I might have to pick up a copy of TDU, it does look good, I don't usually like racing games anymore, EA ruined the only good one, Burnout. The gameplay of racing games is just so one dimensional, but I guess it does have free roam

I agree that creating a city map, a car, traffic, on foot aren't enough to make a great game. There needs to be plenty of stunt, chase, on foot opportunities to make it all worthwhile. Things that don't go stale even after going through it for the 100th time. Plenty of various ways to play the game helps, along with some great jump opportunities scattered throughout the city. And interiors with plenty of interaction opportunities like climbing, shops, seating to sit on, things to jump off of, etc, help in a major way. The best way to spoil fun is to make everything off limits, "Hey, there's a ladder, nope, can't climb it, hey, there's a seat, nope, can't sit down, hey, there's a store, nope can't enter it, hey, forget it, this game sucks... Next." A city with few opportunities for interaction is dull. Like a train that doesn't let you ride it. Everything just for show.

TDU is a fun game IMO, though it can't compare to the slick steering physics of the Driver series. It's more arcade style. Also, the default controls for the motorcycles are terrible, but thankfully an options adjustment can be made to make them control really well.

It feels as if the offering of those minigames from Driver, Driver 2, and Driv3r have already grown old (e.g. Survival, Trailblazer, Checkpoint, Pursuit, Getaway, etc.). This is because DPL went an open-ended world, instead of the Front end menu, which now is pointless for a non-linear and free-roam game that the Driver franchise is trying to be. Therefore, as a suggestion, Reflections must make new minigames available throughout the next Driver games. These include anything like those found in DPL along with new additions as well. However, I'd also would be more appreciative if the side missions could be more different from those in GTA or if they were replaced by the Multiple Career Path. Of course, asking for something like this would be pretty difficult, but I think that it'd work in having players work hard towards unlocking new things and for bringing more realism to the world. Besides, the GTA games have always felt less realistic (excluding the many elements of simulation that were included in GTA:SA), so it would make a lot of sense to take whatever Rockstar North had and change it around, making it more realistic and giving it some uniqueness as well. While fast-paced side missions were the case in pushing the replay value higher, it Driver always has tried to be more realistic in its approach, so it wouldn't fit so well in its description to have there be side missions too similar to those found in the GTA games.

There could be other ways to play minigames in the world. For instance, I know that Shenmue introduced arcade machines for you to play (a year before GTA III came out) and GTA:SA later decided to use that idea too. The idea of playing arcade machines, from a variety of different genres (from old top-scrolling shooters like defender, to side-scrolling shooters like Metal Slug, to platform games, to fighting games, to driving games, etc.) to help put a lot of a fun when getting inside of an arcade game. Shenmue's arcade games were perhaps the best so far, for any free-roam game, even better than those in GTA:SA. I'll even be great enough to show them. Here are three screenshots of Shenmue with its arcade machines:






Well done, Shenmue. Right on.

And, just like I've mentioned before, depending on which career you've chosen to play through, the world would turn itself into something that is made specifically to fit with that career (i.e. a stuntman career= a city with ramps and places to do stunts), which would be somewhat like existing minigames or other additions scattered throughout the city, being there for you to play with, whenever not on a mission. I think that such an idea would be a brilliant one. However, I don't think that we'll see too many careers available to us in the game, if we are to see any careers.

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

I actually still have my four discs of Shenmue, which I never finished thanks to the goofy missions of fetch this, be here at this time, etc. The game was really inventive, but a bit restrictive. Still, the video game unlockable arcade was a highlight, including Space Harrier, a driving game and so on.

On this line of thinking, Reflections should consider offering a standup arcade cabinet of an enhanced hi-res version of Driver 1, and throw in Driver 2 running at full speed, as it should have. Tanner could visit his garage and play the games anytime, PGR3 and 4 style.

That would be really cool if we could play "Video games within the video game". Just like in GTA:SA, although that game is REALLY historically inaccurate. In GTA:SA, you could play a PS2 when the game was set in 1992. PS2 didn't come out until 2001. And whenever I play GTA:SA, I feel like I'm in 2004, not 1992. So it would be fun to play previous Driver and Stuntman games within the next Driver game, maybe even some other Ubisoft titles too like Tom Clancy and Blazing Angels.

omg yes, it is so annoying that I can't even play GTASA anymore. I mean, forget the whole point of the game, theres a PS2 in it, omg, stop the presses, ban this game! Everyone knows PS2 didn't exist back then!!!

quote:

Originally posted by InsaneDriver06:
I actually still have my four discs of Shenmue, which I never finished thanks to the goofy missions of fetch this, be here at this time, etc. The game was really inventive, but a bit restrictive. Still, the video game unlockable arcade was a highlight, including Space Harrier, a driving game and so on.

