Driver: Renegade Review by: zanderlex - 4.6/10
Driver: Headache
This game is simply the worst game that I have ever played. The franchise happens to be one of my favorites and the game had a lot of potential, but the developers just didn’t execute the way that they should have. The game is still a lot of fun, but only for a little while before you realize that it’s so small and has almost nothing extra to offer than a few awesome pieces.
GRAPHICS: 8/10
The graphics I would say are the best aspect of the game. The gameplay graphics are pretty simple, and to me look like something you would see from one of the older GTA games, but still get the job done, especially for a DS game. There’s some detail when it comes to things such as the cars, buildings, and environment but for the most part it looks like a blend between an indie PC game and Minecraft, instead of a mainstream release of a very popular game series. It’s still good though, and the cutscenes are cool as well, which is basically a comic book that has been animated. Overall, the graphics aren’t as great for what you would expect from a 3DS game but are still good and will get an 8 out of 10.
SOUND: 4/10
When it comes to the sounds of the game, a lot of work could have been done on them to make them sound better, the quality at times isn’t all that great and the effects pretty much sound fake. When you drive into a wall or make another car explode, it sounds like the developers just used one of those royalty free sound effects instead of making their own. At times, the voice acting is a little off as well as flat and every now and then, the music, which is good, can get drowned out too much. Overall, I think every bit of the games sound could have used a complete overhaul to make it sound better and for a grade, sound gets a 4 out of 10.
ADDICTIVENESS 2/10
The game will get boring after a while, and it’s a shame because there was so much potential. For starters, you get a nice sized map that is supposed to resemble parts of New York City and New Jersey, roughly comparable to the parts of both that GTA IV is based on. You get a nice
selection of streets, bridges, tunnels, and highways, but the thing is, you can’t explore them on your own. The only way for you to drive is if you are on a mission or a race, there’s no free driving or anything of that nature so having that much space is a waste because you can’t enjoy it. The missions are also super easy and quick, there’s like 20 chapters in the story, and with the gameplay and all the cut scenes, you could finish a chapter in barely 2-3 minutes. Literally 85% of the time you spend playing the game will be on menus, watching cut scenes, and loading/saving as you might only drive for 100 to 200 seconds at a time. There are a few other modes such as random types of races which are fun, but again, they are also quick and very limited in what you can do, so after a while, the game will get very boring. Overall for addictiveness, this game is going to get a 2 out of 10.
STORY: 4/10
Parts of the story are good, but also feel very rushed and quick as well. Parts of the story even feel as if they are too “made up” as in not only would you not expect these things to happen, but the pacing is off, and some of the things that happen are just dumb. The game revolves around the franchises main character Tanner retiring from the NYPD, and after he saves the Senator, he goes on a wild montage of chases, kidnappings, interrogations, and murder. If you didn’t even play the game but just watched all of the cut scenes, you would have yourself a really cheesy and stupid indie movie. For a grade, story is going to get a 4 out of 10.
DEPTH: 7/10
The depth of the game is another aspect that is pretty well done, but could have been so much higher if you were able to freely explore the city and if the missions were a bit longer. The only reason that the depth grade is so high is because the total number of missions is in fact really high. The main story comes with roughly 20 chapters and there’s also a career mode which has a bunch of different game modes such as regular races, demolitions, time trials, and more, with each mode coming with 7 different missions. In total there’s roughly 80 or so different missions for you to drive through and 50 different cars for you to unlock and use, so there’s a really good amount of variety but that’s all the game has when it comes to the depth and for that, the grade for this aspect is going to be a 7 out of 10.
DIFFICULTY: 5
The game is quite easy, but at times can also induce quite a bit of rage. For the most part, if you know what you are doing with the controls, the game will flow smoothly, you can drive at top speed for miles at a time perfectly if you have the right amount of control, but if you hit something just once, there’s a 50/50 chance that you can either recover from it or go into an eternal stretch of spin outs and crashes that are really hard to recover from and can cost you a race or mission. Even if you played for the longest and beat everything, it can still get you, and at times you might find yourself restarting a level over and over until you get it right. For that, the difficulty grade for this game is going to get a 5.
OVERALL: 4.6/10
Overall, the game is trash. You will start playing the game and love the way it feels and love driving around the city, but it will only take so long for you to have driven down every street in a mission and not being able to explore on your own and the terrible pacing issues will quickly cause you to put the game down. The game will still be fun in quick sessions but you are wrong if you expect this to be the kind of game that you can play for a couple of hours a week. The game has a lot of problems and is just a bad game. Overall, Driver: Renegade 3DS gets a 4.6 out of 10.
Graphics
8 Sound
4 Addictive
2 Depth
7 Story
4 Difficulty
5
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