Driver San Francisco: multiplayer hands-on

Driver is back with a strange and intriguing new gameplay mechanic and tons of multiplayer options. We have a smashing time testing the thrilling Tag mode

Already in 1999, was the original driver of one of the best games on PlayStation. Created by Newcastle-based veteran and strong reflections inspired by Walter Hill 's cult film of the seventies with the same name, it was a rollicking bull' s Raider adventure around an undercover detective named John Tanner, the hyper- acceleration lane of a major crime syndicate.

The single-player mode, provided entertainment slick driving, maintaining the sense of riotous fun in Reflections 'previous PlayStation racer Destruction Derby. But the real find was the large selection of mini-games and challenges that accompany the central mode. Of these, 'Survival' where you just had to drive around the city to avoid the police as long as possible, a frenzied climax. Next GoldenEye, it was a staple of all-back-to-mine post-pub gaming sessions enjoyed many of us who came before online multiplayer-console.

Reflections (now Ubisoft Reflections) has clearly never forgotten those heady days. His imminent return in the series, Driver San Francisco, is on no fewer than 19 multiplayer modes feature - 11 online, and eight split-screen. Besides a few simple options designed several racing to the madness exciting match of Survival. Present at a meeting in London last games, Activision was showing off 'tag' fight in the eight drivers there to grab a trophy and hold it as long as possible. To the item from another player, you just have to smash into her car. Players get one point for every second they retain the trophy and the first 100 victories.

Of course, the central element "switching 'is. If you 've always keep an eye on the driver pre-release hype, you' ll know that the main game is no ordinary gangland drive-'em-up. Once again, you 're Tanner, on the tail of the crime Mr. Jericho, but this time a near fatal car accident leaves the cop in a coma, and the game plays in his state of unconsciousness. Life on Mars and comparisons were made inception, and during which a controversial feature of this interesting game mechanics allows - the ability to switch instantly from one car to another.

In day takes a while to grasp the concept, in order, but the tactical possibilities are immediately apparent. Hitting X on the PS3 controller, your view from the car and a map screen that shows the city layout, press on the analog control pans for another look, and hitting R1 zooms directly on the trophy car. Also, you can use any other vehicle on the road - the cursor over one and press X brings you directly into it.

San Francisco, it turns out, provides a sprawling network of wide avenues, snaking rat runs and fraught interchanges, along with its trademark swooping hills. The moderately heavy and unpredictable traffic adds hugely to the action, allowing the trophy car to clip other vehicles and cause mini-pile-ups in its wake. And of course, a robust physics model adds crunching impact to every car-on-car encounter. "A lot of people have said that tag reminds them of Destruction Derby," says studio founder and the game's creative director, Martin Edmondson. "There was a similar mode in that called 'It', which was you versus 19 AI drivers – it was total mayhem."

The idea of 'shifting' has provided the focus for much pre-release coverage of Driver: San Francisco – it's something gamers have struggled to get their heads around. "Four and a half years ago, when we set out to make this game, shift was there from day one, so the whole game's been designed with the system," says Martin Edmondson. "We've got missions that operate almost like a racing team, where you've got to get two cars into two different positions on the map; you're continually shifting between the two. We have another mission where there are ten trucks around the city with bombs underneath them, so you need to shift into low sports cars all around the city and get underneath the trucks to diffuse the bombs – then you switch it another car on the other side of the city for the next truck…"

Edmondson is keen to point out that there are multiplayer race events in which switching is removed – if purists insist on it. But mostly he wants the feature to be seen as a core dynamic rather than something that's been tacked on to give it a handy USP – a charge that's been levelled at forthcoming Need For Speed offshoot, The Run, which has on-foot sections. "Pure racing games are tricky – they don't have the market share they used to have, so there's a pressure to innovate," says Edmondson. "But I'd stress that this studio has a history, all the way back to Shadow of the Beast, Destruction derby and Stuntman, of innovating. For us it's natural to do something like this. And also innovation for the sake of it is pointless, it's self-defeating. We really think switching brings something new in. But it's so hard to explain. You just have to experience it…"