This is the wishlist for the one Driver game that was announced as one of the PS3's games a while back. Give your thoughts on what you want from this game and hopefully, Reflections will give us a majority of those "good" ideas that we may have in mind, so without further ado, this is right place for discussing what new or old and returning gameplay features should be in Driver and explaining it with a good detail of reasoning will help even more since Reflections can get a better logical explanation of why it is that they should try to implement that feature or set of features into the next Driver game.

Film Director!!!

Yes. Film Director has been one of the biggest factors coming from the Driver series, so we must ask Reflections to bring it back and have it be better than even that of the original Driver game.

Tanner must return as well and be engaged in the biggest hollywood-styled car chase game to date, which is my hope. It must offer as many of the favorite vehicles from the previous Driver games and even many new ones as well, having the roster be at least 100 vehicles, so it will be larger than that of even DPL's roster. The original Driver's formula must be used once again, displaying the awesome physics of it and even so much greater damage to not only the vehicles, but also the environment and every object found in the game (even living things).

I hope that the on-foot will finally take a big leap and have many changes for it in store that are to add more realism and a greater replay value while also making it less of a rip-off coming from GTAIV. Realism must try to fit into every possible feature and thing within the game. The city must feel alive, having realistic animations, incredible AI, especially for cops, and even simulation for driving that will make taking care of your rides a challenge while also giving you more freedom on what to do with it. As I pointed out in a different discussion/thread, the on-foot is not the only form of free-roaming that there is; Driving can be done in such a way too, but it must be more complex and this means that there must be a great deal of time spent on this.

Graphics must go as ever close to looking as great as that of Forza Motorsport 2, Halo 3, Crysis, Gran Turismo 5, Resident Evil 5, and any other games of the future.

A steering wheel as an option for playing the game would be nice and maybe a dashboard view could be a part of the driving experience as well.

There need to be more than 30 missions this time. I'm tired of seeing only 30 missions because it doesn't feel like it's enough and so much more can be put into making a great and compelling experience for the narrative side of the game too. Rockstar North is making sure to put the focus on the narrative and storytelling while offering players more choices and freedom, which is what the Driver series needs to do too, but in a fashion of its own that captures that hollywood chase experience and even has awesome stunts, shooting, explosions, and other stuff to go along with it.

Music needs to fit the experience exactly as that of the situation going on in the game and perhaps even for the mood, which is much like what Rockstar North is trying to do, but at least it can be done more along the side of the hollywood chase style as opposed to being a gangster or criminal.

AI needs to be really responsive to whatever occurs in the game and should be able to get a lot of actions that go along with their very own lifestyles. I hope that we see people of different cultures and personalities as well because you don't see such a variety of differences among the society or community of people within the game.

Last, but not least, the experience should maybe look more realistic along the lines of what a cop would live through while working on a job. You should be seen walking in cutscenes to your police department or something and getting an objective from your captain. If you're in a different city, the cops won't know you and will chase you and you'll reach contacts by pay phones, your cell phone, and even by heading over to their place.

Changeable clothes and haircuts, to give the character your personal touch.

Loads of car modding options, it should be more like in Saints Row.

Interior view, with functioning windscreen- wipers that actually are helpfull when it rains.

Cars that almost look exactly like their real-life counterparts.

Good on-foot controls and precise aiming. If you're aiming on a tire in D3 or DPL and pull the trigger, the bullet hits the fender.

Stunning AI for the cops, villians and pedestrians.

Driveable trains, boats, planes, etc.

Beautiful graphics, I want them to be more like Rainbow Six: Vegas.

When you look at the GTA games and the free-roam genre as a whole, I can see the fact that it's a great genre, but it still has a long way to go. Rockstar North has always been about putting as much gameplay into the GTA games as possible rather than take some time on certain features to make them feel and look as good as that coming from the genres that has always supported it.

