun to play and gets me really excited when I think about the movie release next week.

8.5 / 10

Usher Performs at Xbox 360 Conference.

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Usher performed his latest song ‘Scream’ at the Xbox 360 press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. The star demonstrated the moves that players and his fans will be able to learn and perform in the new forthcoming game, Dance Central 3, exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360.

Usher has choreographed two of his songs for the best-selling dancing game, out later this year.

Max Payne 3 Game Review

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What would you do if you came home one day to find your beloved family murdered by a bunch of psychos? Become a manic depressant? Turn to drink? Drugs? Not rest until you had hunted the scumbags down and wiped them off the face of the planet? Well, Max Payne did all of the above. Now, after a lengthy nine-year hiatus and with the franchise firmly in the hands of Rockstar Games – proprietor of titles such as Red Dead Redemption, the Grand Theft Auto series and LA Noire, – Max Payne is back, gulping painkillers down like no tomorrow and killing his foes softly and…erm, not to mention slowly. But has the wait been worth it?

Rockstar Games have built a solid reputation in creating games of high calibre. Just look at their back catalogue. They don’t release a game without it being tested to extinction, they flourish in building deep storyline arcs and cinematic traits in all their titles, and in nearly all their games, they invest highly in intricate details. Plus, they’re unafraid of raw violence. Max Payne 3 might not rank as their best title to date – let’s just get that out of the way – but let’s also be clear, it doesn’t fall too wide of the mark.

The quality in Max Payne 3 shows from the moment you load up the disc. Faithful to the original game, it starts at the end and rewinds to the beginning. Strong cinematics give you a taste of what his world has become introducing you to some of the main characters with real vigour and energy. Max is now a reluctant bodyguard charged with looking after a millionaire’s family who like to live fast, and die young.

The in game graphics are superb

Looking at the screen as the sequences unfold, you can’t help but take pleasure in the quality of the animation and Rockstar’s trademark dialogue. If you enjoy movies, you’ll find it draws parallels with movies of its genre – the chromatic aberrations and the dialogue between characters where key words appear on screen – there are flavours here of ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Miami Vice’,  ‘Wanted’. ‘Domino’ and ‘Lethal Weapon’. Oh, and not forgetting ‘The Matrix’.

A shootout in a nightclub demonstrates all that’s good about bullet-time – moving from cover to cover in slow motion, flying through the air delivering headshot after headshot to save a woman from being kidnapped,  shooting a vehicle’s tyres so it has to stop or taking out foes while you dangle helplessly from a helicopter. It’s scenes like this that make you semi-orgasmic and pleased you bought this title.

Max Payne is simply a badass with badass guns and badass quips, even when he takes painkillers to restore his health. Having lost everyone he cared about in his life, he really couldn’t care less and is ‘damaged goods’ with inner demons – a reluctant hero who would be happier doing other things.

As the storyline develops, it is hard not to be engaged with Max and the struggle he gets drawn into. And wow! What a struggle he has on his hands…or rather, you have. Max Payne 3 will prove to be one tough game for some players and some levels especially can be hugely frustrating. Enemies are just so numerous and hard to kill, leg shots won’t do it, chest shots won’t always do it and if they have head gear expect to expend a whole clip. Even when enemies go down, they will fire a last few rounds to take you down with them. Now, some will argue that my criticism is unfair, after all, a game where enemies fall to the ground like dominoes would quickly become boring and let’s be honest, Max Payne himself only needs a handful of painkillers to restore his entire health. However, when some guy you have shot point-blank in the chest gets up a few seconds later and comes running at you, and delivers a head shot that means you have to restart, excuse the pun, but it is a tough pill to swallow.

It’s flaws like this that start to creep in, and the longer you play, the more apparent they become. Painkillers are few and far between and the checkpoints are unevenly and unforgivingly spread which means if you die, you will often have to redo entire sections again, and with the game as challenging as it is you can expect to die more than once.

Because of this, frustration quickly sets in. I think the programmers realised this because if you die in a section too many times the game will restart you with extra painkillers. It’s a weird compensation, especially thinking you may have to die a good number of times to get it. The steep difficulty curve also means that to survive you are forced to engage bullet-time more often and then entire stages just become a repetitive matter of slowing things down and holding out long enough behind cover.

It’s also a shame too, that unlike the original game, Rockstar did not build in some kind of bullet-time reward system so that you could increase the length of time you could enter slo-mo. I can’t help thinking it was a bit of a missed opportunity. However, if you do manage to stick with it ,you are rewarded with a dark and deep storyline full of betrayal and deceit, not to mention some of incredible set pieces.

