General discussion for the DRIVER series.

Do you think that Atari killed the reputation of Driver series?

Yes
21
81%
No
3
12%
Other
2
8%
#58365
People are saying Atari killed the reputation of Driver, when I see Ubisoft make Driver: San Francisco, and give it a sh*tty storyline, and then make a game called Driver: Speedboat Paradise.

Why are people saying Atari's the reason why the reputation of Driver died? Why wasn't Ubisoft at blame? I mean, think about it, Ubisoft made Driver: Speedboat Paradise, when you can start playing Driv3r right now and ride a boat anyway?

This thread should be called "Was Ubisoft The Reason Why The Reputation Of Driver Died?". Anyways, I voted No. I actually liked Atari, they did well with Driv3r and Driver Parallel Lines, why are they being accused of "killing" Driver?
#58367
Skylabh wrote:
Wheels wrote:People are saying Atari killed the reputation of Driver...
Well the Driv3rgate scandal is one of the reasons.
Scandal? What happened?
#58369
http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/driv3r.htm
A storm of controversy has blown up around the wildly out-of-step high-scoring reviews given to Driver 3 by, most notably, print mags PSM2 and Xbox World, both of which are published by UK magazine company The Future Network, which controls most of the British games-magazine market. Word rapidly circulated that the scores were the result of trade-offs between the Future magazines and Atari's marketing department, whereby the magazines would be allowed exclusive access to review code in return for guaranteeing 9/10 scores in advance.
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#58377
Yes. Despite complaints of Ubisoft's poor handling of Driver (I disagree with DSF. I love that game. Speedboat Paradise I have not yet touched), it's obvious that Atari hurt the name dearly. The games previous were award winners. Driv3r was largely considered total trash.
#58378
T.K. wrote:Yes. Despite complaints of Ubisoft's poor handling of Driver (I disagree with DSF. I love that game. Speedboat Paradise I have not yet touched), it's obvious that Atari hurt the name dearly. The games previous were award winners. Driv3r was largely considered total trash.
Well, it was my opinion, and I should be free to have one.
#58404
As well as the Driv3rgate, there is also this, from mobygames.com, in the Trivia section: "Only a few weeks after selling the Driver franchise to Ubisoft, Nique Fajors, Atari's Sales and Marketing Vice President, mentioned during a press conference that the third game in the series is a half-baked product that was pushed out the door for revenue reasons." :roll:
#58433
Nope, Ubisoft did. Releasing a game about speedboats that has literally nothing to do with the actual story is an absolute disgrace. Driver SF was alright in the sense that it had fun challenges, but the overall story is boring and doesn't have the appeal of previous titles.
#58436
The Speedboat game was released for phones, and most of the target audience doesn't even care for the series or videogames in general, so it's hardly going to make any difference whatsoever for the series. Besides, there's always some silly phone game from a big franchise being released from time to time. Atari was always known for its mismanagement, which can be proven by the current state of Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, which should be their biggest intellectual properties. Atari thought that they could market Driver 3 as a GTA killer when it's obvious that both games have different goals and visions and the final result is what we got. Parallel Lines didn't do much better to improve the reputation of the series. San Francisco, on the other, did help revitalize the franchise and had a much better reception than the last two, and I gotta say that I had more fun playing SF than playing both PL e D3 combined. Ubisoft did put the series back to the right direction.
#59416
I used to think that Driv3r and D:PL was better than any GTA games from that era. After replaying both games again, I realized how wrong I was. Both games wanted to become more like GTA because the success R* gained on that time, but Atari failed miserably to grasp the core of Driver series. Plus, not to mention the buggy physics in Driv3r and bland story and gameplay in D:PL


Lucky Ubisoft learned from Atari's mistake... for a brief moment in 2011.
#59438
unbid wrote:I used to think that Driv3r and D:PL was better than any GTA games from that era. After replaying both games again, I realized how wrong I was. Both games wanted to become more like GTA because the success R* gained on that time, but Atari failed miserably to grasp the core of Driver series. Plus, not to mention the buggy physics in Driv3r and bland story and gameplay in D:PL


Lucky Ubisoft learned from Atari's mistake... for a brief moment in 2011.
Driver PL is an okay game, the story is very good, Driv3r was the worst on the series so many bugs that you can't complete the game at the first try, story is meh.

Yes! GTA took over the scene because it was the only sand box game that has much to do in but for the story is bad that I think a six years kid written them.

Atari has a small budget now to make AAA games, they can't do another Test Drive, or a big release for Alone in the dark.

Ubi still copy/paste games and hive minds buy them, FC Primal is a good example.
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