Driving

Driver – San Francisco

Description

Driver: San Francisco is an entry in the long-running action racing series. The story, which is entirely different from the Wii version of the same name, takes place six months after the events in Driv3r. Protagonist undercover cop John Tanner and antagonist Charles Jericho have both survived the final shootout in Istanbul. Jericho is facing sentencing after being tried in San Francisco, but escapes his prison van. He is chased down by Tanner and his partner Tobias Jones. During the pursuit, Tanner’s vehicle is struck by a Big Rig and he ends up in the hospital in a coma. The majority of the game takes place in Tanner’s coma-induced dream where he continues to track down Jericho.

The player has access to the entire city of San Francisco with the freedom to explore it without boundaries. Players can choose to follow the main storyline, where Tanner gradually learns he is actually in a dream, or take on the many vignette-like missions with mini-stories along with regular races and stunts, even participating in the recording of a movie stunt scene for instance. There are many different licensed cars to collect, with 140 types ranging from Volkswagen to Lamborghini. A return to the gameplay of the original Driver, players are no longer able to exit the vehicle or explore on foot. The entire game takes place inside a car. Streets are filled with traffic and often certain obstacles can be used to perform stunts. Pedestrians can never be hit, they dive out of the way. Next to the main driving controls players can boost and perform ram attacks on cars. Footage of the racing can be captured in the film director mode, which was absent in the previous game Driver: Parallel Lines. …

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Streets of SimCity

Description

Streets of SimCity is a 1997 racing and vehicular combat computer game published by Maxis. One of the game’s main attractions was the ability to explore any city created in SimCity 2000 by car in a cinematic style. The game, like SimCopter, is in full 3D and the player’s vehicle can be controlled using a keyboard, a joystick, or a gamepad. Another notable feature is the game’s network mode, in which players can play deathmatches with up to seven other individuals. Notably, it is the last Maxis game to be developed and released without supervision by Electronic Arts, which acquired Maxis in the two months leading up to release and assisted development of Maxis games thereafter.
Its primary competition was Carmageddon.

Race through or create havoc in one of 50+ cities, or import your own SimCity 2000 cities for battle-on-wheels! Play pre-built missions or take on up to seven opponents via LAN or Internet play. …

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Interstate 76 – Nitro Riders

Description

Interstate ’76: Nitro Pack is a stand-alone add-on for the vehicular combat game Interstate ’76. It takes place before the events from the original game and contains 20 single-player missions, in which the player can choose a character from among: Taurus, Skeeter or Jade (the sister of Interstate ’76 protagonist Groove Champion). The missions are not tied together by a storyline but can be played in any order and with every vehicle.

Though not required, owners of the original Interstate ’76 can use this product to upgrade their version of the game, making this also an add-on. New features with this add-on include Force Feedback support and support for D3D, 3Dfx and Rendition Power VR. The improvements to the game itself are: more weapons, more cars & paintjobs, a racing & a “capture the flag” mode and advanced multiplayer hosting options. …

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Interstate 82

Description

Interstate ’82 is a vehicular combat video game developed and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows in November 1999.

The game is set in the Southwestern United States in an alternate version of the year 1982, during the Reagan Administration. The game is less complex than its predecessor, Interstate ’76, lacking the detailed armor and weapon management of the original. Its play-style is closer to console-based vehicular combat games like Twisted Metal, with a single health bar displaying both armor and chassis strength, as opposed to ’76’s armor/chassis strength system. The vehicle models have been updated to reflect the change in era, and overall, the game has a new wave feel, with several hitherto-unreleased Devo songs being on the soundtrack, as opposed to the first game’s funk-inspired style.

Interstate ’82 features a story-mode like its predecessor, with one new option: the player can exit one vehicle and enter another, adding some strategy to the game’s storyline. Another new addition is the ability to skin the new vehicle models. …

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Driver 2 – Back on the Streets

Description

You are an undercover driver, trying to survive amidst an international war between American and Brazilian gangs. The action takes you to Chicago, Las Vegas, Rio and Havana, all of which are depicted in detail. There are several improvements over the first game. The cities now also have curved roads instead of just all right angles, in some missions you can exit your vehicle and move around on foot, and there is a multi-player game mode.

As before, you have full control over the car as it storms around the streets. The new ability to get out of the car and carjack other cars is especially useful when you have fallen victim to the advanced damage modeling.

There is a full sequence of 37 missions to complete spread out over the four city locations, as well as some pre-set challenges and a Free Driving mode allowing you to explore at your leisure. The new multi-player split screen feature includes four game modes: take a ride, cops’n’robbers, checkpoint and capture the flag. …

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Cabela’s 4×4 Off-Road Adventure

Description

Cabela’s 4×4 Off-Road Adventure is action-packed, though mildly frustrating, and will likely be a hit with value conscious fans of off-road mud and snow action. If you’ve ever driven a powerful machine off the beaten path, the simulation will bring back some good memories. The sheer number of vehicles available for use in the different play modes is an asset, and gamers can paint each vehicle in an almost limitless variety of color schemes. The machines can be “souped” up as play advances from stage to stage.

The most notable drawback is the lack of consistency in gameplay. Certain game modes and tracks are incredibly easy, while others are impossibly difficult. Oddly, the game features a backward rewards system for modifying vehicles. For example, complete a snow track and you receive snow tires, not the other way around. Unfortunately, there aren’t any more snow tracks in the particular game mode where you might be able to use them. …

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Midtown Madness 2

Description

Midtown Madness 2 is a 2000 open world racing PC game. It is the sequel to 1999’s Midtown Madness, developed by Angel Studios and published by Microsoft. The game features a range of vehicles that can be driven around London and San Francisco. There are Blitz, Checkpoint, Circuit, and Cruise modes, which are all derived from the original Midtown Madness game. Winning Blitz, Checkpoint and Circuit races allows the player to access unlockables, and the Cruise mode lets the player roam freely around the two open world recreations of London and San Francisco. A Crash Course can be completed in each of the cities. The Cab Driving School in London follows an extremist view of a London cab driver, where a player must complete objectives in a London cab. The Stunt Driver course in San Francisco allows the player to gain experience in stunt driving for a Hollywood movie, using the Ford Mustang Fastback.

Players can change the visual appearance of the game before starting a race, such as the weather and time of day. Additionally, the frequency of how many cops spawn around the city can be modified, along with the amount of traffic and pedestrians. In Cruise Mode, this can change where the player starts off. Every race or cruise begins with a commentator introducing the course. These commentators would also be heard at the end of a race saying something that depends on the player’s position upon finishing. The commentators would be different for each race, and they are different for each of the two cities. The commentators can be turned off. One of the game’s most entertaining aspects is its humor; for example, the new age retro hippie in San Francisco singing an out-of-tune variation of John Lennon song Give Peace a Chance. In most races and Cruise mode, people in cars and pedestrians can yell comments at players in different languages. …

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