I hope that Reflections will be able to get the on-foot free roaming and even the driving free-roaming done right where you have a good amount of different choices to choose from and it is all done with good quality. Perhaps Reflections needs to put the focus more on quality rather than quantity since that may make the Driver games stand out better in areas that the GTA games were usually weak at. Knowing that this is non-linearity, it should offer more choices than what you can expect from a linear game, but on top of that, it needs good quality.

If you look at Cipher Complex, a new game in the stealth genre, it's by a developer called Edge of Reality, who has had experience with several games like Shark's Tale that were about stealth. They've looked at the Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid series and while it is about sneaking upto your opponent, the team thinks that the player should react a little more fast this time, so the game will allow you to perform combos of killing opponents as you sneak upto them and try your best to kill them as soon as possible. It kind of gives you that arcade experience and particulary the fighting genre experience since you're trying to keep moving as fast as you possibly can. It offers a sort of brawler style to it since you don't use guns in the game and because it is different from the other stealth games, it may turn out to bring a big new impact to the stealth genre. I'm very excited about this new approach that
Edge of Reality is attempting to make.

My point is that after sometime, whether it's soon or long after, a genre needs to take a new leap because the real purpose of what art is usually about is to try to attempt and do something new for a change. Reflections should attempt to make the on-foot experience as good in ways of getting around (different kinds of transportation and abilities such as jumping rolling, crawling, swimming, climbing, etc.), shooting anyone (having a good fps targeting system, good controls, and good weapons), the camera view that it uses (whether it's first-person, over-the-shoulder, or third person view), and it must also offer a good variety of other things, but those things must be done in Reflections' own style as to what kind of city they want for the players and it must not go over as much ideas pouring into the GTA, where most of the gameplay just looks more lame than the rest of it as in comparance to that of the games from any other different genre that have almost perfected those similar ideas.

Driving is another way of free-roam and that can be done for ways of getting around to anywhere in the game (by land, air, or water), taking good care of your vehicle by fixing it and keeping it in good condition, and having a good selection of different customizable parts to buy for that particular vehicle, which should be for possibly every type of vehicle in the game (even aircraft and watercraft).

Here's a set of different ideas that have to do with the driving factor and how it can be used in free-roaming (this comes from a post that I made in another thread):

I believe that Reflections should explore more ideas of what can be done when driving a vehicle in the game. I've mentioned this before, and that was for the ability to use headlights, turn on/off windshield wipers, turn left or right turn signal on/off, turn on the radio, and many other features that are left to a car or other vehicle in the game. We need a lot of options for the cars and other vehicles in the game.

For instance, you should be able to get your car dirty after a big splash of mud and be able to go to a place like a car wash to get it looking nice and good. It would appear shiny and beautiful. Taking your cars and customizing them to look great is not the only way that it should be for when trying to make your car look good. There should be specific conditions for your vehicles like them becoming rusty, some problems with something that can affect the driving, and even getting your car dirty. There should be ways of taking care of your vehicles and it shouldn't be necessarily an easy thing to get done. This is when the real-life driving simulation elements come into play.

Being able to fix up your car yourself with the help of the right tools, going to stores for buying auto parts, tools, and other stuff for your vehicle(s) would be a nice addition. You should even be able to drive realistic in terms of road conditions (construction that's going on), weather conditions (rain, snow, etc.), and on any other surface that you can possibly drive on. Also, there should be a way to park your vehicle in a realistic way. For instance, when parking your vehicle going uphill with a curb, you point your car's wheels away from the curb while you would point it toward the curb when going downhill or even without a curb for both uphill and downhill. Even the traffic laws and conditions should act far more realistic than they have done in the previous Driver games.

You've made some very good points here, Assaultmachine1. I really liked the ideas about the more realistic car-features.

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch_Seinfeld:
Changeable clothes and haircuts, to give the character your personal touch.

Loads of car modding options, it should be more like in Saints Row.

Interior view, with functioning windscreen- wipers that actually are helpfull when it rains.

