Driver

Passing the driving test to open up the g Amazon.co.uk Driver Platinum combines Grand Theft Auto-style missions with Colin McRae Rally driving. You are Tanner, an undercover "cop" posing as a getaway driver with the aim of infiltrating and busting open a national crime ring.

Passing the driving test to open up the game is the first "challenge", and it can be a challenge. You have a limited time to complete a number of driving manoeuvres in your ridiculously powerful car. But speed is what Driver is all about and these skills do make it easier--the reverse 180 degrees is a fine way to shake off the law as they pursue you all over the streets of New York, Miami, LA or San Francisco.

Once into the game, you do various driving jobs where speed and knowing the streets are a definite bonus. Timing is also crucial--arrive too early or with a tail, and you blow the mission, arrive too late and your target will be gone. Outside the storyline, Driver also contains smaller basic driving games, such as Trailblazer and Pursuit modes, allowing you to flex your car's muscle without jeopardising anything, except the safety of your fellow road users.

Control of the car does border on the unrealistic side, but this enables you to throw your car around and adds to the addictiveness of the game--driving the car is great fun in itself. The graphics are shockingly good and the animated clips add to the 70s ambience. --Chris Hall (Review copyright Amazon.co.uk)