"The wheels you drivin' around this town making a whole lotta noise.."

If not from the word on the street as you churn out several legendary driving maneuvers per second to send the pursuing cops to an early grave, then from the screech of tires preceeding a rather nasty crash. All in a days work for your average road user's misguided mind, but with the conversion of Driver from the Playstation to the PC after a very long wait, that false confidence in abilities can be put to the test. So was it worth the teasingly long conversion period? As sure as grandmothers grow beards that can put ZZ Top to bed with something to think about. So let's see what the fuss is all about.

Easy Does It.. Watch the Paintwork.. Doh!

Driver has a good reputation, and it's well deserved in all honesty. One of the first things you notice upon throwing your new endowment into a 180 handbrake turn from full speed is how realistically the cars handle. Throughout the game you get a wide selection of cars to drive, all ranging in performance from crusty ol' bangers that cough their sluggish way to the end of the turning before dying at the sight of the first cop car, through to superfly love machines tuned up and ready for take-off.

After each mission you have the opportunity to practice your smooth moves around town between missions for as long as you like and as many times as you like, before checking your answer phone which will usually have several messages from super-cool gangsters looking for your driving services. You can choose whichever you wish, and the storyline will always continue on it's merry way as you go. Some of these missions give you the chance to select weird and wonderful cars to drive, while others are recipes for hair-loss, which leads me onto an issue which instantly becomes apparent.. If you've played the Playstation version of Driver for any length of time, you cannot fail to notice that the PC version is a touch more difficult. There's not one individual thing which can be pointed out as more difficult, in fact some of the more insane missions have been toned down a little, but in general the gameplay is balanced off at a more competitive level.

Driver has a range of missions spanning four cities; Miami, San Fransisco, Los Angeles and New York. As you steer your way successfully through each mission, cheats become available in the main menu screen, some amusing and some designed for those who can't seem to get their headlights around the cops. All weather conditions seek to make life difficult for all involved, and missions are undertaken at all hours of the day and night. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, there are a whole range of mods included in the game to test your 'mad skillz' against, which include Pursuit, Getaway, Cross Town Checkpoint, Trail Blazer, Survival, Dirt Track and Carnage. All of which provide endless hours of frustration, joy and other feelings related to scoreboards and friends/family playing against you in a hopeless quest for glory ;)

We Got a Snitch, Boys. Someone on the Inside..

So how did you wind up driving gangsters around town for a handsome living? Perhaps you have plans to become the gang-leader and run things the way you want them, with double scoops of icecream instead of one. Well, that'll have to take a back seat, because you've been placed undercover in order to break apart this crime syndicate from the inside. Brave of you to single handedly take all that on, sure, but you're down with the crew, you have the brylcreem in your hair and know how to deal with the nasty character types. As if that wasn't blessing enough, you're the best driver out there. Not a bad reputation to have before you've even put the pedal to the metal. It's all in the way you look at 'em.

So with a flawless storyline and proven skills, what could possibly go wrong? Well I'll let you into a little secret. Something which doesn't really bother me, but have heard complaints about, and that is the lack of an ending. I hope you don't mind me killing it for you.. you can go straight to the next paragraph if you don't want to read it.. but once you finish the last mission, you are treated to the credits while watching what is obviously a two fingered monkey driving around the streets of Newcastle, England, in a car your other half wishes you could afford.

It's All fun and Games Until Someone Has Their Eye Out

..And inevitably someone always does have their eye out. Many times over. One of the beautiful things in Driver is crashing, and there'll be plenty of that. You car will take damage and look worse for wear specifically where there has been impact. The cop cars will help you along with that, with a disturbing disregard for innocents, sometimes even ramming civilian cars in your way, whether on purpose or not. Oh, don't forget that as the missions get harder, so do the cops. They are demons towards the end of the game, with their cars buffed to the point of bending the laws of physics. As if all this stress and hair-pulling wasn't bad enough, they throw undercover cops at you in some missions, and for a brief moment of madness you'll wonder if perhaps the whole game is out to get you.

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