The Smithsonian opened registration Wednesday to attend a special lecture held by famed game designer Hideo Kojima. This conversation with Kojima will take place on the second day of the Smithsonian’s Game Fest, a three day festival kicking off the museum’s new The Art of Video Games exhibit. Game Fest begins Friday, March 16 in Washington DC.

If there ever was hesitation around attending this event, the Smithsonian seeks to dispel not only with the confirmation of Kojima but also with the price of attendance — free.

Other panels will include design and development notables like Ken Levine (BioShock, System Shock 2), RJ Mical (LittleBigPlanet 2, God of War III) and Kellee Santiago (Guitar Hero, Q.U.B.E.). In addition, attendees will be treated to screenings of the original TRON and The King of Kong.

The Art of Video Games exhibit will feature games spanning from the early 1980′s to now. Attendees will get a behind the scenes look at design documents, learn insights from top developers and, of course, play. A list of featured games can be found here.

As a game reviewer, I occasionally comes across an indie game that just strikes a chord with me. Either the art style captures something from the past, the story resonates with me on some level, or the gameplay is a refreshing take on an old genre. I have to say that I was extremely lucky to find a game that has all three of these, in this case the game is Gemini Rue.

Gemini Rue is a little indie game made by Wadjet Eye Games that combines the retro art style of games like Flashback and Out of this World with the great gameplay from classic Lucas Arts adventure games. To make it even better, the story comes across like a Phillip K. Dick novel with it’s neo-noir elements and mind bending discussion of identity. Long story short, if you’re a fan of science fiction or adventure games, you need to check out Gemini Rue.

The game follows Azriel Odin, a former assassin turned cop who is looking for his brother who has been captured by the corrupt Orwellian government and sent to a hidden prison colony. This prison colony take political prisoners, erases their memory and then reprograms them to do the government’s bidding. As you’d expect from a Phillip K. Dick inspired story, the world of Gemini Rue is heavily intrenched in all the classic hard-boiled detective elements: perpetual rain, slums, back alley shootouts, etc. I don’t mean to make it sound like Blade Runner is the only inspiration for Gemini Rue, there are a wide variety of science fiction based Easter Eggs, references and shout outs. In fact,  at one point I got a little stuck so I just started exploring as much as I could. I was surprised to find Ed and Ein from Cowboy Bebop hiding on the top floor of an apartment. They didn’t have any bearing on the gameplay or story, but it was a nice way to put a smile on my face during a slightly frustrating moment.

The game plays like any classic adventure game. You click on the screen to move your character around, to interact with objects and with people. You’ll need to combine objects and utilize your environment to solve puzzles. For example, at one point in the game you’ll need to break into an apartment to gather some evidence. The doors are locked with an electronic card reader, so picking it is out of the question. Luckily the neighbor isn’t so concerned with security, so you can pick his lock, go out onto the back balcony, jump across to the next apartment, and break in the glass door with a metal pipe. Before you get upset about spoilers, please realize that this is just one small example from the dozens of puzzles you’ll need to solve.

As I mentioned above I did get stuck a few times, however you should understand that I rarely play adventure game. Asking me to play an adventure game where I don’t get stuck is like putting someone completely new to StarCraft in a game versus Jaedong or Flash. I don’t have the finely honed instincts and nose for trial and error that adventure game veterans have.

On top of the adventure game mechanics, there is also a shooting mini-game. Throughout the game you’ll find you character in shootouts. The game handles this by putting your character in cover and presenting you a new set of controls. ‘A’ and ‘D’ will make your character peek out of cover while ‘Space Bar’ fires your gun. Sure you can just peek out and spray bullets hoping to hit your target, however the more efficient way to score kills is with the aiming mechanic. While in cover you can hit ‘Control’ to bring up a little breath meter. Time your shots with when you’re holding your breath to score a one-hit kill. While this shooting mechanic may not be as thrilling as getting tons of killstreaks in Call of Duty, it’s a satisfying way to reward  patient and skillful gamers.

One thing that makes Gemini Rue so interesting is that you not only play as Azriel but also his brother,  known as Delta-Six, in the prison. As almost any point in the game you can switch between the two characters and work on their own objectives, a nice way to keep players busy if they hit a dead end on one character.

Overall Gemini Rue is an amazing game that deserves a look from anyone who likes science fiction stories, adventure games, or is feeling slightly nostalgic for games like Flashback and Out of this World. Gemini Rue should take you anywhere from five to eight hours to complete depending on how quickly you can solve the puzzles. That said, I have to admit that there’s little replay value in the game. The only incentive for a second play though is to listen to the developers commentary, which is very interesting and a great little addition, although it may only be for people who were really into the Gemini Rue world. Also note that Gemini Rue is an independent title that can be purchased on Steam for $9.99, so it’s not like you’re spending $59.99 on a game with little replay value. If you find yourself sitting around looking for something interesting to play, pick up Gemini Rue; its by far one of the most interesting, engaging games of this year.

