Driver: San Francisco

Gameplay

A new feature is Shift, which allows Tanner to teleport from one car to another without discontinuing the mission. One of the inspirations for Shift comes from Google Earth. The game is also being described as a "return to the roots" of the series as the ability to get out of the car, which was introduced in Driver 2, has been removed and replaced with the ability to Shift (teleport) into other cars, 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. 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 (335 km) of roads. Various landmarks are recreated in the game including half of the Bay Bridge and parts of Marin County and Oakland. In the Wii version, however, access to the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges are blocked, thus preventing the driver from driving through parts of Marin County and Oakland.

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 points.

Cars

San Francisco is unique from other games in the series, in that the game features licensed real-life cars. The game includes 140 fully damageable licensed vehicles ranging from buggies, muscle cars, and sport cars including Chevrolet, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Ruf Automobile, Dodge, Ford, McLaren, Hummer, Shelby, Volkswagen, Pagani, Lincoln, DeLorean, Lamborghini, and Cadillac.

Wii version

The Wii version of the game does not include the "Shift" mechanic but allows players to use guns while driving. The SMG, the pistol, the shotgun, the assault rifle and the RPG are all the weapons available in the game. All weapons can be upgraded in the following categories: clip size, reload speed, and damage. There is a maximum of four levels for each upgrade. Upgrade points can be earned by doing various tricks and earning awards around the city. A new feature for the Wii is the localized multi-player, where 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. There is also a four player split-screen multiplayer. The split screen mode includes four game variants. The variants are Capture the flag, in which the players must grab a flag and drive it to a specific location, Pass the Bomb, in which players must pass a bomb from car to car before a timer counts down, ending the game, Gold Rush, in which the players must grab a bag of money and hold on to it for points, and elimination, in which players must race each other. There is also a cops and robbers split screen mode.

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Hours after the shootings in Istanbul, Jericho was revived from his gunshot wounds. After recovery, he eluded the hospital security and Istanbul police, and escaped the Istanbul hospital, fleeing from Turkey and escaping back to the U.S. After 6 months of searching for him, Tanner and Jones managed to find him and arrest him. He is currently in San Francisco, awaiting trial for multiple homicide cases and running a major criminal organization, and also for being closely tied with Solomon Caine, whom he killed.

In San Francisco, Jericho is shown being transported in the back of a prison truck to his trial. A hired assassin fires an RPG at the convoy; whilst Jericho's guards are distracted, he melts through his chains with a hidden vial of acid given to him by a bribed guard. He overpowers his guards, and hijacks the truck. Tanner and Jones witness this from Tanner's car and pursue Jericho as he causes havoc on the streets of the city. Tanner loses track of Jericho when he turns into an alley, and is caught by surprise when Jericho drives up behind him. Jericho uses the truck to ram Tanner's car into the path of a semi truck, resulting in a devastating crash, putting Tanner into a coma.

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 people around the city 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.

Tanner later discovers that Jericho can also shift, and realises that when he is not in his body, Jericho can take over. Eventually, Tanner figures out 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 Tanner realises that as it is all in his mind, he can play by the same rules, and he ultimately defeats his mental projection of Jericho. In a mental visualisation of a police interrogation room, Tanner begins questioning Jericho and figures 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. Tanner leaves in Jones' Chevrolet Camaro and heads for downtown San Francisco, which is being evacuated due to the bomb threat. A massive cloud of gas erupts from the city as Tanner approaches, but he quickly discovers it is harmless; the bomb is a literal smokescreen being used to cover a prison break. Jericho had made a deal with a prisoner for US$30 million to break him out of jail. After a pursuit, Tanner sees Jericho head into the docks. Tanner and Jericho drive at each other in an apparent game of chicken and a potential head-on collision, but Jones appears in an SFPD-outfitted Cadillac Escalade and rams Jericho from the side, incapacitating him. Tanner claims that he knew what he was doing, but Jones reminds him whose car he was driving, before suggesting a well-deserved beer.

