It has been a tough road for the Driver series…no pun intended. The franchise has been somewhat hit or miss, with a heavier emphasis on the “miss” in the last few years, but Ubisoft thinks they have worked out the kinks in the newest entry to the series, Driver: San Francisco.
After debuting the game back in June 2010 at E3 to a solid reception, the title has since gone to ground and remained fairly quiet while Ubisoft Reflections finished work on it. But now it appears that the developer has decided to begin a PR push for the game, which is due later this summer.
Returning to the character that made the franchise famous, players will once again assume the role of Tanner, the Steve McQueen-like cop that would be right at home in a 1970s detective show. For those that didn’t play Driver 3—and let’s be honest, that is most people—the game picks up after Tanner and his arch rival, Jericho, were involved in a shootout in Istanbul. Both men survived, but Jericho landed behind bars in San Francisco, while Tanner went off to continue to be cool and do whatever else he does while not launching cars off of jumps at insane speeds.
As Jericho is being transported, he pulls off a daring escape, and he and Tanner face off once more. Rather than let him escape, Tanner rams Jericho head on, and winds up in a coma following the head-on collision. Thankfully, it turns out to be one of the best comas ever, and Tanner has a kick ass fever dream in which he takes control of any car in the city of San Francisco and completes missions. It is in this fever dream that the new game takes place.
The game will feature a lengthy campaign set in and around San Francisco, with 208 miles of drivable road. There will also be a multiplayer aspect which was debuted at E3 last year. Look for more info on Driver: San Francisco in the coming months, then keep an eye out for it in stores when it is released on Mac, MS, PS3 and Xbox 360, with a modified version for the Wii, due out on August 30.