Today it was discovered that the ESRB has rated the classic SNES JRPG Chrono Trigger for both the PlayStation 3 and the PSP.

Original released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo, Chrono Trigger is widely considered to be one of the best videogames, let alone RPGs, ever made. Telling the story of the young boy Chrono and his band of buddies who travel through time trying to save the world from the evil monster Lavos, Chrono Trigger features an amazing story line combined with the classic Square Enix combat system seen in game like Final Fantasy VII.
While very few details are available, I feel it’s safe to assume that Chrono Trigger will be released as a downloadable title. This won’t be the first time Chrono Trigger has been rereleased. A Nintendo DS version was published in 2008.

What do you guys think about this? Are there any Chrono Trigger fans out there? If so, let us know what you think of this news by leaving a comment below. Also, did you guys know that the character Robo’s theme music matches perfectly with Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up ?”

Source: Shacknews.com

The Bit.Trip series began nearly two years ago on Nintendo’s WiiWare service with a little title called Bit.Trip BEAT – a colourful and trippy take on Atari’s hit classic Pong. Little did I know it, but that title that I so hesitantly purchased would soon introduce me to one of my favourite series of all time.

In the twilight hours of my time with the series it became apparent to me that this epic finale has been a long time in the planning.

On my first day of college, the dean stood in front of the freshman class and told us to “begin with the end in mind”. Rather than heed that sage advice, I decided to “find myself” over the course of the next four years. Conversely, Gaijin Games CEO Alex Neuse appears to be the man with the plan.

At a first glance you could pass Bit.Trip FLUX off as Bit.Trip BEAT in reverse. Much like BEAT, FLUX is a Pong-inspired rhythm game, except this time in reverse – balls fly from the left towards a paddle on the right and you’ll have to try your best to hit them back. While that may not sound revolutionary, upon deeper examination FLUX is far more intricate and beautiful than you could possibly first imagine.

Sure, on the surface it seems like a direct sequel BEAT. As far as gameplay goes, that sentiment is more or less correct. It plays very much the same. The better a pong player you are, the prettier the game will be and the better the music will sound. However, if you look (and listen) closer you’ll find fingerprints from the rest of the series all over this game.

The Bit.Trip series is a concept piece following Commander Video and his journey through life. Now while none of this is explicitly explained, Gaijin Games lays on the narrative for those who will listen and lets everyone else enjoy the trippy graphics and fun gameplay. If you’re someone who’s been paying attention to the story and trying to piece it together for yourself you’ll absolutely love FLUX.

I apologize in advance for spoilers, or at least my over interpretation of a bunch of pixels. A brief summary for the series’ story would go something like this: Bit.Trip BEAT through Bit.Trip VOID deal with our protagonist’s conception through early childhood, Bit.Trip RUNNER sees his coming of age, and Bit.Trip FATE his final conflict and eventual demise.

I believe that FLUX is about the time between death and the afterlife, that moment just before you expire when you see your life flash before your eyes: all that you’ve ever done condensed into a matter of moments. In FLUX Gaijin Games, the players, and Commander Video all reflect on the journey that we’ve experienced over the past two years.

Now think about what FLUX appears to be at first glance: Bit.Trip BEAT in reverse. In Bit.Trip FATE Commander Video is tethered to a line, a line that eventually leads him to his end. Now he looks back on everything that has happened, everything he’s experienced, everything we have perceived in the Bit.Trip series.

When you put the magnifying glass up to FLUX you see the whole series thrown into a blender. If you played VOID, you’ll see the bullet-hell-esque “avoid the white dots” gameplay make a return and stand right alongside BEAT’s Pong-like gameplay. The soundtrack largely consists of remixed and blended versions of the series’ most memorable songs. This type of self referential fan service is absolutely fantastic and really made me reflect on six of my favourite games of this generation.

One of the most interesting mashups from previous games in the series is in the game’s death system. If you have played RUNNER you’ll know that there wasn’t really a Game Over screen. If you died you just started again from the beginning of the level. FLUX takes that formula and pairs it with mid-level checkpoints, as seen in VOID. After hearing that you’d probably think this was the easiest Bit.Trip game yet, but you’d only be half right.

The more forgiving nature of the game’s design allows Alex Neuse to throw absolutely brutal beat patterns at the player. So while it’s easier in some aspects, it is absolutely infuriatingly difficult in others. Bit.Trip BEAT was difficult because if you screwed up it was all over and you would have to start again at the beginning of a fifteen minute long level. I really enjoyed that about BEAT because I could play it in short bursts, get my fix and move on with my day.

