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Driver 2 (Playstation) Reviews & Ratings
Reviews, Ratings, and Professional Opinions
Review/Rating:
Driver 2: The Wheelman is Back brings back the same great things we loved in the original. Unfortunately, it also brings back the glitches, pop-ups, and all of that. Making a sequel to a hit game is one of the easiest things to do. All you need is some new features, and to have ridden the game of past errors. So, why was this so hard for Reflections?
In Driver 2, you are Tanner, and undercover getaway driver trying to keep a war from breaking out. While the story may not be that great, the FMV sequences have surely improved, and they help you enjoy your time through the game. That is, until you get to the part when you actually need to drive.
The difficulty of the game has increased so drastically since the last one, even the best will have trouble. For the new coming gamers who haven't played the first, they will find it hard to jump into the game. In Driver 1, you started out "practicing" and learning how to attempt moves before you could actually start missions. While this may not have been fun, it surely prepared you for what you were in for. Unlike the first, Driver 2 throws you into a full blown mission right away. This leaves the novice drivers shaking with frustration.
The cities are much larger and much more detailed. Whether it is bypasses, curved roads, or just the risible bridge, Driver 2 has it all. One of the great new features in the game is that you can now exit from your car and steal another. this is a great way to lose cops. If you get felony (the amount of laws you break in a police officers field of vision), a great way to lose those cops is to lose your ride and take a new one. The one problem to this is that the variety of cars isn't that great. However, each car handles differently.
It seems to me that Reflections rushed this game to get it out before the launch of the PS2. I say this because there are so many errors and glitches in this game that it amazes you. While the cops AI is increased, the other cars on the road are idiots. They don't seem to realize that when you see a bus coming head-on going 70 mph, you should move and not just honk and slow down. Also, the frame rate is horrible; it is choppy and slow. When there is a lot of activity around you, the whole game goes really slow. Along with that, things just pop up in front of you. This is something that haunted the original Driver. I will be running from the police who are close behind and suddenly a car or building pops up feet in front of me causing me to crash. Even worse, sometimes you don't even see the car until after you have hit it. It doesn't happen all the time, but it is very annoying when it does. Often, when you are driving, wall just disappear and you can see through them. Plus, if you drive down a steep incline, the screen might get all messed up and you can't see anything. Driver 2 clearly has many problems.
A great new addition to Driver is that it is now two player. This is something I would have loved to have last game, and am glad to have it now. You can choose between several different games to play with your friend. These include just going for a ride, playing Cops 'N Robbers, playing Capture the Flag, and more. It is a great new feature which I am glad to see. Unfortunately, you can only play in a section of the city and you are the only two cars on the road.
While Driver 2 might not be all I wanted to get, it is still a fun game with much to offer. Let's just hope that Reflections can correct all these errors for Driver 3.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
