Driver (series)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and PC. Developed by Reflections Interactive, it was originally published by GT Interactive, and is now published by Atari. There have been four installments released, the latest on March 14, 2006.
Driver: You Are the Wheelman
- Main article: Driver: You Are the Wheelman
The first game of the Driver series was released June 30, 1999 in the US, and March 9, 2000 in Japan for the PlayStation, and September 10, 2000 in the US, and October 13, 2000 in Europe for PC. You play as an undercover police officer named Tanner. It featured a storyline based in four real-life cities; Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. The game was set in the 1970s. This game was the worst selling game of the Driver series of games.
Driver 2: the Wheelman is Back
- Main article: Driver 2
The second installment was only released for PlayStation, by Infogrames (now known as Atari), and later ported to the Game Boy Advance. It came out on November 13, 2000 in the US, and four days later, November 17 in Europe. It featured Tanner once more, in four real-life cities. Which were Chicago, Havana, Las Vegas and Rio De Janeiro. It was also the first in the series to feature the ability to get out of your car at any time in order to steal another car on the street.
DRIV3R
- Main article: DRIV3R
The third edition of Tanner's story was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004 in the United States and officially on June 25 in Europe to generally poor reviews. This game takes place in Miami, Nice and Istanbul. It was subsequently followed by versions for the PC, Nokia's N-Gage and a GameBoy Advance version. [1] The game sold rather well despite poor reviews, and Reflections paid notice to the complaints about the insipid story line, poor controls, and abundance of glitches in order to improve the series' standings with critics and gamers in the fourth installment of the series.
Driver: Parallel Lines
- Main article: Driver: Parallel Lines
The fourth game in the series, Driver: Parallel Lines, was released March 14, 2006. Reflections intended Parallel Lines to "return the series to its roots" by focusing more on driving. The game differs greatly in other apects from its predecessors, though, as the story no longer follows undercover cop Tanner and the game takes place in only one location, New York City. The games includes two time periods, 1978 and 2006. Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions have been released, a rumor stated that a PlayStation Portable version was going to be created but it was proven to be fake by Reflections. [citation needed]