Imagine a game filled with lush, beautiful environments. Sound projects from your high-end speakers giving you the aura of actually being in a real place, and not looking into a TV screen. Image a game with infinite replay value, a deep, engrossing narrative, and gameplay mechanics which cry out innovation. Now open your eyes and realize that Atari’s latest entry into the Driver series holds none of the traits, and besides last year’s dull entries into The Matrix trilogy, you will never see an entertainment product which holds so much disappointment.

To put it bluntly, Driv3r is not a bad game, but it surely isn’t a good one either. In almost every aspect Driv3r is a completely average game, but from a series which once held great respect in the video game industry anything less than spectacular is unwanted. The game, developed by Reflections (Driver, Stuntman) tries to one-up all the other “me-too” games that have erupted in the “open-ended-gameplay” genre after the success of the original Driver and the 3D entries in the Grand Theft Auto series. Reflection’s third entry into the declining series misses its mark of becoming the “top-dog” once again in the genre and instead will be the likely butt of many jokes in the industry for years to come, much like the fallen Test Drive series.

The story centers around an undercover agent by the name of Tanner and his infiltration into a ring of car thieves. His missions will allow him to travel around the world from Miami to Nice before the game is complete, but don’t expect anything spectacular along the way.

The game plays well when you are behind the wheel of a car. Controls are responsive while driving at high speeds and the damage modeling is second to none. Hitting the hand-break usually causes your car’s back end to whip around wildly, but with some practice, you can get a handle on the controls. The physics engine is a bit wonky at times (your car doing 23 flips is not uncommon), but, for the most part, you’ll be fine. Where the game’s real problem lies is in the on-foot missions where controls are less than precise and the remedial tasks you are forced to perform will cause frustration rather than fun. When you are controlling Tanner outside his vehicle he moves like a 2,000 lbs. tank. The left analog stick controls forward movement, as well as strafing, while the right stick controls your aiming reticule. While all of the face buttons are mapped well the two control stick system feel awkward from the first time you play and you never do get the hang of it.

These missions wouldn’t be so bad if the game didn’t rely on them so much, or create missions in building interiors where the camera is more likely to be your death rather than the obtuse controls. From the moment you pick up the game you can see the Grand Theft Auto influence, even in the missions themselves. Complete with GTA like errands, you begin to get the feeling of knock-off from the very start. Missions are completely linear with none of the freedom you experience in the aforementioned series. When you fail a assignment you must restart, but most missions are not one action affairs, you may be required to drive to a location, engage in a gunfight, get another car, and then chase a fugitive until he crashes. If you mess up anywhere in the middle, you fail, and you must restart. Even the semi-linear tasks of Activision’s True Crime allowed you to skip a troublesome job if you didn’t want the best ending possible, but you weren’t inhibited from progressing just because you got stuck on one in particular.

Helping you along frustration road is the game’s laughable AI. Opposing goons will sometimes hide behind corners or run for cover, but for the most part they will stand still while you take pot-shot after pot-shot in the hopes you can successfully aim and hit them. Like before, and even in open areas, your camera will most likely be your undoing. While driving things don’t get much better. The police AI is, perhaps, the worst part of the game. In once instance, after driving my car into water, the police cars chasing me simply drove right in after me. One after another, police car after police car just drove right in until I finally drowned. As if suicidal tendencies weren’t bad enough, police will come after you for something a simple as tapping another car on the road, leading to more chases then you want to deal with.

One of the main draws to the series is the Film Director mode where you are able to place cameras and watch a very stylistic replay of your latest run, yet, while many have praised the mode, I was impartial to it. At times I had a lot of fun, but, for the most part, the atrocious AI, described above, kept anything spectacular from happening so mainly I got a lot of me dodging cars and weaving in and out of traffic much akin to a bad John Woo movie. To add insult to injury some of the game’s bugs caused the camera mounted on the side of my car to clip in and out of the environment creating some truly bizarre video.

Aside from the director’s mode you also have the ability to partake in some mini-games or explore the three cities included in the game. Exploring is, just as it sounds, a way to drive around and get the lay of the land and more comfortable with your surroundings. The mini-games included put you in a police car, chasing down a suspect, or vise versa. Survival is your best effort to keep your car in working order, while police are barreling after you, for a certain amount of time. The problem here is none of these modes is anywhere near fun. Usually I came back to these distractions after the main game pissed me off enough, but redoing the same scenario over and over again proved to be less than engaging as you are just as likely to fail these mini-games as the actual main game.

Driv3r might not be so bad if it weren’t for the little things. While I’m not trying to nit-pick or find ways to give the game a lower score, some of these problems are major issues with the gameplay which can seriously affect the overall experience. While driving, and more importantly chasing someone down, you are bound to end up on a sidewalk. The problem is, the contents of these sidewalks are very inconsistent leading to many failed missions and many restarts. Light poles and street lights will stop your car on a dime, and while this is how it is in the real world, you are usually able to pass right through most shrubs and plants with only the biggest trees standing in your way. To successfully complete some missions it becomes a game of proper driving by seeing if you can stay on the road, and avoid traffic. Funny, we already have a real life version of this, it’s called rush hour.

Whether by design, or not, actually getting into a car seems to be a big affair for Tanner. Hitting the button to get into a vehicle does not guarantee he will do so. In my time playing the game I’ve seen the character get hung up on the front bumper of a car (literally running in place), clip over the car, and, my favorite of all, do absolutely nothing. There are times, while playing, that you get a sneaking suspicion that this may not be a 100% complete game and maybe a beta copy got put in the duplicator by mistake.

The game, itself, looks good. There isn’t a doubt that Reflections has crafted a fine looking, but not extraordinary, looking game. The narrative is told via real-time cutscenes and beautiful FMV. Adding personality to those characters are the voices of Michael Madsen as Tanner, Ving Rhames, Michelle Rodriguez, Iggy Pop, and Mickey Rourke who all bring a bit of respectability to the game, as the expense of their own. As for sound effects the game features the same smashing metal, tire screeching you can find in just about every other game in the genre.