Good point, Assault.

Think back: What video game influenced the likes of, Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, Al Capone, Billy the KID? NONE, because there were no such things as video games in their day, but if there were, and these gangsters played them, they would have blamed their lawless behavior on...

...playing violent video games.

Violence has ALWAYS been a part of the human experience in society, with or without computer games, the violent will be violent and computer games won't cause them to be MORE violent.

When considering the VAST numbers of BILLIONS of computer gamers playing violent games, to blame violent computer games for one or two violent nutcases is ... INSANE statistics.

What I DON'T like in DPL is that you can run over and kill as many pedestrians as you want without it being reported to police or effect your felony rating...but hit one policeman (not even kill him) and your felony rating goes all the way RED. What's up with that BS?

I never understood the ridiculousness of the "cop-killer" terminology, as if cops are different or better than other people. The term should be trashed, a killer is a killer :-) regardless who he/she kills.

A video game (GTA, etc) allows the gamer to be violent in the video game, not the real world. The gamer must decide between reality and video games. Video games aren't responsible for teaching what reality is.

A video game is not designed to kill real people, but fictional characters in the game only. To take it into reality means that gamer has major issues.

They can use the game as an excuse, but it was their decision to kill real people, not the game's. The game might influence their ideas, but it does not carry their ideas out into the real world.

--

One solution is for crowds and cops to automatically leap out of the way, like in Driver 1 and 2. No one gets hurt unnecessarily, and the focus STAYS on driving, not killing.

Cops always chase me if I hit somebody in D:PL. Your copy of D:PL must be screwed up Symantecus. In terms of a "Bad Guy" game, D:PL had the best police AI. If a cop sees you break ANY law (on foot or traffic), you get felony and they come after you.

The cop AI isn't near perfect, but it's beter than all other video games.

No, Driverman, my install is not screwed up - LOL! You can run over a person, if the police are not around and nothing will happen.

On the other hand, if you pull out a gun, THEN they'll come. Try it. That needs a fix. If you hit someone, SOMEBODY is gonna call the police...well, maybe not in New York - LOL! Hey, maybe the AI isn't screwed up after all...it's the REAL INTELLIGENCE that screwed up :-)

An old NYC joke:

A guy from New York said, "It was really snowin and the sidewalks were really icey. I saw some guy in Italian loafers slippin' and sliden' in the ice until he went head first into a plate glass window at Macy's!

I had to call an ambulance, because...

...I was laughin' so hard, I thought I was gonna' die!

:-)

TRAFFIC LAWS, TICKETS AND PURSUITS

A new chase system should emerge, where if you run a red light, speed too far above the limit, hit another vehicle, pedestrians, signs or buildings, the cop will hit his lights and get behind your car, where you'll have 30 seconds to immediately pull to the side of the road.

He/she will exit and proceed to walk up to your vehicle to hand you a TICKET. The ticket could be small, like $70 depending on the traffic violation.
The whole idea is, it's just a traffic violation, not a reason to arrest you or ram your car(Driver 1, 2, 3, PL).

IF you decide not to stop for a TICKET, THEN and only then will the cop pursue. If you continue, he'll call in one more squad car, each time adding another with each progressing violation of the law, eventually calling in the whole force, for road blocks and epic freeway pursuits.

Perhaps the next Driver game can follow up to the traffic law system as that which was found in Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven because it has had so much realism in terms of law and I don't really think that Driver nor any other game needs to really worry about going further than that. This is how Mafia's Law & Order is like (note: I took this information from Wikipedia.org):

quote:

Minor Offenses

Offense Police Reaction Notes
Speeding: (Fine Only) applies to speeding of a fairly low speed of 40 mph (60km/h) to 65mph (100km/h)
Crash: (Fine Only) applies to crashing into other cars at low speed, or crashing into objects such as phone booths, trash cans, etc.
Running Red Lights: A Fine of $200
Traffic Sign Damaged: A Fine of $235

Serious Offenses

Offense Police Reaction Notes
Speeding: (Arrest) Only applies to speeding of 65 mph (90 km/h) or higher, or not stopping for a minor offense in thirty seconds.
Crash: (Arrest) Only applies to causing harm to people when crashing
Gun Seen: (Arrest) Carrying weapons in full view like the Knife, Baseball Bat, and Knuckle-Dusters will not cause a reaction from the police
Shots Fired: (Shootout) Police will fire on you until you're dead; regardless if you do not fire at them, or if you drop your weapons
Violence Seen: (Arrest) Fighting with people with bare hands
Assault On Police: (leads to a shootout) Police will fire on you until you're dead; regardless if you do not have a weapon or you do not continue to fight
Assault On Police Car: (a car chase begins) If you ram into a police car they will chase you until you stop or are unable to drive any further
Car Theft: (Arrest) Hijacking or lockpicking a car will lead to the arrest.

