Driver: San Francisco
Encyclopedia
Driver: San Francisco is a sandbox
-style action driving video game developed by Ubisoft Reflections and published by Ubisoft
. The game formally was unveiled at E3 2010
and was released in Australia on September 1, 2011, Europe on September 2, 2011 and North America on September 6, 2011 on PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
, while the Microsoft Windows
version was released on 27 September 2011.
. It is revealed that both John Tanner and Charles Jericho survived the shootout in Istanbul
. In the game's trailer, it is revealed that since then, both men have recovered and Jericho has escaped to San Francisco, while Tanner and his partner; Tobias Jones have pursued him there. Jericho is shown being transported in the back of a prison truck, but manages to escape with help of hired assasin Leila Sharan, who hijacks a KEOC news chopper and fires an RPG at the convoy, and a vial of acid hidden within his mouth by a paid off guard. He overpowers the guards, and hijacks the truck. Tanner and Jones witness this from Tanner's car, pursuing Jericho as he causes havoc on the streets of the city. Tanner ends driving in front of Jericho in an alleyway, who, using the truck rams Tanner's car into the path of a tractor trailer, resulting in a devastating crash, putting him into a coma. The majority of the game takes place in Tanner's coma dream.
Whilst in a coma dream, Tanner soon discovers his ability to "shift" into another person's body, retaining his persona but, to everyone else, looking and sounding exactly the same as the person he has shifted into. Using this confusing power, Tanner helps some teenagers win street races to get money for college fees, aids some vigilante ex-cops remove fake medicine from circulation and lends his driving abilities to police officers hunting down criminals whilst trying to figure out Jericho's plan. After deducing that Jericho is after the materials to create a cyanide gas bomb, he shifts into Ordell, a low-time crook looking to rise up through Jericho's organization.
Unfortunately for Tanner, he discovers that Jericho can also shift, and realises that when he is not in his body, Jericho can take over. He is deconspired, when disguised as Ordell, drives Leila to her target (John Tanner). Eventually, Tanner realises that he is in a dream world when the strange messages from the real world creep into his mind. Jericho's powers become more potent, but as it is in Tanner's head, he is over-powered and defeated when Tanner assumes control of his mental projection of the city. In a mental visualisation of a police interrogation room, Tanner begins questioning his mental projection of Jericho and realises that the news reports from the television in his real-world hospital bed are feeding his coma dream. From this he knows of a real-world bomb plot, but deduces that it is not real - Jericho is a gangster, not a terrorist.
Finally waking up, Tanner requests his car keys from Jones, who reminds him of the truck that hit his Dodge Challenger. Leaving in Jones' Camaro and heading for downtown San Francisco, which is being evacuated due to a bomb threat, a massive cloud of gas erupts. Driving into it, Tanner finds escaping convicts, confirming his theory that it was not a real terror threat. Jericho made a deal with a prisoner for US$30 million to break him out of jail. The 'bomb' was in fact a smokescreen. After a pursuit, Tanner sees Jericho head into the docks. Whilst at first appearing to be a game of chicken and a potential head-on collision, Jones appears in a police SUV and rams Jericho. Tanner claims that he knew what he was doing, but Jones reminds him whose car he was driving before suggesting a well-deserved beer. The fact that Jericho T-boned, just like Tanner at the beginning of the game, and the song 'Eye for an eye" playing in the background, results that Jericho was put into a coma.
. It features John Tanner in the 1970s to 1980s as a rookie undercover cop, in the story it is revealed while still a uniformed police officer him and his partner were giving chase to a speeding car driven by Solomon Caine a gangster attempting to cause massive gangs wars in San Francisco and disrupt the peace by killing several gang members in a drive by shooting. Caine shot Tanner's partner resulting in both the car crashing and the death of Tanner's partner. Tanner who was knocked out during the crash requests from his chief approval to go undercover to find this person making a promise to his dead partner, The Chief laughs and won't even let him out on the road until he completes a driving assessment with Detective Deakin whom Tanner considers to be a jerk. He passes the Test and ends up catching a bank robber with Deakin. He is then tasked with transporting a witness to the court house, the witness was of the people who speeding car incident which lead to the death of Tanner's partner. They get to the court house although Tanner's superior informs him that some punk knifed him before he could testify but that he will now allow Tanner to go undercover. While Undercover, Tanner's superior decides to send in Detective Jones to assist Tanner with his undercover case.
