Commodore-64. Hell, before that even - remember the "Night Driver"
arcade game and the cartridge version you could buy for the Vic-20?
I've been a big fan of great driving games ever since, including GPL.
Caveat: I am currently working on arcade driving games (The Simpsons
Road Rage) for a living.
Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA3, just released on the PS2) may well be the
greatest driving game of all time.
This game is so absolutely masive - much greater in scope than
anything that's been attempted before - that it's hard to even know
where to begin. So maybe I'll just break it down into categories and
start from there.
Physics
=======
The driving experienced is incredible. Everything from family sedans
to humvees to vipers and ferraris to buses and 18-wheeler trucks are
modedeled, and everything in between. This may be the most realistic
depiction of driving yet implemented of everyday cars. Not just the
driving physics, but the accidents and collisions are frighteningly
realistic as well.
The game is simulated in a living and breathing city environment.
Every single car in the game world can be stolen and driven. I could
(and have) played for hours on end, just stealing various vehicles and
playing with them, ignoring the actual game.
Graphics
========
Nothing short of incredible. The size of the three [connected] game
worlds is massive, and yet the attention to detail is there too. The
entire city lives in a simulated 24-hour environment (where a minute
passes for every real-world second). Lighting and weather is dynamic,
particle effects and animation - including dynamic vehicle damage - is
first rate. Out of car animation (characters walking and so on) is
also quite good. Movie-scenes are done with the game engine and work
very nicely.
Occasionally the framerate dips a bit, but nothing that affects car
control, so it's a fair trade off against everything that's going on.
Sound
=====
Exceptional. Great vehicle/collision/fighting/character sounds, and
the most indepth (and hilariously funny) multi-channel radio
simulation I've heard in a video game. Very funny and sometimes
shocking, the dialogue is also great.
Gameplay
========
Well I just don't know where to start. The missions I suppose, since
they are the core of the gameplay.
The missions are very fun and original. In one you have to hit someone
who's eating in a restaurant. You steal there car, take it somewhere
to get it armed with a bomb, and return it (being careful not to
damage it or park it out of place). Then the poor sucker comes out and
it blows up spectacularly.
What really impresses me about the missions is how effective simple
logical thinking is. I had to disable a car in one, but couldn't do it
in my taxi cab - so I stole a bus and then it was no problem. If the
mission is too hard you are usually doing something wrong. In another
I had to shoot someone on foot, and he kept getting away. So next time
I stole his car and wrecked it before going after him - and sure
enough he couldn't get away!
The missions are the core gameplay, but only one small part of it. If
you want to make some money ou can steal a cab and go delivering
passengers, ala Crazy Taxi. Or you can steal a fire engine and make
money putting out fires. Or rescue people in the ambulance. Or even
take a cop car and chase crooks.
There's a hundred ways to make money or advance your cause. You can be
a simple mugger, taking people's money. You can steal a mafia car, run
over the gun-wielding former owner, and then take his gun. You can
have sex with ***s, then kill them and take their money back (this
game not only redefines "deep gameplay" - it's positively *sinful*).
You can make money doing special jumps and stunts, and probably fifty
other ways I haven't heard about.
AI
==
The AI is ground-breaking, reflecting it's 4th-generation heritage (by
the makers of Midtown Madness, Midnight Club Racing, etc.). The police
driving-AI is superb - tough but without seeming to cheat, they are
constrained by the same physics as you are (and yet police chases feel
spectacularly dangerous, as they would in real life). There are also
side-missions featuring full races with great AI.
But the AI goes far beyond driving, the whole city lives and breaths.
The time-of-day isn't just graphical, but is reflected in
pedestrian/traffic density, type, and behaviour. The fireman respond
to fires, the ambulances to injury (I heard one story of setting a
***on fire, waiting for the firetruck and setting it's ownwer on
fire, then waiting for the cops and running them over with the
firetruck!).
You can even use the city infrastructure - trevel by car or foot, or
by the l-train, or boat or plane in some cicumstances.
Summary
=======
There are probably twenty more really cool things I just can't
remember about right now, and a hundred I haven't seen yet. (Oh yeah,
one more I just remembered - take the *** you find by the hospital
and get Max Payne style bullet-time where everything slows down).
This game is not only worth buying, it makes the PS2 worth buying. I
know a guy who spent five hundred bucks this weekend getting a PS2
just so he could play GTA3 - and he's thrilled with his decision. You
don't have to be that drastic, because it is coming to the PC next
year (if you can wait that long!). But with other triple-AAA titles
now hitting the stores or soon to - MGS2, Devil May Cry, Ico, GT3 -
the time is ripe for any serious game to get a PS2.
If you have a PS2, don't even hesitate - go buy this game right now
(if you can find a copy - it's selling like hotcakes of course). If
you don't, find a friend who does and play it there.
Joe McGinn
_____________________
Radical Entertainment