I found FLUX totally different in that respect. While there are checkpoints, the game doesn’t save when you get to them: turn your console off, and you’ll be starting right back at the beginning of the level. FLUX became so difficult at times that I found myself lucky to have progressed. I wouldn’t let myself walk away from my Wii until victory was mine, and at one point that compulsion led me to play for more about four hours straight.

If you can get around that minor (major?) annoyance without sacrificing too much of your sanity on FLUX’s final boss you’ll find a really solid, challenging and absolutely beautiful game. The visuals, sound and retro charm that has made the rest of series so enjoyable remains intact. Meanwhile, Gaijin lays on the beautifully reflective narrative and self referential fan service that hardcore enthusiasts will absolutely eat up. Any Wii owner who is even mildly interested would do well to pick this one up.

I just finished Final Fantasy VI yesterday (or is it III? Either way the one with Terra and Kefka). While I can see why the SNES version is sitting comfortably with a 93% on GameRankings.com, I found some flaws with the game. Namely with the characters.

Don’t worry, Kefka the insane clown was one of my favorites, probably because of my nearly crippling fear of clowns. It’s some of the heroes I have problems with. Read on to find out why I think the characters are Final Fantasy VI‘s greatest strength and its biggest weakness.

Quick question: how many characters are there in the ensemble cast of your favorite TV show or sitcom? Is the answer around five or so? Friends had six main characters. How I Met Your Mother has five. Scrubs had four main characters and a couple more really strong supporting characters. You get my point. Each of these shows had a just the right number of characters to get the audience emotionally invested in them.

Final Fantasy VI has fourteen playable characters. That’s more than enough to create three parties of four — something the game requires you to do at times. While some of these characters are memorable and surprisingly deep, others are mere throwaways that bog down the game. Having fourteen characters to manage and care about weakens Final Fantasy VI.

In the beginning of the game you’re introduced to Terra, a mysterious green-haired woman with the ability to use magic. After playing as her for a tiny bit, the game then introduces Locke the thief — no wait treasure hunter, as he calls himself. More and more characters are added slowly, and because of the nature of the plot, they all get split up and you play three separate scenarios with only a handful of them at a time.

While it feels a little constricting to have the game force you to use characters you may not enjoy using, it also forces you to focus your attention on them. It’s during these sequences that we get to learn a little more about Terra’s and Locke’s histories. To me, Terra isn’t that interesting, but Locke has a secret that haunts him, and I enjoyed his storyline.

By the time you get toward the game’s big twist climax event, your ranks have swelled to ridiculous numbers. The problem is that each of these new characters has their own unique command used in battle and their own history. The characters from the beginning — Terra, Locke, Edgar, and even I’d contend Celes, have been with you for a long time. You’ve had time to get to know them.

The new ones…not so much. They feel way more one note. Relm? What do we know about her other than she’s Strago’s granddaughter and that she’s kind of annoying. Strago? He’s old and uses Lores as his special attack. That’s about it. And they’re human! There are other characters–some optional–that aren’t even human. Mog? What’s his deal? Umaro the yeti? I don’t even know what the hell Gogo is.

This is the problem with any game, movie, or TV show that tries to focus on way too many characters or adds more and more of them mid-season, so to speak. But specific to Final Fantasy VI and RPGs in general is the fact that you have to spend time training/using all these secondary, less interesting characters. During the final dungeon you have to field three teams of four. That means I had to level twelve different characters, learn their abilities, and equip them with Espers so they could learn magical spells. These mechanics hurt the game in two ways. Firstly, it tries to force me to care about lesser characters. Secondly, it artificially lengthens the game by forcing me to grind with all my characters.

It was disappointing that I ended up feeling this way, because all things considered Final Fantasy VI is a very good game. While the plot is a little standard–band of rebels trying to stop an evil empire–the standout characters really make the game shine. If only the rest of the extensive cast had connected that deeply with me as well.

The Bit.Trip series may be on its way out, but that isn’t slowing Gaijin Games down in the slightest. In just a few short years, the studio has gone from developer, to publisher, and now parent company. Gaijin has now announced their “extremely hostile takeover” of Jason Cirillo’s Robotube Games.

Robotube is best known for their series of educational videos - Bit Museam, they are also the studio behind web-based puzzle games such as Bloktonik and Zyrx. During Blip Festival 2009, the two developers teamed to create a game in less than 24 hours. Let’s hope they make many more wonderful games together.