Cars that almost look exactly like their real-life counterparts.

Good on-foot controls and precise aiming. If you're aiming on a tire in D3 or DPL and pull the trigger, the bullet hits the fender.

Stunning AI for the cops, villians and pedestrians.

Driveable trains, boats, planes, etc.

Beautiful graphics, I want them to be more like Rainbow Six: Vegas.

I agree with all of this 100%!

I wonder where Matt_jon is since he hasn't been on for sometime. I guess that's because he's busy. And the reason why I'm talking about this is because I know at often times that he mentions good points about what could and probably should be done for the Driver franchise.

quote:

Originally posted by Driverman2006:

I agree with all of this 100%!

THANKS!

I feel kinda left out since I can't think of a good idea for Driver.
But at least some of the stuff I would want in Driver is being said.

But I guess I'll go back to creating my ideal DrIVer cover.

I'm sure your DrIVer cover is gonna' look great!

Do you guys know what I just noticed? If you look at any movie with car chases, the majority of it is an action movie, so that's why you could only consider the Hollywood Car Chase a sub-genre rather than a genre. This means that if the Driver series were to only focus on car chases, the game wouldn't feel complete with the best experience. Therefore, Reflections must try to make the closest experience ever to that of an action film that contain car chases.

Reflections must make the best explosions, crashes, shooting, narrative, dialogue, vehicles, characters, weapons, and all else that would be suited for an action game filled with car chases. I hope that Reflections can make the experience as ever best in all of these categories out of what they get to use towards the development of the next-gen Driver game. I haven't been able to think and realise this before, so that's why I was wrong about the game being only needed to have the focus be on the car chases. Leaving out the action or the car chases, either one of them, it would really mess up the game, so both of these factors must be in the Driver series and should be as ever close to looking like those movies.

Tanner needs to return in the next Driver game, so Reflections can try to finish him throughout his time in the Driver series. D3 was not a good ending for Tanner. We need at least one more Driver game with Tanner in it. Personally, I don't find it a good idea to always be sticking with Tanner, but having at least one more game with him would be a good idea. If I may say so, it would be a cool idea to go with a gangster for the Driver series in the future, but lets not have it be T.K. because he's a dork for a character and we need someone that is a lot better than that. I think that the gangster touch to the Driver series would be a pretty good idea since you are dealing with gangsters in the games and it would be another new look for the Driver series, but for now, lets have Reflections try to fix the Driver formula and push the action to a whole new level.

Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and many other crime films really get me thinking that the Driver series needs some of the elements from those films and along with that, we need the elements from movies dealing with law enforcement as well. Maybe instead of having only a gangster be available for a Driver game, we can have a law enforcer as well and have them both start off young, so Reflections can move the series into a new direction and be able to feel fresh at that point.

There's only so many ways to make a fun, action packed driving stunt game. Hopefully, Reflections will drastically improve the formula with some fast paced driving, interior dash views, and plenty of camera options, gameplay options (weather, cops, crowds, traffic, damage, ammo, etc.)

Yes. The ideas will continue to grow, especially for games with a similar style as that of both the Driver series and the GTA games. There are still many things that Reflections needs to get done right and the 7th generation will hopefully be able to help them prepare for a fresh and fun new experience for the Driver series.

One of the mistakes that I hope doesn't happen again with the Driver games is seeing Reflections make a game that is too similar to that of GTA. I want them to be able to change several things that were done in the GTA games, especially GTAIV and be able to make a much better job while they're at it.

quote:

Originally posted by Assaultmachine1:
Yes. The ideas will continue to grow, especially for games with a similar style as that of both the Driver series and the GTA games. There are still many things that Reflections needs to get done right and the 7th generation will hopefully be able to help them prepare for a fresh and fun new experience for the Driver series.

One of the mistakes that I hope doesn't happen again with the Driver games is seeing Reflections make a game that is too similar to that of GTA. I want them to be able to change several things that were done in the GTA games, especially GTAIV and be able to make a much better job while they're at it.