In multiplayer, Max Payne 3 delivers excellently too. At first you’re limited to straight death-match and team death-match modes and it all feels slow and a little second-rate, but prolonged play provides benefits.

Bullet-time makes all the difference, with its use balanced by the same post-slow-mo movement issues as in the single-player game, and by the fact that it also affects line-of-sight targets, not just your character. Gain enough kills in the boot-camp scenarios, and you can also join in a Gang Wars mode. This sees two teams running through objectives in a themed mini-campaign. It’s another example of a game that can start off on the wrong foot, but that works hard to turn your initial impression around.

My Verdict
Max Payne 3 might not be Rockstar’s best work to date, but it probably is the best example of its genre. What Rockstar brings to Max Payne 3 is style, personality, cinematics, gritty rawness and an exciting and memorable experience. Max Payne 3 might not be perfect and might be frustrating as hell. But one thing’s for sure, it packs a mean punch and, despite its flaws, is a quality title

9/10

THQ ANNOUNCES DARKSIDERS II COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOR EUROPE

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THQ announced today that a Darksiders II Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.

The Darksiders II Collector’s Edition will include The Limited Edition version of the game as well as a life-sized replica Death Mask with display stand, a unique Shadow of Death armour and scythe set with enhanced stats, a digital copy of the Darksiders II sound-track and a hard-cover Darksiders II art book. The Collector’s Edition will be available in limited quantities as a pre-order item only and is anticipated to sell for around £79.99.

In UK & Ireland the Collector’s Edition will be available from GAME, HMV, Amazon, Play.com, Gamestop and other select retailers as well as the THQ.com store.

The Darksiders II Limited Edition will include the standard retail game along with a unique code allowing the purchaser the opportunity to download the game’s first single player downloadable content pack, Argul’s Tomb for free once it becomes available. All pre-orders of Darksiders II will receive the Limited Edition version of the game at no additional cost.

Darksiders II follows the exploits of DEATH, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, in an action-packed tale that runs parallel to the events in the original Darksiders game. This epic journey propels DEATH through various light and dark realms as he tries to redeem his brother WAR, the horseman blamed for prematurely starting the Apocalypse in Darksiders.

The original Darksiders, released in January 2010, received critical acclaim including the Best Fantasy Game 2010 award from IGN. Darksiders followed the story of WAR, wrongly accused of starting the apocalypse, on a quest to reclaim lost honor and take revenge on those who wronged him.

Want to check out the trailer? Of course you do – have a look below and don’t forget to give us your feedback!

 

THQ CONFIRMS DEVELOPMENT OF SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD – ENTER THE DOMINATRIX

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Thank heavens April Fools day jokes are long gone – otherwise one could be forgiven for thinking this latest announcement from THQ Inc was a prank but isn’t.  THQ and Volition, Inc have announced the development of Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix, a standalone expansion to Saints Row: The Third.

Slated for an Augsty/ Septemberish release date on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix looks to take the award-winning, over-the-top action of Saints Row: and mix it up a little by throwing in super powers.

Executive Vice President of THQ Danny Bilson, stated in a recent press release “Faster than a speeding cyber jet bike, more powerful than a chromed-out SUV, able to leap flying aircraft carriers in a single bound… That’s the power you’ll find inside the Dominatrix. Use it for good. Use it for evil. Use it for whatever you want. As always in Saints Row, it’s up to you,”

With a franchise of reportedly more than 11 million units shipped globally so far, it looks like an incredible amount of fun for Saints Row fans and most importantly as it’s a standalone expansion will give users good reason to hold on to their copies and not trade them in just yet.

Enter the Dominatrix picks up immediately following the events of Saints Row: The Third with a story just as wacky and fun. For those of you not up to date with Saints Row, it is kind of like a mix between Grand Theft Auto and…erm something very very different. Put it this way, it has long been regarded as the guilty pleasure of gaming. Very tongue in cheek and serious at the same time, wrestlers, gangsters, guns and hitting people over the head with a huge bright pink dildo. This expansion sounds like it will add something very Matrixy to the mix and increase its longetivity.

More details and a first look at Saints Row: The Third – Enter the Dominatrix will be available this summer stay tuned to Frost for more details.

DRIVER: San Francisco Game Review

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I don’t know about you but when I first heard about Driver:San Francisco I was almost bi-polar about it. I mean; the last Driver game was awful in so many ways – things could only get better on third generation hardware. However, on the other hand, I had heard that they were going to do some mad ‘supernatural’ thing with Tanner, having him ‘jump about’ from ‘body to body’ at will. Now hands up who actually thinks that, that is going to work? Er…yeah…me neither.