[Via Gaijin Games]

Say you love MMORPG’s and retro games? Up until now those two categories have been mostly mutually exclusive. No longer. Today Silk Games launched NEStalgia, an online multiplayer RPG that features a retro 8-bit visual style and aesthetics. Hit the jump for more information and a trailer.

NEStalgia just finished its beta period and is now available to download for free. Players are able to create their own avatar, rendered lovingly in 8-bit graphics, and join other players on quests. Battles are turn based affairs, which might feel strange for MMO players, but it should make retro gamers feel right at home.

However this isn’t simply playing a 2 player NES RPG lookalike. NEStalgia includes features inherent in modern day MMORPG’s: “In addition to the cooperation-focused PvE experience and memorable storyline, NEStalgia offers an incredibly balanced PvP system.” Not only that, but players are also able to create and join guilds, complete with their own customizable guild capes.

While I personally have never played an MMORPG outside a small stint with Fly For Fun because my brothers liked it, I’m intrigued by NEStalgia’s premise. I’m a sucker for sprites and retro artwork, so this might be the perfect game for me to test the MMO waters.

You can download NEStalgia from the game’s official website, though you need to also download the BYOND multiplayer game creation system in order to save your character and stats. But considering the game and registering with BYOND is 100%, I think most people won’t complain.

It’s little projects like this that really get me excited, much more than some of the big AAA titles out there. Go check it out. Maybe we’ll run into each other on a quest or something. I call dibs on a tank/melee class!

Gaijin Games’ awesome Wii-Ware title, Bit.Trip Beat, recently made its way to the iPhone. The pong-inspired retro-rhythm title also made moves this morning. As of 9AM PST this morning, Bit.Trip Beat has also been available for PC and Mac via Steam.

Hit the jump for more information including Beat’s sale and the Steam version’s added features.

For the first week of its Steam release, Beat is being sold at a discounted price. If you purchase it before November 9^th at 10AM you’ll be able to get it for 10% off. That’s $8.99 or £6.29/ €7,19 if you’re across the pond. After that Beat will cost $10 – which is still a steal for what is, in my opinion, one of the best games of this generation.

While Beat may cost you a tad more on Steam than its original Wii-Ware incarnation, it also includes Online Leaderboards, Achievements, Social Network Integration, HD Visuals, Alternate Control Schemes and even an Easy Mode for “those of you who just like to get in the zone and ride a vibe, you can chill out in the way less intense Easy Mode”.

Now if only I could get these games on the go for my Droid or PSP, we would really be in business.

[Via Gaijin Games]

After years and years of wishing, my dream is finally coming true. Yesterday at a Marvel presentation at Comic-Con, Konami announced that its classic arcade beat ‘em up X-Men is coming to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store.

Originally released in 1992, X-Men allowed gamers to take control of their favorite mutants (Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Dazzler) as they beat their way through a seemingly endless supply of sententials.

Featuring six-player “drop-in” online multiplayer, X-Men is slated to arrive sometime this year. Other features include “custom matchups” and multiple difficulty settings.

I don’t know about you guys, but this game was a staple of my childhood. whether it was at the arcade at my mall or the local bowling alley, so long as I had quarters I was in front of the X-Men machine. Sure the game was insanely hard, but the idea that me and five of my friends could all play one game at the same time was enough to keep us hooked. Now if only we could get The Simpsons game on XBLA…

What do you guys think about this? Are you as amped as I am? Was the X-Men game as crucial to your childhood as it was to mine? Let us know with a comment below.

Source: Shacknews.com

[This month is officially Driver Month here on Gamer Limit. Join us as we embark on an exhaustive road trip in a series of retrospectives for the Driver franchise in the run-up to Driver: San Francisco.]

As the dust settled after the carnage that ensued from the colossal car crash that was Driv3r, the announcement of a new Driver game was met with tepid trepidation in contrast to the days where it would have been tremendously exciting news. I was naturally predicting that the next game would be called DrIVer however, so the news that it would carry the Parallel Lines subtitle instead created a lot of intrigue about the possible direction the series was heading in.

Things became even more interesting upon the knowledge that everyone’s favourite wheelman Tanner, the long-standing protagonist who was previously left for dead during the climax of Driv3r, had been replaced with an anonymous hippy youth donning a pair of slick sun glasses. It was all a sign that the franchise was about to undergo a significant overhaul: drastic repairs were needed if it was to be ever taken seriously again.

Founder Martin Edmonson subsequently left Reflections following the relentless backlash that Driv3r suffered, leading to the company being reformed in a deal with Ubisoft thus creating Ubisoft Reflections under the new leadership of Martin’s brother, Gareth Edmondson. But was the damage already done?

