Ubisoft Reflections brings us a new Driver game. Is it good? Well...
Story: 2/5
The story starts right after Driv3r, you play as John Tanner, the protagonist of Driver, Driver 2 and Driv3r. After Tanner and Jericho shot each other, turned out that both of 'em survived. Jericho was sent to prison in San Francisco, but then planned a jailbreak and hijacked the prison van that was ferrying him. Luckily, John Tanner and his partner Tobias Jones happened to be in the vicinity; And a chase was initiated. Tanner later stopped by an Alleyway in his (lovely) Challenger R/T, and Jericho comes from behind and tries to smash him. But shortly later there was an accident and Tanner goes into a Coma... Which is where 90% of the game takes place. If you ask me, the story makes no sense at all, because Tanner is in a Coma and nothing will be affected in the real world. The ending is real disappointing. But i'll stop here, and i'll let you find out what the ending is by playing the game... or going to YouTube :P
Gameplay: 3/5
The gameplay of Driver SF... Not that good. In videos, the driving physics looks like it's really controllable. However, the driving physics are as illogical and tail-happy as Test Drive Unlimited 2, but less grippy and somewhat controllable at the same time. The Shift feature is amazing and it's the only reason why I wanted this game. I love the concept of Shift. Shift is a skill Tanner gets when he is in his coma, as the game progresses, Tanner will get more freedom to use the Shift feature (Which includes zooming out and seeing the whole of San Francisco). The traffic is as dumb as the traffic in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but with Shift, Tanner can move the oncoming traffic away from the main car that he's driving in. Another problem I have (a personal problem) is that there is no option to change the Imperial units to Metric (I use metric in my country). So I didn't feel fast when I was driving in mph... But like I said, that's my own problem. The police are a menace. Sometimes they are almost impossible to lose as they rubber-band their way towards you at the last moment before you finally lose them, and if Tanner tries to tackle a corner, the police will just ram Tanner's car and be a freaking buzzkill.
Graphics: 4/5
Honestly, I have to praise the smoothness of the game. Unlike some racing games that have a weird rough frame rate (Like Need for Speed Hot Pursuit), this game runs smooth ALL THE TIME. Even if there are crap-tons of police cars chasing you. The cars also look fantastic, for once i've never seen normal cars like a Chevrolet Impala or a Tow lorry have a nice exterior AND interior model. The reflection on Tanner's Challenger is absolutely beautiful and the supercars look gorgeous under the San Francisco sun! :D
Sound: 3/5
The soundtrack is okay, it makes the game feel like a 1970's TV show (despite taking place in the modern day). Some of the songs fits as you are going fast through San Francisco traffic, drifting across corners and doing jumps on the famous San Francisco hilly roads. The voice acting is also amazing. Sometimes its really hilarious when Tanner and Jones argue with each other, and when Tanner shifts into other people in cars and their personality changes completely while the passenger gets confused. Although it gets annoying from time to time.
Overall: 7.5/10
Driver: San Francisco has an uninteresting and ridiculous story, tail-happy driving physics, awesome Shift system, funny voice acting (if you can stand it) and an awesome open world. But Ubisoft Reflections didn't satisfy my needs of a good racing game.
Buyer's Tip: It's really up to you if you want to buy it. It's an okay game, but it is rubbish at the same time. I get frustrated at this game but I still somehow want more. So bottom line is, it's really up to you if you really want to buy it.