14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft unveiled the new Driver videogame at its E3 presentation yesterday. The company is saying that the fresh title is coming to the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony, the PC and Mac. Apparently, the developers are also thinking about a Nintendo Wii version, which will be created separately, all of them set to actually be launched this year, probably before Christmas.
Driver 3 was a bit of a disappointment for all those who played it and ended on a cliffhanger, which means the new Driver: San Francisco is picking up a few months after the events of that game, with both main characters of the series, Jericho and Tanner, out of the hospital and ready to drive some cool cars again and wreak havoc on fellow license holders.
This time around, Driver should have real life cars, including such favorites of those looking for speed like the Porsche 911 and the Dodge Mustang. The developers have also confirmed the presence of DeLoreans, McLaren F1prototypes and Bugatti Zonda experimental cars.
But the biggest change coming to the Driver mechanics is the addition of Shift, the ability to highjack any of the cars that are on the road by pushing a button, selecting it and then pressing the button again. The developers at Reflections are saying that protagonist Tanner is actually in a coma and this ability allows him to explore San Francisco by using any of the drivers on the road as his vehicle. It sounds slightly science fiction and out of place for a Driver game but it allows the experience to drop all on-foot sections, which only detracted from the fast pace of always being involved in something dangerous with a car at high speed.
Driver: San Francisco will also bring back the Film Director mode, allowing players to create their own complex chase sequences. The developers are also promising more of the over the top chase action of the initial Driver iterations.