. The game is also being described as a "return to the roots" to the series as the ability to get out of the car, which was introduced in Driver 2
, has been removed as the developers felt that too many games have this kind of feature already and "it wasn't desirable [for us] to just copy that exact mechanic." With Shift, the player can also start missions. As well as the ability to use Shift, all cars will be equipped with a 'boost' feature, requiring the player to push up on the left thumbstick to use it. Players can also push L1 on the PlayStation 3 or the left shoulder button on the Xbox 360 version of the game to perform a special 'ram' attack on cars. The film director mode, which was absent from Parallel Lines
, also returns, and players can share their videos on the Driver Club website (until it was removed by Ubisoft
). The game runs at 60 frames per second.
s.
, Aston Martin
, Bentley
, Ruf Automobile, Dodge
, Ford, Shelby
, Volkswagen
, Pagani
, Lincoln
, DeLorean, Lamborghini
, and Cadillac
.
when Sony announced a list of 102 that would be released on the PlayStation 3. Ubisoft later confirmed a new game in the series after acquiring the series from Atari
. In June 2008, the BBC
conducted reports on the computer game industry, among those reports were in-game, and development footage of the next Driver game. On April 21, 2009, Ubisoft registered the trademark Driver: The Recruit. On January 2010, it was confirmed that a new Driver game was in development and due for release in Ubisoft's fiscal year ending in March 2011.
On April 23, 2010, Ubisoft registered the domain driversanfranciscogame.com as well as driversanfrancisco.com and driversanfran.com, suggesting that San Francisco was the setting of the new game in the series. On May 27, 2010, Ubisoft confirmed that the next instalment in the Driver series would appear on E3 2010, along with other games. On 7 June 2010, Ubisoft released a teaser website containing a live action trailer, resembling the first mission of the original Driver
game, along with a countdown for Ubisoft's E3 2010 conference.
Ubisoft also created the game's Facebook
page, which upon clicking in the "Like" button, opens a slightly different version of the trailer, showing a California
n driver license of John Tanner. A billboard at the LA Convention Center for E3 revealed the title of the new game to be Driver: San Francisco. Ubisoft officially announced the game on their E3 2010 conference. On November 12, 2010 the game has been delayed and is set to be released in FY 2012, which is between March 31, 2011 and the same date in 2012.
Reflections founder and series creator Martin Edmondson, returned to Reflections after he temporarily left the game industry in 2004. The game was developed by five Ubisoft studios with Reflections as the lead, and four other developers: Vancouver, Kiev, Shanghai
and Montreal
. Ubisoft released a free DLC, with 12 new routes for all online modes on September 12.
On July 15, 2011 Ubisoft
announced that all of their future games with online functionality would require 'Uplay Passport' online pass
. Driver: San Francisco would be the first in line to utilize this feature. However, due to misprinted codes, which left players who bought new copies of the game unable to play online, the online pass was waived for the Xbox 360 version.
, which is known for the James Bond
film franchise. The game will include 60 licensed songs, an original score from Marc Canham along with a new version of the Driver
theme by Canham. The OST is mixed and produced by RIch Aitken at Nimrod. On August 30 the soundtrack was confirmed with 76 songs with genres like funk
, hip hop
, electronic, alternative rock
and hard rock
with artists like Aretha Franklin
, Dr. John
, DJ Shadow
, The Black Keys
, The Cure
, Beastie Boys
, Queens of the Stone Age
, The Heavy
, Unkle
, Elbow
and more. Both the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 versions supports custom soundtrack which also allows you to play your own music during gameplay.
mini-series published by Wildstorm Productions based on the game will be released. The storyline takes place after the events of Driv3r and before San Francisco, and will focus on Tanner's personal vengeance against Jericho. The mini-series being written by David Lapham
and illustrated by Greg Scott. The first issue was released on August 2011 and a preview entitled The Pursuit of Nothingness was available on Comic-Con 2010.
