Controls are sharp and excellent,the story is mind blowing,plus the car collection you can choose from is just crazy!
The Graphics-
Lets begin with the graphics.When you first start to play it the very first time, it feels a lot like burn out paradise game,you know the drifting around the city and hitting other cars and the traffic light and so on,it has a lot of quality graphics around the city.Here you have a big city with all these great and tiny details for you too look at and search for .The graphic is way too sharp and it reduces the realism instantly.As I said before it reminds me of burnout paradise game which was way too similar to this game.
lets not categorize the graphics as bad just because there are Similarities,in fact its a good thing that we are seeing the reborn of this game under the names of a few successful games such as burn out paradise.
On the other hand the dynamics keep flowing like water all over the game,the mechanism of the cars,the crashing,and the details it throws from each car.Another similar feature I saw here was the one I saw in NFS most wanted.For instance when ever you are coming out of a darker space(tunnel or whatever) and you look at the road,the light seems to have been blended with the out side giving the effect that your eyes are not ready to see everything with the intensity of the sunlight shooting inside the darker places like tunnels.NFS Most wanted introduced this long ago.
The buildings and the whole city looks as good as any open world game like GTA or any other games you may have played.
One thing I wasnt please with was the pedestrians walking around the city.
First of all you cannot hit them at all.They always seem to dodge the car in a weird way .I think midnight club L.A introduced this one as well.
So people just move around the car and never allow you to hit them.This isnt that new but nevertheless it reduces the realism in one way or the other.
Lets get to the cars now.Here we see a huge collection of cars that have been perfectly modeled in the visual sense and manner,we have something close to 125 cars.Everything about the cars look perfect the reflections,the colors and the mechanics work perfectly together.
The amazing thing is that this is rather the first time I have seen cars with their brand placed inside an open world game that allows all these cars to crash and get destroyed.I believe this is actually the first time we see this happen.Usually the car companies never allowed for such things to happen so in all these cases the game developers would have to model all their cars from zero and also they have to design the cars as well,remember GTA...,its either this or the companies that start from zero on their cars dont want to pay for any licence.
So this was a huge step forward,that now you can have any new car you like and drive it in the city and enjoy.
There are 3 different camera angles you can choose from.Two of them are from behind the car with zooming/closeness differences and the third one is a cockpit view which isnt that good to play with but some challenges become more fun with this camera angle.
Another interesting fact I found in the game was considering the graphics and the designs is that, there is something new about the way the developers used and mixed two elements of rendering.To explain it better, sometimes when you are watching the cut scenes it has been renedered perfectly and interesting enough if the mood changes to a chasing scene or what ever seen that shows driving of the car ,then you see the second rendering which is the exact one that you are playing.Amazing part is when you start to see both of the rendering types working together.It works like this, when ever the cut scenes are about characters,they use the first kind of rendering which is more realistic and when ever the cut scenes involve the cars being chased or the scene is more about the cars than characters they will show the second rending which is the exact one you play as in the game.
I think they have used and executed this superbly ,some might not like it ,but other will love the new effect.What this does is that you never lose the feeling of being in the game,or rather be bored with long dialogues and the never changing boring cut scenes.You are repeatedly dragged in between the cut scenes without you realising it.
The Gameplay-
We honestly have one of a kind gameplay in Driver SF.You can search for your favorite car,get in it,and take it on a ride in San Francisco.How awesome is that?
there are huge amount of side missions for you to play some more difficult than the others but altogether they offer hours of fun driving and performing stunts around the city.
Not just the side missions but the main challenges are pretty neat too and they are worth the time your spend on them.You can earn points buy doing lots of things like dodging traffic,drifting,doing stunts,loosing the cops,and and a lot more.
With the points you have, you can do lots of things too,such as buying new abilities and unlocking new cars in your garage.
There are also driving challenges which are a bit different than the side missions spread around the city.Basically the driving challenges are mostly involved being chased by police cops.
I can mention that altogether the driving is really sharp and surprisingly great,it gives you an amazing handling of your car to the point that you can prevent the car from any possible crash.On the other hand the cars dont feel as real as they should feel but they bring out such a great gameplay,and you know what?thats whats we want to see.
There are different abilities you can unlock such as nitrous and the ability to push your car into others ,basically like ramming into them which works better on police missions or cop chases.
Doing the side missions/challenges can get really addictive and I have to mention that some are very difficult to get it right.Nevertheless the challenges offer a huge advantage since they are so fun to play.
The Story -
The story of the game is something to look forward to.It is indeed unique because you clearly have not seen anything like it before.There can be a lot of twists to make you wonder what is what and your mind wants to figure it out constantly during the game as well.I know for a fact that the basis of the storyline or maybe I should say the game altogether is based on police car chasing and has a few elements of action movies showing from the start till the end of the game.
During your gaming experience you might start to understand what is happening in the main story and where the story might lead to but I guaranty you wont be able whats going on in he story.Also the story has been perfectly put in place with all the different elements to bring something new.
To me the story was truly new and had "innovation" written courageously on it.Yes the realism is a bit distorted but dont forget that the gameplay matters most these days.
The Enjoyment -
I can guaranty you hours of excitement and gratification from being chased by cops or chasing after people in this game.It was the best fun I had in a long time.Usually in the open world games the experience can get eventually get boring ,but not if you keep letting the players enjoy immense upgrades and challenges up until the last minutes of the game.Even if you beat the game and the challenges there still huge numbers of new cars waiting to be unlocked and used,basically the experience never ends as long as you are having fun.
The Summary -
There is serious greatness and hope in this game.Having to play it and become addicted to the story and challenges is a huge step froward for the developers,its the basic goals of any video game.Even if I try and think about the downsides in the game its unnoticeable,perfectly hidden through the game that you fail to notice or simply pass by and you dont notice the flaws at all.Like not being able to hit the pedestrians,you see I believe its even a great idea not to be able to hit them,why? because something is playing so good that even if I did hit them it would have to bee my mistake as a "Driver" for hitting the pedestrians.Now you see trying to hide these things is an artwork.
The best features or rather the best parts in the game would have to be the fact that you can choose the latest cars from 125 different cars which have brand names like BMW and so on,and drive them around the city in an open world experience.The abilities you have, do add superiority to the game and it was a necessity in my view.
You can not forget the excellent sharp controls and the amazing graphics which render the very great volumetric smoke created by your tires drifting on the ground.
The city looks good,either from below on the ground, or much higher when you prepare to jump with your Mercedes or BMW.Simply and amazing SciFi racing game like never before,with all the main components working in like a team.
9 out of 10