You're right, Driver 5 needs to be about stunt driving more than walking around shooting and running over pedestrians GTA style, which DriverPL obviously took after in terms of graphics.

Still, if the new Driver (2008 release) can offer an open city experience, awesome stunt opportunities without restricting the player like STUNTMAN did, it will be a great film director stunt game to own for the 360, PS3.

[bump]

Driver 2008:

1. Fast, action packed, "barely in control" car chases with as few straight roads as possible, adding hills, turns, drops and road obstacles.

2. A world where car chases is the preference, not shooting at people or tires. On foot chases should lead to finding more vehicles, not gun fights. Shooting out tires defeats the entire purpose of a car chase.

3. On foot so you're not stuck in your burning car that flipped onto its hood. Freedom to jack another vehicle.

4. Interior dash view to experience Driver like never before. Up close and personal.

We still need the guns in the next Driver game. I've seen lots of car chase movies before with gunfights in them. In fact, I want all of the things you can do on foot from the rest of the Driver series in the next Driver game (running, walking, shooting, reloading, jumping, swimming, crouching, and more).


Yeah, I hate it when the tires pop on your car in Driv3r and Parallel Lines. But hey, it's realistic. I still want the tires to pop in the next Driver game, but still have customization so you can get new tires (like D:PL). I'm not saying that the next Driver game needs to be "Gun Crazy", it should just have all of the fun stuff from previous Driver games. It's the player's choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Driverman2006:
We still need the guns in the next Driver game. I've seen lots of car chase movies before with gunfights in them. In fact, I want all of the things you can do on foot from the rest of the Driver series in the next Driver game (running, walking, shooting, reloading, jumping, swimming, crouching, and more).


Yeah, I hate it when the tires pop on your car in Driv3r and Parallel Lines. But hey, it's realistic. I still want the tires to pop in the next Driver game, but still have customization so you can get new tires (like D:PL). I'm not saying that the next Driver game needs to be "Gun Crazy", it should just have all of the fun stuff from previous Driver games. It's the player's choice.

Tires popping is a pain, though Driver PL offers bulletproof tires from what I recall, so that helps.

If they do bring guns back, hopefully the focus remains on driving skills more than shooting skills.

It is not a need for us to still have guns in the game, but it would be a good addition.

Do you know what? I've been noticing how many new games of franchises that we recognize so well are taking new paths because the developers are willing to impact the Video Game Industry even more than before. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will set a new benchmark in the Call of Duty franchise with how it has gone from being a WWII franchise to a Modern Warfare franchise. GTA IV is making many different changes for the GTA series, which may feel just like when GTA III showed up with the GTA franchise being heavily focused on free-roaming and being a 3-D game rather than the same 2-D top down view experience. I can say that there will be more titles along the way, including that of Splinter Cell Conviction, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and others, who too, will change the course of their franchise that they came from.

Driver too, had changed, but it didn't change necessarily for the better. If you look at the average ratings of the Driver series on Game Rankings, which is based off of many of the different websites that review games, this is how the Driver franchise looks to be:

Driver (PS1 version): 87.9%

Driver: (PC version): 78.6%

Driver (GBC version): 74.7%

Driver 2 (PS1 version): 70.9%

Driv3r (PS2 version): 59.92%

Driv3r (Xbox version): 59.4%

Driv3r (PC version): 40.7%

Driv3r (GBA version): 48.5%

Driv3r (mobile version): 79%

Driver Parallel Lines (PS2 version): 70.1%

Driver Parallel Lines (Xbox version): 68.6%

Driver Vegas: 55.8%

Driver 76: 61.1%

Notice how the ratings have dropped from since the very first Driver of which the PS1 version looks to be the superior port. It had an 87.9% while the other games fall below that number. Both Driver 2 and Driver Parallel Lines have a 70% while Driv3r falls even below that range (except for the mobile version, which has a 79%, meaning that it was an even better game). Although on-foot pushed forth more ideas, it failed the Driver series for getting any better of a rating than the first game. I am not to say that the on-foot should be removed, but it would make a wise choice to some extent.

