Did you read what was found in the PS3 Magazine? I read it on a website, (the GTA forums) through scans of its pages. It offers 12 pages covering GTA IV. The cell phone in the game will, I think, be a part of the pause menu. If you fail a mission in any way, you can call on the phone to retry it, which will eliminate the idea of having to drive all the way back to your contact. Of course, if you decide to do it later, you can just go to doing something else. This is a really nice element for GTA IV and I hope that Reflections will be able to come up with something smarter than this. Also, the cell phone lets you know when you need to do missions and you can phone in on the police, the fire department, or a hospital, which can create a diversion. You can steal a paramedic vehicle or fire truck more easily by doing this. It not only opens up more possibilities, but it immerses you in the world more. As for the damage system, Niko will have an armor meter displayed, but to know his health condition, you'll need to look at him from all the shoots that he takes in (blood will eventually appear on his clothes). Whenever Niko needs to be safe from an enemy firing at him, he can place himself against any surface, duck (if need be), and take cover, while shooting at the enemies. There are a lot of things that are being redone and enhanced for GTA IV that will at least make it more of an improvement over the previous GTA games.

If Reflections can consider redoing some elements while enhancing others further, this will give it the edge it needs to create a solid Driver title.

Mission restarts do become aggravating if the mission is next to impossible, so a way to just bail out and vent some steam to rethink a new strategy would be nice, instead of being forced to choose "Restart mission, quit mission".

I know what you're saying, but GTA IV will change a lot of that feeling. You must realize that there will be little to no load screens in all of the game. And with that kept in mind, I don't think it'll be as frustrating to see us open up a phone and make decisions as much as we'd get frustrated from playing a very linear game.

Driver does not need to take this approach, should it abandon narrative. It wouldn't have to worry at all. And should Reflections abandon narrative for the future Driver games, I believe that each game will feel very much like GTA III. With saying this, I mean that it'll feel like the evolution of open-world games is happening again (not that Driver will be just another GTA game).

Infact, if the next Driver game has no narrative, it can really help with so many of our other wishes to come true and make their way into it, hopefully being very well polished in the end.

Oh, and to make one last comment on the "restarting mission, quit mission" structure, I feel that this is a good way to open up more choices for players (much like an adventure game has dialogue appear which your character can then select). It's like Mass Effect. And better yet, GTA IV will have a very more original and unique pause menu than any game of the past, so you really have to give a good hand to Rockstar North on achieving this. The truth is that we won't know how good this element will be until we've gotten our hands on GTA IV.

quote:

Originally posted by FutureVenturer:
I know what you're saying, but GTA IV will change a lot of that feeling. You must realize that there will be little to no load screens in all of the game. And with that kept in mind, I don't think it'll be as frustrating to see us open up a phone and make decisions as much as we'd get frustrated from playing a very linear game.

Driver does not need to take this approach, should it abandon narrative. It wouldn't have to worry at all. And should Reflections abandon narrative for the future Driver games, I believe that each game will feel very much like GTA III. With saying this, I mean that it'll feel like the evolution of open-world games is happening again (not that Driver will be just another GTA game).

Infact, if the next Driver game has no narrative, it can really help with so many of our other wishes to come true and make their way into it, hopefully being very well polished in the end.

Oh, and to make one last comment on the "restarting mission, quit mission" structure, I feel that this is a good way to open up more choices for players (much like an adventure game has dialogue appear which your character can then select). It's like Mass Effect. And better yet, GTA IV will have a very more original and unique pause menu than any game of the past, so you really have to give a good hand to Rockstar North on achieving this. The truth is that we won't know how good this element will be until we've gotten our hands on GTA IV.

Sounds interesting, but not groundbreaking to have missions accessible by phone. Driver 1 did the same thing with an answering machine, and you could even choose which call to take first, in a linear story structure of course.

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DRIVER needs new gameplay choices during free roam, like TAG MODE. In the mode already mentioned by Penny Sillin', you could "Tag" any car and choose to chase or be chased anywhere, at anytime without a menu/restart screen. If you hit other cars during the chase, they too will enter the chase.

Imagine a 10 vehicle chase.