Nintendo Wii

The plot of the Wii version of Driver: San Francisco is a completely different story and the story is a prequel to the original Driver. It features John Tanner as a rookie undercover cop. Tanner and his partner, Alvarez are chasing the gangster Solomon Caine when they get into a car crash. Alvarez is killed and Tanner goes undercover to find his killer. He is accompanied by Tobias Jones, who Tanner dislikes at first. Tanner gains the trust of a gang run by Caine and does various jobs for him. He also ends up setting two rival gangs, the Dog Fish and the Dragon Ladies, up against each other to create a market for military-grade arms. Later on, Tanner must pick up a member of Caine's gang, known as "the Geek" to help them steal back confiscated weapons. Tanner's identity is foiled when the Geek recognizes him as a cop who put him away before and alerts the others. Tanner is then held captive by Caine's crew.

Meanwhile, Jones and the other officers believe Tanner is dead until they get a tip about his location. Jones saves Tanner from nearly being killed. Tanner now knows who Alvarez's killer is and Caine's plans. They end up trapping one of his gang members and talking to a witness for information on a weapons drop. Once they get the intel, they set up a fake drop to arrest Caine. Tanner and Jones then take down a convoy of weapons trucks before they reach their buyers. When they return to the drop, Caine escapes again but Tanner tracks him down and arrests him again. When they take him to the police precinct, Caine's gang members save him. Tanner and Jones then use a police helicopter to chase him. Caine is finally captured when a helicopter he gets into crashes on Alcatraz Island.

In the end, Caine is convicted of murdering Alvarez and arms-dealing. He is sentenced to life in prison, but he manages to escape and departs to Chicago. Elsewhere, Jones suggests to Tanner a beer and the two race back to the police headquarters.

Development

The game was in development for around five years. A new game in the series was confirmed to be in production at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show 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. In 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 installment in the Driver series would appear on E3 2010, along with other games. On June 7, 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 Californian 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 had been delayed and would be released in FY 2012, which was 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.

Audio

The game's audio was mixed at Pinewood Studios, which is known for the James Bond film franchise. The game includes 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 from artists such as Aretha Franklin, Dr. John, DJ Shadow, The Black Keys, The Cure, Beastie Boys, Queens of the Stone Age, The Heavy, Unkle, and Elbow. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions support custom soundtracks which allows the player to listen to their own music during gameplay.

Comic mini-series

A comic book mini-series published by Wildstorm Productions based on the game was released. The storyline takes place after the events of Driv3r and before San Francisco, and focuses on Tanner's personal vengeance against Jericho: the mini-series was written by David Lapham and illustrated by Greg Scott. The first issue was released in August 2011 and a preview entitled The Pursuit of Nothingness was available on Comic-Con 2010.

Collector's edition

A collector's edition was also available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows versions of the game for PAL territories only. The pack includes an 18×9×9 cm replica of a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Six Pack, 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 Hill Racers – Race against 3 super cars in the famous district; Taxi – Race against other taxis in Downtown.

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms except the Wii version, which received "mixed" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions a score of three eights and one nine for a total of 33 out of 40.

The Daily Telegraph gave the Xbox 360 version a score of four stars out of five, saying: "Delivered with wit and panache, Driver San Francisco works because it's daft, rather than in spite of it. And if it proves anything, it's that having conviction in your ideas --any ideas-- can bring a refreshing new twist to an ailing series and genre." The Guardian gave the PS3 version a similar score of four stars out of five and said, "It's not perfect – the storyline is a bit perfunctory, its free-form style can be illusory when it forces you to perform certain missions and it gets a bit repetitious in the latter stages. But it's a joyous sandbox in which you can drive like a lunatic, in exotic machinery that you might never even clap your eyes on in real life, without hurting anyone." However, The Digital Fix gave the same console version seven out of ten, saying that it "isn't always executed perfectly but it is a whole heap of fun and deserves some credit for being genuinely different."

Awards

The game won the Best Driving Game of E3 2010 award from Ripten. The game also received a nomination from Kotaku. During E3 2011 it also received a Best Racing Game award from Machinima Inc. and nominations from G4 and Game Critics Awards. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, creator of Zero Punctuation, placed it as his second favorite game of 2011.

Sales

Ubisoft announced in its fall 2011 quarterly financial report that sales of Driver: San Francisco had exceeded their targets.