Johnny Mercyside

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #31

If you missed #32 click here.

#31 - Driver
Released: 1999
Genre: Action
Rating: **** stars
Best Moment: Driving fast and avoiding the cops. What's more to love??
In a certain way I feel sorry for Driver. The game set a precedent at the time for showing that you can get a game that does 3D driving and illegal/crooked activity and make a big success out of it. Back then there was a little game you may have heard called Grand Theft Auto. In those days the GTA games were 2D over-the-top view, like Micro Machines. Then Driver came out, and showed you can make a fully 3D action driving game that can really work. Look at that screen shot above. You have the "damage" bar but you often also have a "felony" bar, which is practically identical to the "star" rating in the GTA games. Look at the map in the bottom corner? Looks like the GTA radar right? This game came out in 1999. Two years later GTA3 came out and completely changed EVERYTHING. But if it wasn't for this game showing how to do it first, the GTA series may not be the mega blockbuster game series it is today.

This game isn't perfect though, not by a long shot. The training "driving test" at the beginning of the game is HARD. And if you can't beat it, you can't play the game. So many players actually quit there and then before even getting the game properly started. And while the game is tons of fun, the fact that you can't leave the car was very frustrating. In the sequel you could leave the car but it looked awful, and barely added anything to the game play, apart from letting you go into a different car. As I said, GTA games took the ball and ran with it, but Driver did show how things CAN be done, before GTA really took off, and they have my full respect for that.

20 down, 30 to go! Find out what came in at #30 by clicking here!


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