Simply the best arcade driving game I've seen - pure fun and madness in a city.
If you like the idea of a free-roaming arcade driving in an open city with lots of great licensed cars, great police chases, Lots of fun things to do and some really cool original game-play elements - GO BUY THIS GAME!
Pros:
+ lots of fun in a city, this game has huge amount of innovative and fun things to do on four or more wheels + lots of well made races that you did expect from it.
+ very nice city map - jumps in the city, long straights, highways, bridges, off-road, tricks and shortcuts... In short it has everything you can ask for except perhaps some car parks and really secret areas.
+ Shift mechanic works great and it really lifts this game above anything else
+ Story and presentation. No matter what reviewers say I found the story to be the best I have ever seen in a driving game and unless your hobby is to look for flaws or realism in an arcade game it really shines!
+ classic movie car chases - riding in style, in a proper Driver style!
+ great selection of licensed cars with damage and also some nice heavy vehicles and semi-trailers to have fun with
+ very nice handling for keyboard users
+ really great interior views for all cars!
Cons:
- graphics: it is a shame that in cut-scenes the graphics is gorgeous but the actual game looks OK but rather bland. Sure consoles likely just couldn't handle more effects but Why PC version couldn't have more advanced lighting and post processing effects??
- no split-screen multiplayer as on consoles! This is a mayor miss for me, Mayor...
- poor game controller support - it just hardly works. then again Shift function and arcade physics would only be usable with a gamepad.
- no "burnout" button as in the original driver - I love that feature and now even Driver's own sequels have forgotten about it (no big deal if you never tried it before).
So here you have it, console version should be rated probably all 9.5/10 or 10/10. and even ZeroPunctuation reviewer liked this game!