The other choice of what to do with the Driver series is to have it be sent into a new direction, meaning that it won't only see its focus heavily on car chases and on some of the on-foot. There needs to be something done to expand the driving experience. I would like the thought of seeing multiple paths and storylines for which can be of your own taking. Unlockables include finding hidden vehicles, weapons, and cheats. The weapons and vehicles would become available to anyone else in the game, so you will later see people weilding those weapons and others driving those unlocked vehicles. And maybe instead of having to play as Tanner, he can be some sort of an unlockable at the end of the game. Instead, you should be able to create your own character from scratch, be it male or female, and give them whatever you want for them to wear. You will be able to take that character and build them into an own kind of person that you feel should be made for the game. Clothes, weapons, vehicles, and among other things can be bought based upon what interests lie for you. The character will be have a choice of many different stories to go with rather than just being an undercover cop. The choices would go beyond just that. Have there be the right to become a racer (whether it's a street race or circuit racer of some sort), a demolition derby competitor, an ambulance driver, a firefighter, a taxi driver, or any other possible job. There are many other things that you are able to do for your own liking. On-foot abilities go further than ever before with abilities that will help you get around quicker and more carefully (swimming, jumping, crouching, crawling, shimmy, climbing, etc.) The AI for both when in vehicle and out of vehicle, is far bigger and smarter than you would ever learn to imagine coming from a Free-roaming game. Damage, physics, and everything else of a vehicle would come as close as ever to being as realistic as possible. The pause menu is made for accessing options, film director, choosing yourself a destination, looking at the map, quiting, saving data, or even restarting the game. The front menu would be where you select a profile.

This game would, in the end, be a totally big and new driving experience unlike ever imagined in a Driver game. With all of the many jobs to take part in, having different jobs and paths for those jobs, would make it feel like Midtown Madness, a mission-based driving franchise, the on-foot would feel ever more like that of any other free-roaming game, the multiplayer would be dealing with both the on-foot and driving, and the film director and realistic factors of driving would make up the Driver experience as it used to be, so you get all of this being put into one package for a game. This kind of game would most likely deliver very awesome and would maybe even surpass the original game if its narrative, stories, missions, level of freedom, great AI and realism for the world, on-foot experience, and driving experience would all be taken to the next level. Maybe there could even be a form of co-op somehow. All of this is what must one day make up a Driver game in order to ensure that it is able to go to the top as one of the most powerful franchises in the Video Game Industry, having it square ever more strong than before with the GTA games and Rockstar North itself.

I have Driver 76 for the PSP for those of you who care (I've had it since it came out). And across the map, there are 125 stars (so far, I found 124, so I'm almost there!) that you can collect (it's not manditory). These stars you can find in hidden areas, and some are suspended in the air. With each star you collect, you earn one collectable.


The collectables in Driver 76 are kind of dumb. You can only trade them in the multiplayer games. The collectables can be things like clothing, New York landmark trading cards, badges, key chains, paint, etc. But these don't do $#!+ for the player. You can't wear the clothes, you can't wear the badges or key chains, and so on and so forth. However, you can respray your rides with the paints you unlock. I would've loved to change my outfit in the game. A little mix and match isn't a bad thing. I sure hope you can change your character's appearance in the next Driver game.


Oh and one last thing. The thing about the customizable soundtracks in Driver 76 was a f**king lie. No, you can't upload your songs from your memory stick into the game. Even though the soundtrack is fine itself, you still can't upload your other favorites. Good thing that the next-gen Driver will be on the XBOX 360 and PS3 (hopefully). I have the 360, and I can upload ANY song I want in the world and have it play on the game, regardless if it has gameplay music or not.