14 DAY TRIAL // 
Every year a bunch of GTA clones roam the streets targeting the gamers who will play them, hoping to find a revelation till the next Grand Theft Auto title comes out. Driver '76 can be called a GTA clone, but it's not entirely, at least it's not 100% sure that the producers wanted it to be so. Sumo Digital tries to revive the famous series, with the aid of the PSP and a couple of innovations added to GTA's recipe for successful titles. This game can be fun, thanks to its many missions and the free-roaming it allows on Sony's portable console. All isn't peachy though, if you take into consideration a bad aiming system and frequent loading times. Well, at least those GTA fans have something to play till the fourth installment in the series comes out.
Story Welcome to the seventies! '76 to be exact, but who cares as long as we've got Slink the pimp and Ray the mechanic on our side? These two characters were featured in the last installment in the Driver series, Parallel lines and now you get a chance to find out more about them. Driver '76's action takes place two years before Parallel Lines, so it can be considered some sort of prequel. You play as Ray, a wheelman that adores his job and plans to take on the streets of New York... in the name of love (it's the seventies after all). The game's storyline is as simple as it gets: Ray falls for a young lady named Chen-Chi and it just happens that she's the daughter of the mighty Zhou, the Triad boss in New York.
The only way to get the Asian Godfather to like the young man is earning loads of cash, becoming famous (criminally famous), participating in street racing and all sorts of illegal activities. I guess that a couple of gifts would have worked better, but little miss Chen-Chi isn't that easy to get. Ray teams up with Slink and performs all sorts of jobs for him, ranging from carjacking activities to street races and even murders.
Concept You get a chance to create a profile right from the start, so think of something better than "Player 1" for a name and save your profile. Driver '76 gives you the opportunity to drive up to 40 customizable vehicles, from the muscle cars we adore, to motorbikes or even ambulances. The car's physics are really good for a PSP game, for any console if you think about it, as you'll feel that you're driving a vehicle that can take damage, has a weight and can get wrecked after a couple of crashes. You can hit objects, people, fences, buildings, other cars and most of those will do damage to your car and character, so you'd better watch out. Also, jumping from your car at high speed and walking near a speeding vehicle is not such a good idea, because it seriously decreases your health. One thing that bothered me was that once your car got flipped, it was considered wrecked and there was no chance you could ever use it.
There are 27 missions in Driver, divided into 6 main plots and a lot more side jobs that will bring you cash, new cars and fame. You'll use the cash to modify the rides you've got in your garage, making them faster, safer, even bulletproof. The latest installment in the Driver series takes you to Jersey, Hunt's Point, La Guardia and a number of other locations you've probably heard of or raced on in GTA games. Speaking of races, there are a couple of those available in the game, with different difficulty levels (easy, medium or hard). I have to mention that the navigation through the game's menu is extremely easy to do with the aid of the shoulder buttons and you'll see the objectives, the map, the stuff you've unlocked with just the push of a button, no lag involved. The missions and side jobs you can take are all available on the map, one button press away from being started. They're the usual "go from point A to point B and deliver or escort" missions, that were made famous by the GTA series and are now featured in all the sandbox and free-roaming games. There are two on-screen meters you should keep your eyes on at all time: there's the on foot crimes meter at the bottom right of the screen and the car crimes meter on the bottom left side.
It's pretty easy to figure out that once you start shooting people with your AK-47, the police will be after you for on foot crimes. Don't fear the "men in blue" as it takes a serious crime to make them take action. You'll have to kill someone in front of them, hit a police car or take part in other important criminal activities to attract their attention. Once they start chasing you, there's no point in getting excited, as a couple of right turns will make you lose them. So much for the AI, but at least they can triumph thanks to their numerous patrols?In case you're a serious gamer that wants to complete every objective and get the max out of each mission, you might want to know that your assignments are shown on the minimap in the shape of a yellow icon.
This may be a GTA clone, but its weapons are far from the original title? You'll be gunning and running with a revolver, a 44H, a Service 9, a shotgun, a launcher or an AK-47. The controls are pretty basic and you'll use the triangle button to enter or exit cars, the X to accelerate and the shoulder buttons to aim and shoot. If you don't care about the damage that the player and his ride take, you'll do stunts that are usually awarded with a slow motion replay of the crash sequence that just happened.
Gameplay If you play the max out of Driver '76, you'll get about 6 hours of pure gameplay and finish the game's main storyline. However, since this is a PSP game, you'll probably enjoy playing random missions in 15 to 20 minutes sessions, during your lunch break. While playing the game it puzzled me to see that New York is such a deserted town? I mean, I know that it's the seventies and everyone's out there making "love not war", but there should be a couple of pedestrians left to run over. This also applies to the cars and it was sad to see that the streets were almost deserted in some areas, specially during the cop chases, when a bit of traffic would have made those more interesting. It's not enough that the people are few, but they are also quite resilient. They can take quite a beating and you can run them over a couple of times and they'll still run and cry for help. A downside of the latest Driver game is the bad aiming system, that uses the shoulder buttons in a pretty uncomfortable way for one's fingers.
