A once loved, but recently tarnished franchise roars back to a bizarre form of auto-jump mechanism
In many ways, the games industry as a younger version of the film industry and a tricky problem to share what they do when a franchise loses its luster. Franchises are making a low risk from those who both movies and games, as people will commit to new rates on the reverse of what was predicted, but because they \ re made 'almost by definition, for the wrong reasons, depending longer they run, the more disappointing, they tend to be. Therefore, the term of the franchise reboot.
Driver is a typical case. The 1999 original, the racer-turned-maverick cop John Tanner was introduced, was extremely successful, but by the time the third installment - 2004 's Driv3r - were killed, his attempt to Grand Theft Auto, in that only third-person shooting It was apparently desperate to emulate, thanks to sloppy design irrecoverable. 2006 's Driver: Parallel Lines, the Tanner in favor of criminals known as Pour not more telecom felt like leaving a Driver game. And certainly the development of an identity crisis is the equivalent of a franchise suicide note?
Apparently affairs weren 't quite as desperate, after all, as a recent hands-on session with Driver: San Francisco proved pleasantly pleasing. Right from the off, you 're no doubt that this is a franchise reboot left: it practically hits you over the head with a new game mechanic.
The story picks up where Driv3r left off, with arch-criminal Tanner being transferred to court for his trial. Naturally, he pulls off a spectacular escape, to which Tanner and trusty sidekick Tobias Jones respond. They nearly catch him after an alleyway chase in Tanner's yellow Dodge Challenger, but a head-on crash seemingly leaves Tanner on the point of death. Which is where the surreal madness begins.
In one mission, for example, we have the wheel of a getaway car, the good taste of the cops evasion made engine available - the same as in GTA require you to create a circular area on the map, in the police escape is you get, but when nothing seemed more severe, both for the razor sharp driving skills and a keen eye always on the off chance cut short.
But there are plenty of proper Tanner missions: we played one which was surprisingly funny, in which he came clean to is partner Jones about his body-jumping, then had to convince him he wasn't lying by predicting then performing examples of bizarre driving by other vehicles.
All these shenanigans would have been rendered considerably less enjoyable if Driver: San Francisco had been afflicted by some of the basic problems that crept into its immediate predecessors, like imprecise car handling and dodgy graphics. But in both those respects, it is immaculate.
The graphics are super-sharp (with an instantly recognizable version of San Francisco, including pedestrians who throw themselves out of the way convincing). And the ride is judged very good, tending towards the arcade-style tail-happy, drift encouraging model - the occasional use of the hand brake is de rigueur - and yet so precise that you move out move with precision. The multiplayer aspect of the game offers something new, even as it has the car-jumping mechanic.
Driver: San Francisco, then appears an exemplary franchise reboot, at least as far as we can after an hour or so telling their controls. Developer Ubisoft Reflections's up with the quality whichits first iteration had conferred again, but who had then transpired, and it's really unlike anything else out there. Plus it has unexpected injections of humor and surrealness benefits.
• Driver: San Francisco will be released for PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on 2 September
