Driver: San Francisco

I’ll admit to you now, as I did to Ubisoft Reflections on July 26th, at the time of visiting I knew embarrasingly little about the studio I was about to enter, the game I was about to play, and its predecessors – I have spent the last week or so sitting in a new apartment with no internet, waiting for furniture to arrive and growing a giant cyst on my hand.

A day prior my deformed hand and I took a train to Newcastle, and with the other journalists attending, checked into a hotel together. We were staying at The Jury, and I felt pretty special collecting my card for room 727, on the 7th floor with a great view across Newcastle. I don’t know if room cards hate me, or if I’m inept at opening doors, but I reached the 7th floor and my card wouldn’t work. I went back down and had it changed. I went back up and it still didn’t work. In the end a member of staff had to let me in. The exact same thing happened when we returned from our wonderful meal.

But onto the important stuff – having been well slept and fed (and in my case exercised), we took a taxi to Ubisoft Reflections, the Tardis of game development studios that seems to keep expanding in size the further you explore it. After coming in we got a rough overview of the game from Reflections’ Brand Manager, Phil Brannelly,  where one thing was particularly clear, one of the games key mechanics, called shift, is really something that has to be played to be understood. It’s a bit like the cop drama Life on Mars, but directed by the Wachowski Brothers and set in San Francisco. It’s a bit like that, I spent a long time attempting to draw good comparisons and I’m still not satisfied what I’ve got here really reflects the game.

I made myself comfortable to start gaming, had a cup of tea with three sugars and was hugely chuffed to get some wins in against the other journalists in the games standard GP mode, but once shift came into play (or my sugar had worn off) the experience changes entirely. I learned this is no gimmick, nor is it a quick  ‘win’ button, and while Driver: San Francisco boasts realistic handling, visuals, and fully licensed vehicles, as you begin to explore the different multiplayer modes, it’s apparent that this ability is an integral part of the experience, and one that can be used skillfully in so many different ways.

In modes without shift, Driver: SF is still solid fun as a competitive racing game, but it’s using shift that keeps the experience intense for everyone, it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last, because shift can keep all the players in the center of action. Because of the many ways it can be used, and the nature of the different game modes, it doesn’t seem to throw more skilled players off balance in point scoring, it’s not a quick pass into winning, it’s a quick pass into the drama, so you’ve got to use it right. All those words and I still haven’t explained what it is! Let’s try…

As one example, I played a Getaway mode with three other players. One player is the getaway car, the other players are the cops, as a cop you need to cause as much damage as possible to the getaway car and bring it to a halt, as a getaway, you need to outrun the police and reach as many drop-off points across San Francisco as possible. This is insane fun.

As a getaway, you cannot shift into other vehicles, you’re bound to the one you start with and you’ll have to escape the cops as damage-free as possible in order to stand a chance. As a cop, you can use shift to instantly switch control into any other vehicle. Think Agent Smith in the Matrix. Now times that by three. As a getaway you can contend with the cops chasing hot on your tail, which is pretty standard, but clever players may find the opportune moment to shift into a vehicle in the opposite lane and aim for a head on collision (think a high speed game of chicken). You could shift into a car heading towards the getaway on a junction for a side-on hit, you have to remember this is open-world San Francisco – there are quiet pedestrian streets to hide in, busy motorways to contend with, and a massive variant in vehicles that can be used in many different ways (such as shifting into a lorry and jackknifing across your opponents path) it’s edge-of-your-seat game play, it creates incredible close-shave moments you want to talk about afterwards, and it’s surprisingly even matched (apart from the games producer Martin Oliver completely wiping the floor with us. I also recall Martin Edmondson, the games’ creative director performing 10 or so perfect handbrake turns along a downhill snaking pavement section, which I had previously navigated by coasting along most of the walls and crashing into the rest).

I’ve since read some speculation that using shift will throw multiplayer games hugely off-balance, I want to assure you that not once during the day was this the case, even in the getaway scenario. If you use shift clumsily, jump into vehicles that are slow, or driving the wrong way, or perhaps you spend too much time in the games birds-eye view trying to decide which vehicle to shift into, there’s valuable time and points (depending on the mode you are playing) constantly at stake.

If like me you don’t have any friends or an internet connection, (just kidding! I have the internet now) there’s a single player story packed with content, inspired movie challenges, dares, and the return of the popular Movie Maker to enjoy.

One other element that amazed me is how seamless the experience is. There’s no popping in and out of a huge map to see where you’re going, because the minimap is expandable during play, there’s absolutely no loading times when shifting, you can fly out and view the entirety of San Francisco, and jump into any car, anywhere, all at a smooth 60 frames per second, with a massive draw distance of four miles and no visible popping in. Just think, if you buy this game on September 2nd in Europe or the 6th in America, you could be my friend, and I could thwart your escape with a well-placed bus. Because that’s what friends are for.