Many gamers complained about the quantity of damage you take during the gameplay and I tend to agree mostly when you walk near a car and wake up on the pavement. If a vehicle is gently moving, not even doing 10 miles per hour, you'll get hit by it, just because it is moving. As if this wasn't enough, a car that's been flipped can be considered out of commission and a normal vehicle can usually withstand two or three crashes. So, your life is short, you're living dangerously and your ride is feeble. In the game's main interface you can see the city map at all time and I have to admit that it's a pretty big one, almost as big as GTA's. Press the L button still in the main menu and you'll see the garage that shows the cars you have and gives you a chance to tune them a bit. Don't expect any NFS tuning here, instead you'll be working on your car's body, engine, shocks, springs, brakes or tyres. If you've reached a gangster status you might consider bulletproof windshields and hood. There's also a Test Track option that allows you to do some fine tuning. Just press the select button during the test, choose a part of the car and press the left or right directional pad button. By doing that you'll increase the car's height, the braking intensity and alter the above-mentioned tuning options.
This is not something new, still it adds to the experience of playing a game on the PSP portable console, what's more a resurrected Driver title. There's a wide variety of jobs and side jobs to choose from and each awards you with cash and popularity. One thing you should always keep in mind is that if you're driving someone else's car, you shouldn't be wrecking it, because that will turn your mission into a failed one. It's very funny to hear Slink worry about his car, when you're scratching it and ruining his wheels. Also the bigshots must be kept happy, when you're playing the taxi guy that takes them from one place to the other. Crashing all the time, with the Godfather in the back seat is not an option. Side jobs include races against three other cars, but they're not much of a challenge, although they're major pushovers, that never play fair.
Usually, if you get to lead the race for at least at lap, you should consider yourself the winner. Also turning an enemy's car around is a great idea, but be careful as those guys don't play and have an affinity for crashes and spins. As I mentioned in the concept section of the review, the cops are all out to get donuts in this game and they'll only handle the minor crimes you do. When things get big and ugly, it's time for the SWAT to step in and give you the proper pounding. It's particularly fun to lose the cops, even if it lasts ten seconds sometimes, but if you're a "natural born criminal" you'll get plenty of chases to keep your satisfied.
Video I was surprised by the game's graphical quality, then I remembered the looks of the GTA title for the PSP and gave it a second thought. Driver '76 is an average title when it comes to graphics, but still it's not a bad thing for a portable console title. The main character has realistic moves: his hair is flowing, the clothes are moving, his running is not as stiff as we've seen in Spider-Man 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Driver '76's story is told through dotted comics, that bring an old school flavor to the whole seventies experience. New York's architecture and the game's general atmosphere is great, picturing a metropolis that's ruled by vice and criminals.
The car's visuals are great and you'll see that when a crash happens. You'll see sparks when the car's dragging a metallic part behind, the hood will fly, the windows break and the ride gets turned into scrap metal right in front of your eyes, if you keep crashing it. Spice that up with some explosions and we've got a recycled GTA to toy with, till the next installment in the famous sandbox title series comes out. If the camera angle doesn't suit your play style, there are many ways to change it, ranging from pressing the D-pad buttons to using the square and circle buttons.
Sound What would a game that features action from the seventies be without some proper seventies music? I'm talking about James Brown hits, songs from War and David Bowie, enough funk and reggae to keep you in that special mood, enough to enjoy the title. Like in GTA, radio stations can be changed, but you won't see their names, so enjoy the randomness of funky music from dozens of years ago. The dialogs are funny enough to keep you from skipping the cutscenes and Slink's lines should be part of an old Eddie Murphy stand up show. Just imagine that you're watching Snoop Dogg playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and listening to his lines. That's the feeling you get throughout the game? that neat "shizzle" from thirty years ago.
Multiplayer Surprisingly enough, this game can prove to be more fun in its multiplayer mode, than the standard single player missions. You'll get to play a couple of street races and there's even a neat destruction derby mode waiting for those car crashing freaks. There's also the possibility of swapping items through the W-Lan and downloading paintjobs, clothes, badges, vinyls and much more content. The multiplayer sub-modes include Carnage, a challenge that will allow you to face a couple of opponents in an attempt to destroy their cars before they destroy yours. You can also play a point to point race, where you'll have to pass a couple of gates in order to progress and finish on the first place. If you're searching for a purpose you can choose to drop off passengers and do taxi missions or various errands for mobsters. The Pink Slip mode will only allow you to select the cars from your garage and engage in a race with human opponents. The winner gets the other player's car!
Conclusion Driver '76 is far from being the standard GTA clone and after all these years of waiting, finally there's a pretty decent Driver game to play. It might signal the reawakening of the series or the rise of a competitor for the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Anyhow, if you own a PSP, you should give this a try, especially if you've played the past installments in the series and you're into street racing and gangsterish free-roaming titles.
