The original Driver enjoyed enormous success on PlayStation when it was released last summer.  The gameplay was similar to Grand Theft Auto but what made all the difference was the perspective. Instead of observing all the action from a tired, top-down view, Driver placed you behind the wheel in a full 3D environment.  It made the action seem all the more real as cops chased you through city streets and residential neighborhoods, running through roadblocks and intersections as 70’s style music blared through it all.  While most racing games had closed off tracks, Driver was among the few games that allowed you to make your own path to your destination.  It was a game that had style along with substance, which is what made it so popular.  Riding on the success of the Driver name, Reflections has developed the sequel, Driver 2, for the PlayStation.  It’s a sequel that, for the most part, doesn’t live up to the high standards set by the original.

The story in Driver 2 has “made for TV” written all over it. Tanner, the undercover cop from the first game, is now a freelance investigator.  He and his partner, Tobias Jones, stumble on to a plot that crosses international lines, involving two powerful crime lords from different countries.  Pink Lenny, a bookkeeper for Solomon Caine, has betrayed his boss and moved to Alvaro Vasquez and the Brazilian crime syndicate. By betraying Caine, Lenny has shifted power to Vasquez and the Brazilians' favor and could potentially cause an international mob war.  It’s up to Tanner and Tobias to find Lenny, stop Caine, and put an end to Vasquez' plans for domination.  Driver 2's story is told via incredible, rendered cut scenes with decent voice acting.   The story itself gets pretty boring, however.  More often than not, you’ll find yourself skipping the pre-rendered cut scenes in order to get into the action. 

If the original Driver looked like it made full use of the PlayStation's graphics, Driver 2 added a few extras that really make the PlayStation's age even more apparent.  The textures, for the most part, are better and, as I mentioned before, the pre-rendered cut scenes are incredible but just about everything else takes a nosedive.  The slowdown is absolutely horrid and it makes much of the game seem like a chase scene in slow motion.  The popup hasn’t improved at all and still seems incredibly close.  I don’t blame the PlayStation so much as the dated engine that the Driver 2 game is based on.  It seems like Reflections tried to do too much with an engine that has been pushed just a tad too far.  Graphic tweaks such as curved roads, on and off ramps, tunnels, and overpasses were added without any sort of speed consideration.  Although the curved roads and freeways add a more organic feel to the original’s grid-based cities, I’d easily give those up for smoother gameplay.  They just don’t add all that much to the game.  It’s highly questionable how much time was spent play-testing this game, optimizing the code, and fixing bugs.  During my experience with Driver 2, the game locked up on me not once, but twice . 

The sound effects have remained relatively unchanged from the first game.  Cars still give a really convincing screech when burning rubber and the engines going full tilt sound great.  However, if the 70’s porn music from the first game annoyed you, get ready for another blast from the past.  The music is fine when cops or the mob aren’t chasing you but once someone is on your tail, music that would make Ron Jeremy proud takes over which, in my opinion, is pretty irritating.  It was somewhat acceptable in the more light-hearted original game, as it was almost like an in joke, but Driver 2 has a much darker and sinister storyline.  The music just seems entirely out of place this time. The joke isn’t funny anymore. 

The gameplay in Driver 2 is relatively unchanged, except that the difficulty has been raised to a frustrating level.  If you felt that the cops in the first game were persistent, get ready for cops that basically seem like they’re welded to your rear bumper.  At the default difficulty level, cops are incredibly tough to lose.  Driving into oncoming traffic or making quick 90º turns does nothing to shake them.  As a matter of fact, this usually sets you up for a pit maneuver in which they flip you, ending the mission instantly.  The new curved roads don’t help much but actually make it a bit more difficult to evade police than it already is.  The on and off ramps are too narrow and serve as an excellent way for them to catch up and wreck your car.  To make the game even remotely playable, one of the first things you should do is to turn the cop difficulty to easy.  They behave far more realistically at that level and don’t follow your exact driving line nor do they feel like they're attached  to your car. This doesn’t fix some of the other missions however, which range from incredibly boring -- following someone without them knowing it -- to the incredibly difficult -- chasing and disabling a truck while avoiding the explosive charges they throw out.  The difficult missions wouldn’t be so bad if they simply tested your driving skill but some of them do not.  Occasionally, a mission will require you to get out of your car and reach an objective on foot.  While it seems like a nice idea to add the ability to get out of the car, the control is severely lacking and it should have been an option, not a requirement.  Some missions can be lost simply because it's incredibly difficult to orient Tanner through a door or up a flight of stairs.  One of the nice features about this is that if your car is almost wrecked, you can get out and steal a fresh new set of wheels.  This is what it should have been limited too since it actually works in that instance.  Requiring Tanner to run around on foot setting bombs with incredibly stiff controls is not fun at all. 

Honestly, Driver 2 isn’t all bad.  There is some fun to be had with the game.  It just depends on whether you feel it’s worth dealing with the incredibly frustrating difficulty and horrible frame rate. The problem is that the engine has run its course and really needs to be updated or, preferably, rewritten for the PlayStation 2, which could surely run this game far better than the PlayStation can. It also wouldn’t hurt to do some extensive play-testing to make sure all bugs are squashed and that all control issues are polished.  Maybe Driver 2 could have been a decent game if more time was spent fixing what was wrong with the original instead of adding all new problems for the sequel.