, a map of San Francisco detailing the in-game location of the 80 dares scattered across the city, three exclusive in-game cars for multiplayer mode including 1963 Aston Martin DB5
, 1972 Lamborghini Miura
, and 1966 Shelby Cobra 427
, 4 single player challenges:
Mass Chase – a wrongfully accused driver attempts to escape the whole police force of San Francisco and prove his innocence, Relay Race – change car between laps to win race, Russian Hills Racers – Race against 3 super cars in the famous district, Taxi – Race against other taxis in Downtown.
holds the average review for the PlayStation 3
version at 79% and the Xbox 360
version at 80%. Most of the critics praised the "Shift" mechanic, citing it as "innovative", and the multiplayer. The storyline was criticized, however, as being ludicrous. The Wii Version received mixed to positive reviews.
and GameTrailers
. During E3 2011 It also received a Best Racing Game award from Machinima.com
and nominations from GameTrailers
, G4tv and Game Critics Awards
.
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
-style action driving video game developed by Ubisoft Reflections and published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
. The game formally was unveiled at E3 2010
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, commonly known as E3 2010, was the 16th Electronic Entertainment Expo held. The event took place on June 14–17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. E3 is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software...
and was released in Australia on September 1, 2011, Europe on September 2, 2011 and North America on September 6, 2011 on PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, while the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
version was released on 27 September 2011.
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
The game takes place six months after the events of Driv3rDriv3r
Driv3r, more commonly known as Driver 3 , is a racing, shooting, and adventure video game. It is the third installment in the popular Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari. Driv3r was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004...
. It is revealed that both John Tanner and Charles Jericho survived the shootout in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. In the game's trailer, it is revealed that since then, both men have recovered and Jericho has escaped to San Francisco, while Tanner and his partner; Tobias Jones have pursued him there. Jericho is shown being transported in the back of a prison truck, but manages to escape with help of hired assasin Leila Sharan, who hijacks a KEOC news chopper and fires an RPG at the convoy, and a vial of acid hidden within his mouth by a paid off guard. He overpowers the guards, and hijacks the truck. Tanner and Jones witness this from Tanner's car, pursuing Jericho as he causes havoc on the streets of the city. Tanner ends driving in front of Jericho in an alleyway, who, using the truck rams Tanner's car into the path of a tractor trailer, resulting in a devastating crash, putting him into a coma. The majority of the game takes place in Tanner's coma dream.
Whilst in a coma dream, Tanner soon discovers his ability to "shift" into another person's body, retaining his persona but, to everyone else, looking and sounding exactly the same as the person he has shifted into. Using this confusing power, Tanner helps some teenagers win street races to get money for college fees, aids some vigilante ex-cops remove fake medicine from circulation and lends his driving abilities to police officers hunting down criminals whilst trying to figure out Jericho's plan. After deducing that Jericho is after the materials to create a cyanide gas bomb, he shifts into Ordell, a low-time crook looking to rise up through Jericho's organization.
Unfortunately for Tanner, he discovers that Jericho can also shift, and realises that when he is not in his body, Jericho can take over. He is deconspired, when disguised as Ordell, drives Leila to her target (John Tanner). Eventually, Tanner realises that he is in a dream world when the strange messages from the real world creep into his mind. Jericho's powers become more potent, but as it is in Tanner's head, he is over-powered and defeated when Tanner assumes control of his mental projection of the city. In a mental visualisation of a police interrogation room, Tanner begins questioning his mental projection of Jericho and realises that the news reports from the television in his real-world hospital bed are feeding his coma dream. From this he knows of a real-world bomb plot, but deduces that it is not real - Jericho is a gangster, not a terrorist.