Well, for a start Reflections presumably hired more competent quality control personnel, as Parallel Lines was thankfully devoid of the long list of bugs and glitches that made Driv3r such an unnecessary hassle to play at times. Mercifully, those pesky lamp posts could also finally be dismembered.

Parallel Lines rightfully attempted to go back to the roots of the original game by placing the emphasis back on what has always mattered most: the driving. Retaining the renowned rigid handling model with a few new tweaks, this saw a rapid decrease of tedious on-foot action, which was a huge blessing for those who laughed at Tanner’s crab characteristics in Driv3r, although in saying that the animations in Parallel Lines were only marginally better at times.

Still, the on-foot sections were far less embarrassing than Tanner’s plodding performance, benefiting from improvements made to the AI and shooting dynamics by giving players a choice of lock-on and precision aiming. In fact, TK could also shoot and drive simultaneously, a feat that Tanner didn’t manage to pull off despite Driv3r’s misleading cover art.

The ability to shoot at your fleeing target added a new dimension to the game’s abundant car chases, making them all the more pulsating, but the auto-targeting system was sadly not as sharp as it could have been. The car chases were also further improved by a new felony system that based your traffic crimes on the vehicle you were seen in at the time, meaning your felony level would disappear as long as you abandoned your car once you lost sight of the fuzz.

The entire cast of characters we had grown accustomed to over the years were nowhere to be seen. Instead, you played as a rookie 18 year old crook simply known as The Kid who, predictably, worked as a getaway driver for bands of hoodlums with tall hair. While TK was certainly no substitute for Tanner, it brought an entirely new tone to the series as you were playing as a criminal rather than an undercover cop.

In keeping with the franchise’s origins, Parallel Lines was set in a 1970’s rendition of New York, a location that was last seen in the first Driver game back in 1999. Reflections has always had a knack for replicating real-life cities in video games, but they surely outdid themselves here – the towering scale of the Big Apple was rendered with astounding realism.

The only drawback was that the geography of Parallel Lines was restricted to just one city throughout its duration when previous Driver games typically included three or four cities, but this allowed them to focus on the finer details. The traffic, for example, saw a noticeable increase in density in order to accurately portray the grid-locked streets of the bustling New York traffic and the draw distance (a consistent blemish in Driver’s otherwise polished graphics engine) was refined so that no unwanted pop-up was evident. Until GTA IV, this was hands down the best portrayal of NYC you could find in a game.

In an unexpected and game changing twist, the semantics behind the Parallel Lines suffix suddenly became clear at the mid-point of the game. As TK becomes framed for kidnapping and remanded in prison, the plot abruptly fast forwarded from 1978 to his eventual release in 2006, evolving into a grisly tale of revenge. It soon becomes clear that the world is a very different place 28 years onwards – a scene in which TK struggles to grasp the remote of a modern widescreen TV is almost moving.

The transition was superbly executed and really helped to make the otherwise insipid plot and mission set much more invigorating. What’s more, the shift in decades had a profound effect on the gameplay aesthetics, as the once orange tinted scenery was replaced in favour of a more garish grey to depict the modern age.

Vehicles transformed from monstrous muscle cars to luxury saloons, the pedestrian’s sense of fashion became less eccentric and even TK’s walking animation visibly changed from a hippy groove to a more subdued stroll. Parallel Lines was also the first Driver game to feature a licensed soundtrack that played like a radio station during gameplay – to reflect the changing times, the likes of David Bowie were replaced by the monotone mumblings of the Kaiser Chiefs. If nothing else, it served as a depressing reminder of how much the music industry has slumped in so little time.

Despite the improvements however, to me Parallel Lines didn’t feel like a true Driver game for the most part. Of course the absence of Tanner was a primary factor, but the tweaks made to the gameplay in an effort to revitalise the franchise consequently diminished Driver’s soul.

This was most evident in the adopting of a new free roaming mechanic that was largely akin to GTA. Whereas before missions were solely undertaken in the Undercover mode leaving leisurely drives to Take a Ride, here everything was implemented into a seamless open world. On paper it may have sounded promising, but in practice it just didn’t fit into the established Driver world and felt distinctly out of place.

Additional mini games could also be found scattered around the expansive map, but they again lacked the convenience of the instant access found in previous Driver games. Speaking of feeling out of place, one mini game revolved around dedicated track racing which was previously uncharted territory for the Wheelman. It was easy to see why though, since Driver’s city driving physics felt considerably unsuitable when placed in a track racing scenario.

But that wasn’t the biggest crime that Parallel Lines committed, because it removed my most cherished Driver trademark that always kept me playing for hours: the Film Director. Being able to cobble together your own rendition of Hollywood car chase films has always been a hallmark of the series, so it was a massive disappointment for hardcore fans to see it omitted. It was reportedly removed in order to improve the performance of the game however, which turned out to be a profitable sacrifice considering how much better the frame rate was.