So begins another entry into the Driver Franchise and perhaps the most outrageous premise in computer game history seen in a decade. Man, I would have loved to have been at the developers table at Ubisoft when they thrashed that idea out; I am guessing that they would have been more raised eyebrows than a Roger Moore convention. Yet for some insane reason it got the go ahead and here we are, Driver:San Francisco is a reality that has had gamers raving. But is it as good as they say?

Well I might as well cut to the chase and blatantly say DRIVER: San Francisco is not a ‘10/10’, a ‘gaming masterpiece’ or a ‘must buy’ like a lot of reviewers are/were saying and I don’t care what anybody says the multiplayer is never going to be a ‘Call of Duty killer’ but as far as a single player driving game goes it does hold up to provide an enjoyable race experience. Once you get past the aforementioned ludicrous storyline and clichéd scripting the only negative thing you are left with is the terrible handling of the vehicles. Yes – Burnout, Split-Second, Need for Speed, even Motorstorm Apocalypse fare better when it comes to the handling of the incredibly weighted vehicles of Driver which sporadically felt like I was steering a tank at times through quick drying cement.

Other than those ‘facets of joy’ though everything else is largely excellent; San Francisco is a beautifully glossy, detailed vista and the whole jump into another person’s head idea – called ‘Shift’ despite being an absurd idea actually works quite well; thrusting you into the mainstream driving, racing, chasing and crashing scenarios with ease.

Now hands up if you want to know more on this whole ‘shift’ thing? Thought you did. Well, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) the first 60 minutes of game play is taken up with the storyline and ‘mere reasons’ to justify the plot. John Tanner the undercover cop from the main game has finally tracked down his long time nemesis Charles Jericho. In an attempt to take him down he is forced into a near fatal collision and ends up in a coma. This means the vast majority of the game takes place in Tanner’s head and in which he continues to track his nemesis down; mind jumping from person to person in order to get close enough to stop Jericho once and for all.

Just in case you couldn’t tell – I had huge doubts about the whole ‘shift thing’ but in play I found what it brings is some real immediacy to the proceedings and a kind of ‘cocky but coolness’. What it also gives is options; trying to chase down a target? Hey why not just jump into a bus driver coming in the other direction – he-he laugh out loud as you say ‘any more fares’. What’s more every crash, every explosion happens in beautiful slo-mo so there is always a reason to do it; the game delights in bringing you thought out destruction.

Being a sandbox game there is a fair bit of exploration to be had and as typical for this type game alongside the main missions you have a plethora of side missions. However fortunately Driver: San Francisco has the least boring side missions I have seen this year besides perhaps those seen in LA: Noire. One such mission sees you jumping into the body of a young weedy chap, nervous as anything about his driving test. Do you think the idea is to help him pass? Nope…the idea is to put the fear of the devil into the test instructor by driving as insanely as possible.

Other than this though for most of the time you have standard Driver fare; follow this car, get to x in x amount of time, come first in this race, smash this car etc. Of all of these though the most exciting is shaking off the police and it has to be said that for all of the faults synonymous with driver of the past, one of the things that they have got right here is the police AI. No longer can you shake off the police by just bombing it down a road or even driving into oncoming traffic, they really do keep up the pressure and you have to be good to get away from them.

Longevities is sadly not a strong point of this game; the whole title taking me just over 6 hours to get through resulting in an ending hardly inspired enough for me. Although completing the game opened up some challenges and online multiplayer which in all honesty was not too bad and I am sure enough people went out there to buy this so there is hardly going to be a drought online. There are issues with balancing out gameplay between players of different ability so my advice is be the best you can be before you go online or else you will lose…a lot. Quite controversially I read the developer stating in interviews that no DLC (Download Content) has been planned which is an incredible shame.

My Verdict

Despite my initial concerns about the whole shift thing I do have to say it brings a level of originality, even if it makes serves to make the script clichéd and downright weird I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy this game. I am hoping that further patches will be released to improve the atrocious handling and fix balancing issues because once those issues are resolved the game will go from great to being fantastic. At the moment I would say whilst it is a great purchase it is far from essential and for some hardcore gamers I would even say wait until it comes down in price before giving it a long hard look.

8.0 / 10

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

This is a hard one as although there are other racing games, none have the ‘shift’ feature and so are not the same and can’t be compared.

Equal to: Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit (only just)

Better than:  Burnout Paradise

Worse than: None