Finally waking up, Tanner requests his car keys from Jones, who reminds him of the truck that hit his Dodge Challenger. Leaving in Jones' Camaro and heading for downtown San Francisco, which is being evacuated due to a bomb threat, a massive cloud of gas erupts. Driving into it, Tanner finds escaping convicts, confirming his theory that it was not a real terror threat. Jericho made a deal with a prisoner for US$30 million to break him out of jail. The 'bomb' was in fact a smokescreen. After a pursuit, Tanner sees Jericho head into the docks. Whilst at first appearing to be a game of chicken and a potential head-on collision, Jones appears in a police SUV and rams Jericho. Tanner claims that he knew what he was doing, but Jones reminds him whose car he was driving before suggesting a well-deserved beer. The fact that Jericho T-boned, just like Tanner at the beginning of the game, and the song 'Eye for an eye" playing in the background, results that Jericho was put into a coma.
Wii
The plot of the Wii version of Driver: San Francisco is a completely different separate story and the story is a prequel to the original DriverDriver (video game)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games developed by Reflections Interactive , and originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, driving, and third-person shooting in open world environments...
. It features John Tanner in the 1970s to 1980s as a rookie undercover cop, in the story it is revealed while still a uniformed police officer him and his partner were giving chase to a speeding car driven by Solomon Caine a gangster attempting to cause massive gangs wars in San Francisco and disrupt the peace by killing several gang members in a drive by shooting. Caine shot Tanner's partner resulting in both the car crashing and the death of Tanner's partner. Tanner who was knocked out during the crash requests from his chief approval to go undercover to find this person making a promise to his dead partner, The Chief laughs and won't even let him out on the road until he completes a driving assessment with Detective Deakin whom Tanner considers to be a jerk. He passes the Test and ends up catching a bank robber with Deakin. He is then tasked with transporting a witness to the court house, the witness was of the people who speeding car incident which lead to the death of Tanner's partner. They get to the court house although Tanner's superior informs him that some punk knifed him before he could testify but that he will now allow Tanner to go undercover. While Undercover, Tanner's superior decides to send in Detective Jones to assist Tanner with his undercover case.
Gameplay
A new feature is Shift, which allows Tanner to shift from a car into another car and continue the mission. One of the inspirations for Shift comes from Google EarthGoogle Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
. The game is also being described as a "return to the roots" to the series as the ability to get out of the car, which was introduced in Driver 2
Driver 2
Driver 2: Back on the Streets is the second installment of the Driver video game series.-Gameplay:...
, has been removed as the developers felt that too many games have this kind of feature already and "it wasn't desirable [for us] to just copy that exact mechanic." With Shift, the player can also start missions. As well as the ability to use Shift, all cars will be equipped with a 'boost' feature, requiring the player to push up on the left thumbstick to use it. Players can also push L1 on the PlayStation 3 or the left shoulder button on the Xbox 360 version of the game to perform a special 'ram' attack on cars. The film director mode, which was absent from Parallel Lines
Driver: Parallel Lines
Driver: Parallel Lines is the fourth video game in the Driver series. The game was released on March 2006 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by Atari, Wii and Microsoft Windows on June 2007 by Ubisoft.-Overview:...
, also returns, and players can share their videos on the Driver Club website (until it was removed by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
). The game runs at 60 frames per second.
Setting
The game has one of the largest driving environments. The game's San Francisco recreation has about 208 miles (334.7 km) of roads. Various landmarks are recreated in the game including half of the Bay Bridge and parts of Marin County and Oakland. However, it is a more fictionalized interpretation of these areas.Multiplayer
Split screen and online multiplayer are also available for the first time in the series with 19 different game modes including trailblazer, tag, sprint GT, cops and robbers, among others. In Trail Blazer, the players have to follow the trail of an AI-controlled car to accumulate points. The player who accumulates more points will win the match. The Tag game mode is similar to regular tag, but in reverse. All the players are trying to "tag," or hit, one player. Once he is hit, the person who tagged him is now it. The multiplayer will also have experience pointExperience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s.