All in all, Parallel Lines made a good conscious effort to revitalise the stuttering series, but the end result amounted to a game that lost some of its personality in the process by trying too hard to mimic GTA’s conventions, consequently adding itself to the piling list of failed GTA clones. Martin Edmondson had nothing to do with the project following his departure, and it showed. Then again, you could say that this direction was a natural and necessary evolution.

Parallel Lines also spawned a PSP prequel known as Driver 76, which essentially ran on the engine from Parallel Lines with a new storyline set in 1976. For a PSP game it was technically proficient, but as a new entry in the Driver series it was lacking in innovation if you had already played Parallel Lines.

And so, after following the trail of tyre marks engraved by the Wheelman across the globe, we have reached the end of our road trip right back where we started in San Francisco. Driver: San Francisco is currently set for release early next year after an unfortunate delay, marking the first entry for the series on next generation consoles. Martin Edmondson is now firmly back in the driving seat as well, meaning you can forget that Parallel Lines ever existed – move along TK, Tanner is back in town.

Since its debut at E3 2010, San Francisco has already made a name for itself thanks largely to its innovative Shift mechanic that allows you to switch instantaneously between cars without ever leaving your vehicle on-foot. It seems to have divided the fans however, with some scathing at the removal of out of the car action while others have applauded Shift’s execution and ease of use.

The fact remains that the original Driver was never about being out of the car and excelled in what it set out to do. The series went into decline as soon as they introduced the on-foot mechanic which made it lose focus, so it’s natural that Reflections want to revert back to the glory days. Shift therefore sounds like a fair compromise, but my only reservation is the way in which it has been woven into the plot concerning Tanner’s coma. It just sounds too supernatural and preposterous, but its full context remains to be seen.

From the gameplay footage seen so far, my personal gripe lies with the vehicle selection, which now includes licensed cars for the first time. For a game set in San Francisco, there is a strange abundance of European cars populating the streets including Abaths and Alfa Romeos, along with rare supercars such as the McLaren SLR and Pagina Zonda Cinque – only five of these were made in reality so its placement as a civilian car is glaringly unrealistic. So far, the car list would seem more appropriate in Test Drive Unlimited than Driver, but I can only hope for a better balance in the final game, particularly as Reflections has always ensured the car selection is spot-on in accordance to the location before.

With the Wheelman now hopefully on the road to recovery, the anticipation for this belated series reboot is mounting. I wholeheartedly cannot wait for Driver‘s next generation revival – let’s just hope history doesn’t repeat itself from the bleaker days of the past. My only worry is that, due to the level of competition over the years, the expectations for a game of this genre are far higher than they were 10 years ago, meaning that the back to basics approach may not cut it in today’s industry.

Driver: San Francsco will therefore be an important milestone in the series history, as no Driver sequel has managed to fully capture the spark of the original so far. This is your last chance for redemption, Reflections.

That’s it for Driver Month! I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Drive recklessly.

[This month is officially Driver Month here on Gamer Limit. Join us as we embark on an exhaustive road trip in a series of retrospectives for the Driver franchise in the run-up to Driver: San Francisco.]

It would take four long years before another Driver game would burst onto the scene in an intoxicating cloud of smoke, ready to serve its pining fans after Driver 2. To help quench this thirst, Reflections introduced Stuntman in 2002, a game that that played on Driver’s affinity with cinematic car chases by starring you as a charmless Hollywood stunt driver on fictional film sets. In Stuntman, you were required to perform death-defying car stunts in a series of stringently timed scenes for some upcoming action movies.

While the obvious film parodies were fun to watch, the game ultimately pushed the limits of trial and error by constantly demanding precision driving and was, above all else, infuriatingly difficult. As Reflections’ debut for the next generation of consoles however, it served as an effective appetiser that showed great promise for what was to come in the Wheelman’s next outing.

With the avalanche success of Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, it’s fair to say that the next generation of Driver had an awful lot of catching up to do. Expectations were running high, especially with the impending release of San Andreas the same year just to add to the pressure. As a result, many were hoping that the third instalment would be everything that Driver 2 should have been, given the advantage of the extra graphical muscle thanks to next generation hardware. Instead, what we were given is widely regarded as one of the most disappointing game sequels in the whole of video game history.

Suspicions of the game’s fate were aroused by merely reading the title. It would have been logical, you would have thought, to simply name the third Driver game as “Driver 3,” perhaps including a subtitle for added effect, but instead the developers went down a ruined road and came up with the most unforgiveable of gimmicks. “I know!” someone in a last minute meeting exclaimed excitedly, “let’s jazz it up a bit by replacing the ‘e’ with a ‘3.’” “Mmm,” the boss responded, “what a splendid idea. Driv3r! It appeals to the current l33t speaking youths, so they’ll love it. If Wip3out can do it then so can we!”