And I want to see a GIANT RACE TRACK arena to visit for racing, watching races with tons of options like Pitstops, number of laps up to 200, tire replacements, smart AI racers, car, truck or motorcycle only races and mixed races as well, all your choice.

Yes, "the answering your cell phone" option may seem as a linear approach, but I think that linearity does deserve to exist, somehow, at one point, in every kind of game, especially if it helps polish up the whole experience. If it's too frustrating to be able to bare seeing the cell phone option always open up, asking you whether you wish to redo the mission or not, then get yourself a strategy guide or looking for one on the internet, get help with the mission, and you'll get through it, before you even know it.

Now, about the "Tag mode" idea, I believe that it should only apply to certain people, that being gangsters and other people who break the law. Otherwise, if the anyone could do this with you, it would look ridiculous and unrealistic.

If we're going to be able to visit places, we'll need to be able to interact with them as much as possible. I don't really think that sitting down and watching a race is more impressive than interacting with it, simply because games are about playing and getting out there in the game, to improve on your own skills. Sure, they could make this an option, but I don't believe it would be used by many people in most cases, when they'd likely figure that it's better to go and race than watch one.

TAG MODE and COP MODE.

COP MODE: Be a cruiser cop, doing your daily job of traffic stops, handing out tickets, arresting criminals, assisting during emergencies, etc.

TAG MODE: Bump any car and a chase begins, either you chase the car (s) tapped, or they chase you till either is rammed out of commission or escapes. This would be PERFECT for a Driver game.

I don't see what's so amazing about Tag Mode you keep talking about it again and again. Maybe you just like chasing and being chased too much:P

As a cheat ok but I could think better choices. Otherwise some people could do it, I'm sure in real world some would do it, but not everyone. That would be unrealistic, just what Driver should avoid if it's unnecessary.

I'm starting to feel that the whole idea centered around anything else besides law enforcement, as being the side missions (racing, taxi driver, fire fighter, etc.) would only make Reflections' next game closer to that of GTA IV rather than it being more different and actually a better polished game. When I'm looking at a developer that has made a great number of mistakes recently, I'm hoping that the developer will fix those many mistakes, and while they can just do that to ensure the next game won't turn up as bad, it seems that a few innovative/different directions are necessary to helping drive the whole game forward too.

In accordance to that of an article which I've recently stumbled upon (can be found here.), the story, even if it's very groundbreaking, will not be enough when the rest of the game feels broken, which compensates for the lack of skill found in Reflections' workers. Designers are more valuable than writers, as writers have usually linear ways of having a story flow within a video game, and even certain designers have the abilities to write as well. Not only is a writer not as valuable nor as important, but hiring a writer can take time and great sums of money, so it's not easy to find the right writer to pitch a game and have it become successful. I'm trying to point out that, while a story is quite necessary in every genre (besides that of puzzle games, maze games, sports games, and racing games), the AI and all else is far more important, with knowing that this is not a book, but that it is simply a visual experience. When a player gets a visual experience of a video game, everything--the graphics, gameplay, controls, sound, and replay value--must be done well to help make it more compelling to continue playing that game. The story is important too, but all the other pieces will be the biggest piece of them all to making the best playing/interacting experience possible. This is what I want Reflections to worry about the most.

Lastly, I would love to address that the environment within a game (that being the levels)are a big important factor, nowadays. There is enough technology to make the whole environment destructible, and so, I would be very pleased if total destruction can be done by using weapons, or better yet, vehicles, which would be driven through places to damage them. GTA IV, despite with the surprises still possibly going to be included in the game, will not allow for a nearly, if not completely destrucible environment. The city needs to look and be interacted in many ways (through doors, windows, fences, ladders, walking driving, explosions, etc. that will truly help make the entire experience feel unique. D3 brought some impressive explosions and damage modeling to vehicles, but now, with the PS3 & Xbox 360, we need nearly everything to become destructible in as many ways possible.

quote:

Originally posted by kalle90:
I don't see what's so amazing about Tag Mode you keep talking about it again and again. Maybe you just like chasing and being chased too much:P

As a cheat ok but I could think better choices. Otherwise some people could do it, I'm sure in real world some would do it, but not everyone. That would be unrealistic, just what Driver should avoid if it's unnecessary.

Remember in Driver 1, if you tap a police car that was blocking the road, it would become activated and chase you?