Cars
For the first time in the series, the game includes 140 fully damageable licensed vehicles ranging from buggies, muscle cars and sport cars including Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
, Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
, Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
, Ruf Automobile, Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
, Ford, Shelby
Carroll Shelby International
Carroll Shelby International was formed in 2003 from custom performance vehicle manufacturer Shelby American when, founder and owner, Carroll Shelby took the company public, and additionally forming Shelby Automobiles as a subsidiary from which to continue manufacturing vehicles and parts...
, Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, Pagani
Pagani
Pagani Automobili S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of sports cars and carbon fibre. The company was founded in 1992 by Horacio Pagani, and is based in San Cesario sul Panaro, near Modena, Italy.-History:...
, Lincoln
Lincoln (automobile)
Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.-History:The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac . During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors...
, DeLorean, Lamborghini
Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...
, and Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
.
Wii version
The Wii version of the game does not include the "Shift" mechanic but allows players to use guns while driving. A new feature for the Wii is the localized multi-player, a second player may take control of the gun or, if they desire, can connect a DS, DSi or 3DS system through download play. The DS device can be used to make road blocks, look for police and buy player 1 some more time through playing various mini games. The player is also able to play as two other characters besides Tanner: Solomon Caine and Tobias Jones.Development
The game has been in development for around five years. A new game in the series was confirmed to be in production at the 2005 Tokyo Game ShowTokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
when Sony announced a list of 102 that would be released on the PlayStation 3. Ubisoft later confirmed a new game in the series after acquiring the series from Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
. In June 2008, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
conducted reports on the computer game industry, among those reports were in-game, and development footage of the next Driver game. On April 21, 2009, Ubisoft registered the trademark Driver: The Recruit. On January 2010, it was confirmed that a new Driver game was in development and due for release in Ubisoft's fiscal year ending in March 2011.
On April 23, 2010, Ubisoft registered the domain driversanfranciscogame.com as well as driversanfrancisco.com and driversanfran.com, suggesting that San Francisco was the setting of the new game in the series. On May 27, 2010, Ubisoft confirmed that the next instalment in the Driver series would appear on E3 2010, along with other games. On 7 June 2010, Ubisoft released a teaser website containing a live action trailer, resembling the first mission of the original Driver
Driver (video game)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games developed by Reflections Interactive , and originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, driving, and third-person shooting in open world environments...
game, along with a countdown for Ubisoft's E3 2010 conference.
Ubisoft also created the game's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, which upon clicking in the "Like" button, opens a slightly different version of the trailer, showing a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
n driver license of John Tanner. A billboard at the LA Convention Center for E3 revealed the title of the new game to be Driver: San Francisco. Ubisoft officially announced the game on their E3 2010 conference. On November 12, 2010 the game has been delayed and is set to be released in FY 2012, which is between March 31, 2011 and the same date in 2012.
Reflections founder and series creator Martin Edmondson, returned to Reflections after he temporarily left the game industry in 2004. The game was developed by five Ubisoft studios with Reflections as the lead, and four other developers: Vancouver, Kiev, Shanghai
Ubisoft Shanghai
Ubisoft Shanghai is a Chinese video game developer whose headquarters is located in Shanghai. The studio is known for working in various games in the Tom Clancy franchise. The studio is also the second largest Chinese video game studio and the second largest Ubisoft studio.-Games developed:...
and Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal is a Canadian video game developer owned by French publisher Ubisoft.Ubisoft's North American studio is located in Montreal, Quebec...
. Ubisoft released a free DLC, with 12 new routes for all online modes on September 12.
On July 15, 2011 Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
announced that all of their future games with online functionality would require 'Uplay Passport' online pass
Online pass
In the video game industry, an online pass is a form of digital rights management for video games with online functionality. Online passes are commonly in the form of a single-use serial code found in a game's manual . Although they are used to unlock content for a game, online passes are often...