However, I must warn that if the game is to follow traffic laws, extensively, it may only worsen the car chases. In Mafia you'd usually be better off following the law to get from one destination to another in any mission. And not only this, but you never really saw any car chases that went beyond 65 miles per hour. Such is the case that Reflections would really have to be careful with their next Driver game and still allow for players to decide whether they should or shouldn't go by the law. In fact, I think that certain missions should be available for you to get through, without a timer, which then opens up the possibility of whether you should avoid law enforcement at all costs or risk doing it anyways. This would, in the end, really make Driver feel more expanded and not just as if its only about car chases, but that its driving formula can be extended even further. This is what we have yet to see from a Driver game and if Driver doesn't make any big changes that help it stand out different from other games with a crime setting, both linear and non-linear, I don't think that I'll feel very compelled to play any Driver game ever again, except that of the first Driver game.

Oh and not to go off-topic, but I'd like to point out that Mafia was perhaps the best inspiration for a video game to offer realistic drive-bys, even before that of GTA:SA. It came out in the year 2002, so it was a great few years before Rockstar North finally decided their GTA game, after that of GTA:VC, being GTA: SA, to use this feature. This proves that Mafia actually offered some excellent quality. Not only did it fine tune a crime storyline, it even managed to get the AI, cars, weapons, and all else feel as realistic as possible. If you ask me, Reflections can do a lot for its Driver franchise if it manages to go further in terms of the realism for everything that is seen within the game than Mafia could ever hope to go, or better yet, Mafia's developer, Illusion Softworks. Also, I want to point out that DPL's cop AI, which Driverman2006 claims as being the best in a video game so far, is not the case, as I'm pretty sure that Mafia's cop AI was better, especially when you can say that its AI was, in all regards, better than that of any other game involving a crime setting (GTA, Driver, True Crime, The Getaway, Saint's Row, etc.).

Edit: Today, I was just playing through Driver again, on my Playstation 2 console and it really angered me in the end. This is because the game always crashes at Mission 20, of any of the two missions that you can pick between (note: These are the very first missions in LA), so I don't think that I'll ever go back to playing D1, unless I find a way to buy it for the PC. The PC version has better graphics, includes Newcastle as an unlockable city, and the cheats that are unlockable in the PS version are also there (I think so), so this will possibly be my only chance of ever playing Driver or even yet, another Driver game ever again.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Assault_machine,

I see your point about Mafia's traffic laws. Those are some solid ideas that could fit well into the Driver games. Afterall, why include a traffic lights just for pedestrians to abide by? Running a red light should result in a ticket if the player decides to pull over to the side.

quote:

Originally posted by AssaultMachine1
so this will possibly be my only chance of ever playing Driver or even yet, another Driver game ever again.

"Never play another Driver game ever again?" Not a true fan of the series? I look beyond the initial flaws to the great car controls throughout most of the series, though as you say, there's always room for improvement, in not only the physics, but gameplay, story, execution and so on.

Driver 1 hasn't consistently crashed on me, very rarely, and not at any particular mission, could be a bug in your version or on the PS2.

Yes, if Reflections is to make a really good Driver game, they must implement a lot towards the traffic laws, but not so much that it makes the game unfair and not fun, two important F's of the 4F's Of Great Game Design. Traffic laws definitely need to be considered, and players can choose to follow them or not, but most missions, particularly those of Undercover, I'm sure will be high speed hollywood-styled car chases, so that won't apply to that portion of the game very much. However, it'd be quite interesting to have a few missions in which you must abide by the traffic laws. And the story, much like Mafia is for making you feel as much like a real gangster as possible, needs to make every career feel as if you're really a part of it.

I didn't necessarily mean it when I said that I'll never play a Driver game again, but I likely won't buy a game ever and I'll try to play DPL and D3 throughout, just to help put together some professional reviews for them (much after I've been able to know how to write and think like a critic). The same will be done for D1 and D2. However, I want to avoid the mistakes which many critics sometimes make, which is to leave out specific things about a video game, so I'll make sure to, describe in details, how everything a part of the game truly is like, and if the game does live up to being a great game or if it is not something that anyone, other than a diehard fan of the particular franchise can live with playing.

To deal with the problem of D1, I hope to buy a new or used copy of it and use that disc rather than my current one, which must be experiencing some errors. I could possibly get my disc fixed up, with having no more of those scratches (Game Crazy can eliminate scratches on game discs), so it can possibly fix up the problem that is with my disc. If not, I'll just have to buy another copy of it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Assault_machine,

Driver 1 is a classic. It kept things simple. Stunt driving, hollywood pursuit chases with a great film director. It had some really frustrating missions, but was still a great game to experience for fans of Driving games.

I remember thinking in 1999 on release day, "This is the most realisitic vehicle handling I've ever played in a game. Awesome."