Driv3r is split up into missions set in three cities around the world ?Miami, Nice and Istanbul. Each of the areas is quite distinct and very large. The story follows the policeman Tanner as he goes undercover as a driver for a crime syndicate. While undercover he must perform certain tasks for the syndicate as well as trying to break the syndicate up. It's not the strongest of stories, but the focus of Driv3r, like any good action movie, is on the action rather than the plot. It seems strange then that seemingly a lot of effort has been put into some of the CG cut-scenes that tell a lot of the story. Driv3r has an odd mix of cut-scenes between the gameplay, and they are either very detailed, high quality movies or low-quality movies more akin to the actual game. The high quality movies are quite stylish and enjoyable to watch, and almost give the impression that possibly the developers should be making a movie rather than a game.

The rest of Driv3r clashes quite badly with these refined movies. The environments are quite drab and ill defined. This is possibly because the cities are very large and there are a lot of diverging paths off the main streets. Driving around each city is fairly smooth, and although there is a reasonable amount of pop-up it is not as bad as it could be. The cars are quite well modeled, and although they are not up to the standard of many other games they move and show damage quite well. The character models in Driv3r are very poorly done, with a low range of movement and variety. Even Tanner himself looks quite unappealing and some of his actions, swimming for instance, are downright awful. One of the neat features implemented for Driv3r is the highlights package. When loading a saved game a short, stylish set of clips plays, bringing players up to speed with previous events. This is a great feature for players who have a longer interval between games as the important parts of the story can be refreshed, and the way this has been implemented is very well done.

The gameplay is basically split into two parts ?on-foot and driving. Unfortunately the on-foot sections, of which there are quite a few, are some of the worst we have seen for some time. Players are only able to move around in an upright fashion pointing a gun straight out in front of them if needed. That's pretty much it for the controls. A crouch/roll button did briefly give us some hope, but Tanner is unable to move at all if crouched and can only roll forward from a crouch rendering that button all but useless. There is also a jump button, which launches Tanner into sort of a floating animation, but again we were unable to find any practical use for this.

This control setup turns gunfights, of which there are many, into dangerous situations. If cover can be found, such as behind a wall, Tanner still needs to come out into the open to fire, leaving himself woefully defenceless to return fire. Two adverse factors in Driv3r often save Tanner from a quick death. The first is a firing reticule that turns red when an enemy is targeted. Players can then use this to shoot opponents from a distance without even seeing the enemy. The other factor that gives players an advantage is an almost total lack of enemy AI. Almost all of the enemies stand in one spot, generally out in the open, so that players can easily pick them off. Occasionally they will crouch, but since they are in the open this is generally a wasted movement.

Luckily the driving sections fare much better, although they are not totally without their problems. Cars are mainly driven, but the occasional boat, truck or even motorcycle also make appearances. At first the vehicles seem to suffer from being extremely sensitive. Any little twitch on the controller can send the car spinning or careening uncontrollably into an obstacle. Practice does certainly improve the player's ability though and after a while the nuances of the handling show that this is a game more for the exacting driver. Even so we were never able to get totally comfortable with the driving and careen about carelessly as we can in other games. Gamers are not aided in this endeavour by the constant breaks in action and extensive on-foot sections, necessitating a reorientation period when behind the wheel once more.

Part of the problem we have with the driving sections is the camera. There is a choice of one third-person and one first-person bumper view and neither is totally satisfactory, despite the existence of side and rear views. This is especially noticeable in the boat sections. The boat is set quite low in the water making either view quite restrictive. A higher third-person view or a moveable camera with the redundant right thumbstick would have solved these problems and made the game a lot more manageable.

In sharp contrast to the on-foot sections the enemy AI in cars seems almost too aggressive. Hopelessly faster than Tanner's car players must find ways to catch enemies or lose chasing vehicles, requiring more and more daring maneuvers. This can at times be quite challenging and enjoyable, but with the instability of the cars and the relentless nature of the AI this can turn into something quite frustrating. These driving sections also seem to be plagued with a lack of balance in the gameplay. For instance where Tanner is the chase car any little slip or deviation from the road can result in the other car getting away. The reverse is however not true when Tanner is being chased. This results some tortuous trial-and-error sequences akin to the agony we often felt in Reflection's previous game Stuntman.

One thing the developers have done very well is the audio side of Driv3r. An all-star cast have taken up roles in the game, including Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Mickey Rourke and Iggy Pop, and this has resulted in some fine voice acting. Accompanying this is a soundtrack worthy of a good action movie. The mix of both vocal and non-vocals tracks favours a hard rock or techno sound, and seems well suited to this style of game.