Driver 2 Preview

The sequel to Reflections' wheelman game has garnered amazing amounts of media attention in both the US and Britain. With Diesel purchasing advertisements in the game, and a British fashion designer creating a whole line of Driver 2-inspired clothes, Driver 2 hype has gotten out of control. We recently got a chance to play a final build of the game and are happy to report that Driver 2 deserves the attention it has received.

The story again focuses on Tanner - the undercover cop from the first game who is once again going deep undercover in an effort to bring the hammer down on some bad dudes. The game also features Jones, your partner, who supplies you with insider info for each mission. It's your ultimate goal to nail down a criminal organization consisting of several mysterious figures with one-word names. Your main target is a man named Caine, the tough and sadistic leader of the organization, which specializes in gun running and drug smuggling from Brazil to the States. But there are plenty of other shady characters, such as hired killers and car thieves, whose motivations and allegiances seem questionable at best.

From the first moment of actual gameplay, it's obvious that Driver 2 has plenty of differences from last year's game. The most apparent difference is probably that you start on foot - you'll actually have to heist yourself a car to start driving. Like in Grand Theft Auto, pressing a button will cause you to jack any ride you're close enough to. Once you're in the car, things aren't so different. The same basic handling and controls have been carried over from the first game. One big difference is the addition of curved roads. In the last game all the cities were oddly square, but in Driver 2 roads actually bend and curve, allowing the game to model cities realistically. While the curves are only a small addition to the layout of cities like Chicago, cities like Havanna and Rio De Janeiro are dependent on the game's curved roads.

The game features a more varied assortment of modes than the first game. There is an undercover mode that essentially serves up single-player game's plot. It's in this mode that you spend the most time assuming the role of Tanner as he digs himself deeper into the corruption, crime, and car chases found in Driver 2. There are several missions in the undercover mode, and they're much more diverse in both function and style than those of the first game. From running an automobile off the road to carjacking a certain car to delivering packages to certain areas, there are plenty of different mission objectives to keep you busy. Not all of the missions are based inside a vehicle, either - sometimes you'll have to exit the car and move about to complete some objectives. The game also awards you for excellent use of the carjacking feature. Unlike Grand Theft Auto, if the police are after you and you quietly switch cars after ditching the hot vehicle, you can sometimes lose your tail. When the story takes you to smaller cities like Havanna and Rio, which have packed city streets and plenty of back alleys, another big detail shows up - traffic. The streets are more crowded with people and cars, and when you drive on side streets you'll crash through plenty of crates, barriers, garbage bags, and other classic car-chase obstacles.

The take a ride mode lets you drive through any city you've unlocked through the undercover mode without any time constraints or mission objectives. Traffic laws are still in effect, and Johnny Law is out on the prowl. There are also a number of individual driving games - quick chase, quick getaway, and gate racing - to help hone your skills. The quick chase requires that you damage a runaway car until it stops, the quick getaway puts you in the runaway car and has the police chasing you, and the gate racing makes you race through a series of gates within a time limit. There's also a checkpoint mode, which requires you to race to a certain number of established points throughout the city within a time limit, and the survival mode, which puts you in a runaway car with a legion of gung ho police officers after you. Driver 2 also sports a multiplayer mode, in which you can play in cops and robbers, checkpoint race, and even a capture the flag modes.

The game looks very good graphically, although it looks a bit dated when compared with the PS2 games of late. The frame rate occasionally drops down when new sections of cities are being loaded or when there is too much action on the screen, but the game still fights to keep up. But the key element in Driver 2 is its amazing storyline, which is not only rich in detail and plot, but it's also easy to follow and full of surprises. Almost each level has a big CG sequence that moves the story along, and some of the sequences are just beautiful. Driver 2 merges a strong narrative with intense '70s-style car chases and does it extremely well.

Stay tuned for a full review, which will appear shortly here on GameSpot, as the release of the game is only a few days away. Driver 2 will be published by Infogrames and should hit stores around mid November. The European release date is November 17.