Driver's about chases last time I checked. Tag Mode's the perfect way to get into chases without having to select a menu everytime, plus it can expand into huge multi-vehicle chases beyond what we've seen so far.


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Future Venturer, being a fire fighter relates to driving a vehicle, being a taxi driver, racing in arena events, all vehicle related careers. Though similar to GTA, they can play out very differently and be much more realistic, rather than fast, timed, shallow tasks like in GTA. There's a lot that can be done with imagination in these career areas, in vehicle and then on foot.

Environment deformation is something the upcoming games Fracture and Red Faction 360 are skilled at, which requires a new engine to run the destruction, something Reflections should consider. But how does destruction improve the driving action?

One example, drive over a shaky bridge once, and it falls apart when the cops try to cross it, sending them into the water below.

I don't really think that there should be something like Tag Mode, unless it's only going to put the chases in the hands of cops & criminals because other types of people would probably start feeling too boring to chase. In case you didn't know, the GTA games had something like this, so if you shot someone's vehicle, or if you slammed into it, certain pedestrians would break the law, and then you could get into a chase. I'd rather have new skills and strong AI in the car chases than this.

Although driving a taxi or a firetruck relates to driving, Driver has only focused on crimes, whereas GTA is about stealing vehicles and doing all kinds of things within them. And I think that the world of crime could be done extremely well if Reflections only focuses on crime as part of the side missions and story missions. Besides, it's very likely that Reflections would just take the simple, timed, tasks fashion for its side missions, if they go further than just being about crime, so I don't want to see this happen.

The reason why destruction would be helpful is that it can create new pathways for the players to drive through. For instance, if you head right towards a window of a store, you'll go through it, without stopping, and you can eventually drive through the other side of the store, which will create a hole in the wall, and depending on fast you were going, this will determine how far your vehicle will go and how much damage will go both to the building and to your vehicle. Like Red Faction's G-mod, it could help open up new areas for you to escape and more, all by the destruction of the environment. And physics for the objects, vehicles, and people would really help bring forth an even better realism found in the next Driver game. After all, Driver is all about trying to create the most realistic city possible.

Wishlist: COP ABILITIES:

Ability to cuff anyone, so when they're cuffed, you can lead them around if they don't run off. If they run off, tackle them down and stuff 'em in the back seat of your car.

Ability to use a radar gun to track traffic speed on the roads and freeways. I want to stake out behind a billboard and tag speeders. Pull out in heavy, fast moving traffic and watch the wreck behind the cruiser, as the high speed pursuit ahead begins if they run, or ends if they decide to pull over.

Then I exit my vehicle, walk up prepared for a gun shot. If none, then hand them a ticket after getting their registration, license info. If they don't have that, I can fine or arrest them.

Believe it or not, the quality of a game will always be more important than its quantity, especially when a game is highly innovative. Therefore, when looking at the next Driver game, I don't want Reflections to try too hard on cramming in as many features as possible, but I do want them to follow their own ways and to make the features very bug free and well implemented. As long as every feature doesn't feel broken, and maybe even if we get a second way to how the story can be played through (instead of only one way), this can be enough, along with a great portrayal of realism in the people and the city's environment, as well as that of the vehicles (mainly the automobiles). Oh, and if Film Director could return, that'd be lovely too.

Wishlist: Ability to crawl onto the roof of your car, or hop onto the seat of your motorcycle as it's moving full speed, then jump off at the last second as it flies off a cliff, into a wall, up a ramp, or you could leap onto another vehicle "Pursuit Force" style. Great ways to use the "Vehicle as the weapon" without taking yourself out in the impact.

Lots of emotions, a powerful theme on what crime feels like in reality, and as much realistic and polished game as possible are just about the only things which Driver 4 truly needs. Without one of these, the game will not be a high caliber of art for a game, and it may just end up as immoral as almost every free-roam crime game has done so in the past. Also, unlike Rockstar North, I want Reflections to keep in mind that this isn't a movie, so they shouldn't strive as much as possible to make D4 look like one. Try to let the emotions, realism, and morality come alive as the player is moving and progressing throughout the game, not through the cut scenes only.

The only thing I care about anymore is that Reflections makes the game fun and action packed, and through realism to the side.

