The premise behind Driver is that you are a former stock-car driver named Tanner who has just joined the police force. The police think that you'd be a good choice for going undercover to infiltrate the underworld's strongholds and attempt to bust the famous Castaldi family. It's not much of a story, but then again, neither was Grand Theft Auto, and one can see how great that game was.

The cities in Driver are absolutely huge, and they mimic their real-life counterparts perfectly. You start off in Miami, but soon travel all across America, such as the streets of San Fransico and Los Angeles. The roads are easy to navigate thanks to a well-developed radar map as well as the huge (and unique) landmarks around the cities. The cars themselves are rock solid, and even the pedestrian cars are unique from each other. One can even spot blimps floating in the air in Miami and streetcars on their tracks in San Fran. The lighting is especially good in Driver, from the lens flare radiating from the sun, to the street lamps on the streets, to the screaming sirens of the cops. I found the cities to have a rather large amount of pop-up whenever passing by certain large buildings though, but other than this small problem, everything seemed to be rock hard. The CG movies are well executed, and possess a great sense of style and capture the mood of the entire game. The story is driven by these short cg clips, as you meet with various members of the Castaldi family.

Although I found them to be annoying at first, the background music in Driver is surprisingly good...when you raise the music volume and tone down the sfx volume. The music has a nice '70s beat going for it, and taps into that hard core Steve McQueen that dwells in everyone's heart. The sound effects are perfect, from the screaming tires, to the bustin glass.. and the painful screams that I heard last (Heh, Last Kiss clip). What's even cooler is that you can hear the cops radioing HQ for backup, as they scream "He's heading north!" or "he just ran a red!". It further accentuates the mood of the game.

Gameplay? Driver has a ton of it as it comes with not only some addicting driving games, but the great Film Director feature as well. In the main game, you are given objectives to meet, whether it being to pick up a certain person at a house, or to drive a car to a garage, you are given a length of time to accomplish your objective, all the while avoiding cops and rush hour traffic. What's great about Driver is that the city doesn't revolve around you; drivers go about their daily business, as well as cops.. so long as you obey the law. Do something unlawful (which is often) and the police will be on your ass faster than a geek to a nubile cheerleader. The cops will gang up on you and ram you into the ground, no matter what the cost; they'll even set up huge barricades of cop cars on the high way just to slow down your progress. I found some of the objectives to be a little hard, not because of the design of the cities or AI of the police, but because of the time given for you to finish each mission. The key to success in Driver seems to be too dependent on whether or not you will be greeted by cops along the way.

There are many driving games in Driver, each with their own unique premise. Games like Pursuit and Trail Blazer require you to finish the game in a alloted amount of time, while Getaway and Cross-town Checkpoint want your fastest time. By far the most addicting driving game has to be Survival, where you are pitted against an infinite amount of the toughest, most pissed off cops you will ever meet, who will mercilessly ram you and crush you into submission. The objective of Survival is obviously to stay alive for the longest period of time, which is easier said than done, since these cops are totally remorseless.

The best feature in Driver has to be the Film Director mode. In Film Director, you can take your replays and edit them to your hearts desire. You can play cameras absolutely anywhere in the city so you can catch the action from any corner, curb or car you wish. The Film Director is a dream to use, as it has a very elegant and easy to use interface. Creating your own specatular replays using the Film Director takes only a few minutes to edit, depending on the length of your drive.

Enjoy Destruction Derby? Love Grand Theft Auto? You'll be in total bliss with Driver, as it combines the best of both games into a single worthwhile package. Great graphics, addicting gameplay, a hard-edged theme, what more can a gamer ask for?

· · · Reno