On this line of thinking, Reflections should consider offering a standup arcade cabinet of an enhanced hi-res version of Driver 1, and throw in Driver 2 running at full speed, as it should have. Tanner could visit his garage and play the games anytime, PGR3 and 4 style.

I'm certainly glad to hear that I'm not the only one here that knows about Shenmue. Does this mean that you own a Sega Dreamcast console? I was actually thinking of buying one myself, in the future. It may have failed at being a system after the PS2 showed up, but it did have some very good titles.

It may have been a restrictive game to some of an extent, but there was no other game like it at around its time. GTA III later came out and took freedom even further, but Shenmue brought things like weather effects, timed sequence cut scenes (where a button appears during a cut scene and you're able to perform an action if pressed at the right time), and even arcades, as well as some other things as well. It truly was a revolutionary title.

quote:

Originally posted by Driverman2006:
That would be really cool if we could play "Video games within the video game". Just like in GTA:SA, although that game is REALLY historically inaccurate. In GTA:SA, you could play a PS2 when the game was set in 1992. PS2 didn't come out until 2001. And whenever I play GTA:SA, I feel like I'm in 2004, not 1992. So it would be fun to play previous Driver and Stuntman games within the next Driver game, maybe even some other Ubisoft titles too like Tom Clancy and Blazing Angels.

I do hope that, like Shenmue, we'll be able to play games that come from the same publisher within the next Driver game, meaning that we'll see some Ubisoft titles as well as maybe even the original Driver game. It would be an excellent way to bring the replay value up. This is certainly better than making rip-off titles of original games and to try to have that allow for arcade games. GTA:SA did this and I don't find it too impressive, at least nothing in comparison to Shenmue's arcade games.

quote:

Originally posted by PennySillin:
omg yes, it is so annoying that I can't even play GTASA anymore. I mean, forget the whole point of the game, theres a PS2 in it, omg, stop the presses, ban this game! Everyone knows PS2 didn't exist back then!!!

You do have to admit, however, that GTA:SA did push the replay value, despite the fact that its arcade games were rip-off titles, such as a game that ripped off Defender.

My dreamcast has been in the closet for a couple years now. 18 Wheeler and a few racing games were really good. I got it when it was cheap and already finished as a system.

The Dreamcast actually has had some pretty strong titles, from what I've heard. Soul Calibur, NFL 2K1, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Dead or Alive, Jet Grindo Radio, and several others as well, were some very impressive titles. I'd have to say that Soul Calibur one is the best title because it is widely regarded as the best fighting game of all-time. It first came out for the Arcade, but later was ported to the Dreamcast, and when it got ported to the Dreamcast, it turned out, in every way, just as good and even better in other ways than its original port, something that we don't often see from any games that are coming out as ports. The Dreamcast version can be called almost flawless and it truly had a lot of memorable moments. I've seen some videos on You Tube and have read a few reviews (like on GameSpot, which gave it a 10 out of 10). And it is a very impressive game indeed. Also, did you happen to know that Shenmue II also came out for the Dreamcast? It came out for the Xbox in the U.S., but the sad part about the Dreamcast version is that it's a Japanese version.

Adding older games into a new one for seems to drift from the task in hand not to mention a lot of those titles are atari. We can't play stuntman in a ubisoft till atari sells stuntman off, oh wait they already have and somehow I doubt ubisoft will get a hold of it.

You've got a good point, JacksonL2007. Reflections doesn't have the rights to any Atari products anymore, even their own games of Driver, Driver 2, and DPL (the Xbox & PS2 versions), so they'll just have to come up with some ubisoft titles (either existing ones or make original ones) to fit as arcade games, if ever we are to see this as a feature in a Driver game.

Didn't Ubisoft buy not only Reflections, but the rights to the Driver franchise including past titles?

I didn't really enjoy any of the arcade games in GTASA, they were all boring, and I really don't care if they include them in a Driver game or not. I think its just a waste of time when they could've made the actual game better.