. Driver: San Francisco would be the first in line to utilize this feature. However, due to misprinted codes, which left players who bought new copies of the game unable to play online, the online pass was waived for the Xbox 360 version.
Audio
The game's audio was mixed at Pinewood StudiosPinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, which is known for the James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
film franchise. The game will include 60 licensed songs, an original score from Marc Canham along with a new version of the Driver
Driver (video game)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games developed by Reflections Interactive , and originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, driving, and third-person shooting in open world environments...
theme by Canham. The OST is mixed and produced by RIch Aitken at Nimrod. On August 30 the soundtrack was confirmed with 76 songs with genres like funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, electronic, alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
with artists like Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis better known as DJ Shadow is an American music producer, DJ and songwriter. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was constructed...
, The Black Keys
The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....
, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
, Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
, The Heavy
The Heavy (band)
The Heavy are an indie rock band who claim to be from Noid, England, allegedly a small hamlet near Bath. However, no such place appears to exist.-History:...
, Unkle
UNKLE
Unkle are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.-First incarnation :Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined...
, Elbow
Elbow (band)
Elbow are an English rock band. They have played together since 1990 and recorded five studio albums, the most recent of which is Build a Rocket Boys!, released in March 2011...
and more. Both the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 versions supports custom soundtrack which also allows you to play your own music during gameplay.
Comic mini-series
A comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series published by Wildstorm Productions based on the game will be released. The storyline takes place after the events of Driv3r and before San Francisco, and will focus on Tanner's personal vengeance against Jericho. The mini-series being written by David Lapham
David Lapham
David Lapham is an Eisner Award winning American comic book writer, artist, and cartoonist, best known for his work on his groundbreaking independent comic book Stray Bullets.-Biography:...
and illustrated by Greg Scott. The first issue was released on August 2011 and a preview entitled The Pursuit of Nothingness was available on Comic-Con 2010.
Collector's edition
A collector's edition will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows versions of the game for PAL territories only. The pack includes a 18×9×9 cm replica of a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Six PakDodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
, a map of San Francisco detailing the in-game location of the 80 dares scattered across the city, three exclusive in-game cars for multiplayer mode including 1963 Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4. The DB series was named honouring David Brown ....
, 1972 Lamborghini Miura
Lamborghini Miura
The Lamborghini Miura was a sports car produced by Italian automaker Lamborghini between 1966 and 1972. The car is widely considered to have begun the trend of high performance, two-seater, mid-engined sports cars...
, and 1966 Shelby Cobra 427
AC Cobra
The AC Cobra, also known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in North America, is an Anglo-American sports car that was produced during the 1960s.-History and development:...
, 4 single player challenges:
Mass Chase – a wrongfully accused driver attempts to escape the whole police force of San Francisco and prove his innocence, Relay Race – change car between laps to win race, Russian Hills Racers – Race against 3 super cars in the famous district, Taxi – Race against other taxis in Downtown.
Reception
The game has garnered generally positive reviews with most critics. Aggregate website MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
holds the average review for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version at 79% and the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version at 80%. Most of the critics praised the "Shift" mechanic, citing it as "innovative", and the multiplayer. The storyline was criticized, however, as being ludicrous. The Wii Version received mixed to positive reviews.
Awards
The game won the Best Driving Game of E3 2010 award from Ripten. The game also received nominations from KotakuKotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
and GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
. During E3 2011 It also received a Best Racing Game award from Machinima.com
Machinima.com
Machinima.com is a gaming and media streaming website, that aims to be a hub for machinima, the art of creating animated videos in real-time virtual 3-D environments. The site features machinima-related articles, and news. Machinima productions can be submitted for possible redistribution after...
and nominations from GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
, G4tv and Game Critics Awards
Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The nominees and winners of the awards are chosen by individual judges representing 35 major North...
.