This decision was met with significantly less enthusiasm on my part. What were they thinking? Driv3r. Go on, try to say it. “Driv-three-er” – that is how I always pronounce it, and I still loathe that name to this day. And yet initial promotional material referred to the game as “Driver 3,” so the late name change was hard to fathom. This tragic typography coupled with the woeful box art depicting Tanner shooting out of a car window (a false statement considering this was not possible in the final game) set amidst a yellow sea of empty space set the tone for the game. Something was radically wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong – as a devoted Driver fan there was plenty to admire, as Driv3r did a lot of things right even if elementary spelling wasn’t one of them. Watching the initial announcement trailer back in 2003 made me tingle with the same childish excitement that I felt with the original video for the first game.

The said trailer commenced with a huge semi-trailer truck filling the screen, which for the time was a captivating prospect because no sandbox game had allowed you to drive a truck with trailer before. This theme of showing the game’s newfound vehicle variety continued with a brief glimpse of Tanner riding a motorcycle: unfamiliar territory for Driver but common ground for GTA: Vice City. Even boats were featured.

Fears that Driver had forgotten its roots soon subsided after the belated arrival of a Mustang-esque muscle car taking center stage and sliding about all over the place, reinforcing the franchise’s flair for exaggerated cinematic handling. Mercifully, this remained true in the final game, resulting in the largest roster of vehicles to date that were a joy to drive with distinctly different handling characteristics. It simply wouldn’t be a Driver game without the trademark soggy suspension and heavy handling.

The punishment you could subject your car to saw similar advancements, with improved damage effects including visible crumple zones, shattering windows, and detachable bumpers, doors and bonnets. Impressively, bullet holes would remain precisely indented on the bodywork for the first time in a game, and vehicles would now explode after too much abuse, with the frame of the car splitting into several fragments rather than a solid burnt-out shell.

The choice of locations was also spot-on once again, this time reverting back to the beaches of Miami from the original game along with the previously unexplored locales of Nice and Istanbul. Each city shone with new lighting techniques that provided unique and distinctive colour palettes, along with intricately detailed architecture and the usual array of destructible scenery. Oh, and you could finally run over the pedestrians, thankfully.

Driv3r certainly wasn’t without ambition, either. In keeping with its reliance on Hollywood finesse, a lengthy advertising campaign in the form of a short live-action promotional film was launched in the run-up to the game’s release. Directed by Sean Mullens and airing exclusively on the Driv3r website in weekly parts, the project was known as Run the Gauntlet, which revolved around Tanner’s pledge to deliver a car that results in, you guessed it, a high speed car chase loaded with spectacular stunts.

For fans like myself of Hollywood car chase sequences, the three-minute short was marvelous to watch despite the god-awful dialogue, although you couldn’t help but wish they would produce a feature length Driver movie – such a project has been teased since 2003 but has since been put on hold, sadly. Renowned Hollywood talent such as Michael Madsen and Iggy Pop also joined the voice cast, with Madsen taking the leading role of Tanner, and the soundtrack was similarly graced with note-worthy artists.

All of this amounted to a solid driving experience that would lead you to think that Driv3r was a terrific triumph. And indeed it was, right up until the moment you stepped out of the car. Wait, we’ve been here before, haven’t we?

While Driver 2’s poorly executed on-foot controls were almost forgivable due to the fact that they were used sparingly, Driv3r made the mistake of making it a central component of the gameplay that led to the mass critical backlash that the game was subsequently subjected to.

In a concerted effort to match GTA’s popularity, Tanner was suddenly equipped with weaponry, but the shooting mechanics were shockingly dire beyond belief. Admittedly, the grenade launcher was at least fun in its ability to cause havoc, but gunning down enemies felt forced and rather awkward thanks to the lack of a cover system. Meanwhile, stilted animations made Tanner amble around with all the dexterity of a constipated crab crippled with arthritis.

Then there was the lousy AI, which often led to enemies standing still until you approached them at close range – it’s hard to recall a game that featured worse enemy AI for its time. And then when you finally shot them, the brainless foes didn’t shed a single trace of blood. It was stark confirmation that while Reflections were exceptionally talented at creating exuberant car models and driving characteristics, they were not only incapable of spelling their own game correctly but also evidently inexperienced with programming third-person shooters.