I won't bother getting into specifics becuase I've wasted a lot of time doing that here. The only reason I came back is because GTA4 sucks. Driver, your move.

What games really need, much of what movies and books as well as fine arts already have, are world connections and personal connections, in that, when you pick up a controller and start playing through a game, you'll later find that it has a great deal to do with going against war, or it can be something that speaks about our politics. We definitely need more people like this. I'm tired of seeing so many of the same kinds of games. New themes, questions, and facts must be put into games to help drive their narrative and gameplay as well as their concepts forward.

Driver 4 should show us something that we can learn about crime and how it is dealt with. What goes through the minds of those who are criminals? How do they get the job done? What kinds of jobs do they carry out? How does the law enforcement track them down? What is the city's government doing to make sure that crime is kept at a minimum? These are some questions which Driver 4 should really have us experience and ask. If more games actually had expressions, emotions, and tones, then it would really drive the entire experience forward. You wouldn't always be serious, angry, or just excited. Sometimes, you'd feel sad, but at other times, you may feel happy. Maybe they can mix it up a little. This is how games should function as we get more advanced technology. And if you think about it, the more developers focus on making expressions, emotions, and tones for games, the sooner we will be able to have games that are cut scene free. They may still be linear, but at least they'll drive a much bigger picture into that of our minds.

I'd sacrifice the things outside of the missions (side missions or collectibles) for a better story and for more options on how you can approach the missions it has to offer. Then, it can also have questions to ask, facts, and tone in it, which will make it feel more realistic than that of any other free-roam action-adventure game that was set in the crime world. This would possibly make its story better than that of GTA IV's. Also, if you think about it, voice-overs are not always enough to make a game's story intriguing when there can be more actions and things to follow. The only time when dialogue should happen is when something very significant needs to be known (not only your objective within a mission, but a good description of someone or of something in relation to reality). This is what the MGS games were able to do and I trust that Driver 4 can handle it too.

Once again, Reflections should deliver a game that is almost, if not, cut scene free and which employs all the realistic kinds of expressions (sad, angry, happy, etc.) that exist in reality, applying that to the main character, the other characters, and to any people of no importance in the missions (random pedestrians, cops, etc.). If this can be done in real-time, it'll feel as amazing as GTA IV was after it included the Euphoria engine and the taking cover feature to make much more realistic impacts, coming from any particular weapon in the game. Of course, Reflections should also try to handle a unique physics engine, but there needs to be much more than that, and it is most important that its workers build up features that will help out the main aspects of the game. Survival and driving are just two of those themes, but the other themes can be law enforcement (narrowing that down to the most important aspects), which need to be focused on.

The new DRIVER: Make it about chases again, not dull missions like "follow this car but don't get too close or he'll get spooked, go to this checkpoint, drop this off, pick this up, get here before the timer runs out" junk missions that show no creativity. I can't tell you how tired I am of boring missions that have nothing to do with great vehicle chases (It's like putting a race-car behind an office desk and expecting the player to come back for more).

Reflections, promise us you won't repeat the DPL, Driv3r, GTA formula. Innovate what it means to play a DRIVER game. Take it to the next level and beyond. Bring the awesome driving controls and amp up the intensity.

Give us the BEST driving chase game ever made if that's possible, but avoid the GTA formula at ALL COSTS.

I repeat, do not give us another sub par GTA dressed in DRIVER clothing. Innovate and make it your own and the fans will show up (new or old). Driving, chases, Hollywood stunt style action.

Yes, indeed, InsaneDriver06. We need Driver 4 to look as much different as possible from the GTA franchise. However, with that said, I do want on foot, but only that the most important elements will be chosen for the game (by all means of survival). And by making the crime theme much stronger (to make crime feel as a terrible thing, rather than something as you can call heaven in the world of GTA), as well as adding tone, and bringing together the biggest case you've ever seen a cop work on--something which isn't unoriginal and is followed by important sequences of events and characters that really take the crime theme to new heights--better yet, the cop theme.