The advent of weapons made the game severely lose focus since it felt as if mission objectives carried just as much shooting as they did driving. More often than not, the missions that made up the game’s undercover mode were an absolute chore to trawl through with each uninspired shootout becoming identical. The driving portions didn’t fare much better, either, owing to some fiendishly timed objectives and scripted traffic events that were solely designed to make you swear very loudly at the screen. Mind you, this was nothing compared to the immovable lamp posts of death that could single-handedly prevent you from completing a mission should you plough into them.

Still, there were at least some fleeting glimpses of brilliance in the mission design. The Speed-inspired Booby Trap whereby you had to maintain your speed above 50 MPH in order to avoid an explosive surprise was suitably enthralling and reminiscent of the Hollywood thrills the series strives to replicate, and the trashing of a Miami shopping mall made it impossible not to imagine you were driving the legendary Bluesmobile whilst wearing dark sun glasses.

Sadly, the plot was largely uninteresting; amounting to a string of nonsensical, though polished, cut scenes that illustrated Tanner’s latest mission to infiltrate a notorious rig of car thieves. What was interesting, however, was that the game’s intro acted as a flashback of Tanner’s final showdown with Jericho, concluding with Tanner being rushed to hospital after a gunshot wound. As the staff desperately try to revive our hero, Tanner’s fate is left uncertain when the EMG machine flat lines and the game begins six months earlier before ending with the same scene.

Driv3r was also notoriously plagued with a host of unfortunate bugs and glitches to the point that I could easily write an entire article listing every last one. Featuring everything from sinking vehicles to flying pedestrians, it’s staggering to think that this game managed to pass quality control. Even the film director, one of my favourite features of the Driver series, wasn’t let off, often playing entirely different footage to the sessions you had just played. The fact remains that Driv3r was fundamentally broken as a result of being rushed to a deadline.

Reflections has always had a bit of a rivalry with Rockstar Games and GTA, but this feud fully blossomed with Driv3r. The case in point was of course the hidden enemies known as Timmy Vermicelli, an obvious jab at Tommy Vercetti from Vice City. Humorously, Timmy was shown to be wearing arm-bands in a joke aimed at the fact he would instantly drown when introduced to water, in comparison to Tanner who now had the ability to swim.

Rockstar would have the last laugh however, as CJ in San Andreas could not only swim but dive underwater. What’s more, a cut scene in the game deliberately poked fun at Driv3r’s failings by having characters subliminally hurl abuse at the game during a cut scene, asking how “Refractions could screw up so badly.” In fact, you could say it was Rockstar that started the whole feud in GTA III – a mission entitled “Two faced Tanner” started with a clear message to Reflections about a “strangely animated undercover cop“ who was “useless out of the car.” So true Rockstar, so true.

And herein lies the problem: Driver was playing catch-up to GTA instead of focusing on what it did best. Truth be told, the market had seemingly moved on from the simple days of 1999 where Driver was a revelation, so it’s easy to see why the pressure was on to compete after Rockstar stole the spotlight. Nevertheless, Driv3r remains a potent and infamous example of the hype train becoming derailed, and it ultimately suffered the consequences of its rushed upbringing with a strong and unforgivable wave of negative press and disappointed fans. As Tanner was left for dead at the end of the game, sadly so was the once untouchable series.

Pull over next week for a look back at Driver: Parallel Lines as Driver Month concludes on Gamer Limit.

This week, long awaited platformer And Yet It Moves (1000 Wii Points) has finally made its way to Wii-Ware.  Turn the game’s beautiful paper-craft inspired world on its head by using the Wii remote to complete mind-bending puzzles by changing the world around you.

Hit the jump for the rest of this week’s Nintendo Download Update.

Sunsoft’s NES title UFOURIA: THE SAGA (600 Wii Points) joins the wide array of games on the Wii’s virtual console. Join Bop Louie as he searches for three friends – Shades, Freeon Leon and Gil – to help him complete his mad scramble. Rely on your friends to complete the mazes, traps, monsters and bizarre pitfalls that stand in your way on the journey back to Ufouria.

Rytmik (800 DSi Points) is an application for creating rhythmical and melodic themes and composing whole songs.

G.G Series NINJA KARAKURI DEN (200 DSi Points) – Control a gravity defying, jumping ninja as he fights his way through a booby-trapped mansion. When your ninja touches a platform, it will automatically disappear and he will jump, making for pretty unstable footing. But where some see obstacles, a ninja sees opportunity. You will be forced to think on your feet, push your reflexes and bend the very rules of physics to conquer your treacherous surroundings.

My Farm (200 DSi Points) My Farm is a livestock farming simulation game.

Absolute Reversi (200 DSi Points) takes a classic strategy game and updates it for the 21st century with three exciting and innovative modes of play…free play, challenge mode and multiplayer.