Give players a reason that they will never forget about why we need protection in our society and on how that is done. For, we can have all the freedom we can ever damn please, but it still will not give us anything more than just what we've already explored in the past, so sacrificing non-linearity (which is actually still linear, to a certain extent, even if its not as linear as a linear game) for more of a linear game, even if that needs to be seen in a game centered around crime and that is in a city, to help make the experience more than just high-tech entertainment as the majority of people think of it as, while delivering various approaches to situations in the missions, will really signify a revolutionizing way for driving games forward, especially those which contain a crime setting. And this is what will make Reflections differ from Rockstar North. This is where the right kind of thinking in developing a game will be met--something which Reflections hasn't been able to do since the first Driver game.

quote:

Originally posted by FutureVenturer2:
Yes, indeed, InsaneDriver06. We need Driver 4 to look as much different as possible from the GTA franchise. However, with that said, I do want on foot, but only that the most important elements will be chosen for the game (by all means of survival). And by making the crime theme much stronger (to make crime feel as a terrible thing, rather than something as you can call heaven in the world of GTA), as well as adding tone, and bringing together the biggest case you've ever seen a cop work on--something which isn't unoriginal and is followed by important sequences of events and characters that really take the crime theme to new heights--better yet, the cop theme.

Give players a reason that they will never forget about why we need protection in our society and on how that is done. For, we can have all the freedom we can ever damn please, but it still will not give us anything more than just what we've already explored in the past, so sacrificing non-linearity (which is actually still linear, to a certain extent, even if its not as linear as a linear game) for more of a linear game, even if that needs to be seen in a game centered around crime and that is in a city, to help make the experience more than just high-tech entertainment as the majority of people think of it as, while delivering various approaches to situations in the missions, will really signify a revolutionizing way for driving games forward, especially those which contain a crime setting. And this is what will make Reflections differ from Rockstar North. This is where the right kind of thinking in developing a game will be met--something which Reflections hasn't been able to do since the first Driver game.

I think you have a solid point regarding the theme of making crime have a serious impact in the game, not to treat killing like swatting a fly. It's actually a great point for games to consider.

But on the same hand, I think Driver can avoid all of that by sticking to entertaining the gamer, like the sense you're getting behind the wheel of a super-charged muscle-car for the first time, buckling your belt and revving up to THE most intense vehicle chases ever witnessed in a game. That's what I want when I play the new Driver. I don't see much value in on foot to be honest when it's the driving that will make Driver 4 great.

Can Driver 4 work with on foot? Maybe, but avoid being like GTA. That formula of gameplay is old and offers nothing new worth replaying over and over.

If I'm ever going to consider buying another Driver game, I really need something more than a game which is worth my time and money; it needs to teach me something about society because, if you didn't already notice, most of the best art creations (found in books, fine arts, and movies) have proven themselves worthy enough by not only being very amusing, but also by treating our understanding of reality with care. Whether you like it or not, all forms of media (books, movies, games, etc.), not by every product, but by some, feature more than something that is worth your time to having fun. For instance, Metal Gear Solid is so fascinating because in its cut scenes, it speaks about cloning and a lot about things which make war seem wrong. Each character has a reason for being at war (e.g. love, loyality, greed, etc.) and so does Solid Snake. Unfortunately, when the player is trying to understand Snake, they don't ever really know why he is fighting. Instead, they can make choices of either killing the enemy or knocking them out. And, at the end of the story, the player has created himself a character for Snake.

The driving must be taken further, by having cops take real approaches, as those seen in the reality police chase TV shows. AI and physics as well as animations must be taken that far. As for on-foot, there should be various ways to attack an enemy, in which you can take cover, use simple grapples, punches, and kicks (those of a certain martials arts style, maybe karate), use weapons in first person view or third person view when aiming, and to roll to the side (not forward, which was found in D3 and happened to only worsen the situation) as well as in a way that is similar to that of MGS4, use the ability to stand up, crouch, or crawl (like in MGS games, and this will have the accuracy of firing your weapon vary, where crawling will make it the most accurate, crouching will make it less accurate, but certainly more accurate than when standing), and any other possible ways for survival. The things besides that of survival for the on-foot portion can be things like shimmying, climbing, running, walking, etc. Things like side missions, collecting things, simulation elements, or RPG elements don't need to be around because, of course, this is Driver, not GTA. Driver 4 doesn't need any relation to a GTA game whatsoever.