Driver 2
Encyclopedia
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Driver (series)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games developed by Reflections Interactive , and originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, driving, and third-person shooting in open world environments...
video game series.
Gameplay
Driver 2 expands on DriverDriver (video game)
Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games developed by Reflections Interactive , and originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, driving, and third-person shooting in open world environments...
's 3-D, free-roam structure, as well as adding the ability of the character, Tanner, to step out of his car to explore on foot and commandeer other vehicles in the game's open world
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
environments. The story missions are played separately from the take-a-ride mode where the player can explore the cities in their own time.
Missions in the game are generally vehicle-oriented, and involve trailing witnesses, ramming cars and escaping from gangsters or cops. A cutscene is shown prior to almost every mission to help advance the storyline, and thus the game plays rather like a Hollywood-style car chase movie. Although Tanner can leave his car and interact with certain elements of the environment, all violence takes place during pre-rendered scenes.
While the original PlayStation version offered a two-player split screen play, the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
version introduced a four player link option.
Chicago
The game begins with an introduction showing a man named Pink Lenny and a tatooed Brazilian talking in a bar. Suddenly, two men burst in with guns and kill everyone in the room, except for Lenny, who slips out the back. Later, Undercover police officer Tanner and his partner Tobias Jones examine the body of the Brazilian at the morgue. The coroner informs Tanner and Jones of Lenny's disappearance and of the only witness of the attack. Tanner and Jones apprehend the witness, who tells them that the gunmen weren't after the Brazilian but were after Lenny, who is actually a money launderer working for Solomon Caine, one of the high ranking mobsters of ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
whose empire goes from Chicago to Las Vegas.
However, Jones suspects that the Brazilian was working for Alvaro Vazquez, another high ranking mobster who is one of Caine's rivals. If Lenny was talking with the brazilian, he may have switched sides. Tanner and Jones investigate a warehouse owned by Vazquez, but it turns out that the police were raiding the warehouse and Tanner and Jones split up to escape the cops, though not before discovering that the forged documents in the craters came from Cuba. When Tanner returns to his apartment, he is hit in the face by an assailant (one of the shooters from the bar), who escapes down the fire escape. Tanner gives chase, but it turns out it was a trap set by Caine, who believes Tanner is a hired thug trying to take over his business with information from Lenny. While Caine's bodyguard, Jericho, drags Tanner away for execution, Tanner hits him in the face and escapes Caine's compound. Caine puts a bounty on Tanner's name, forcing him and Jones to escape to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.
Havana
Tanner and Jones learn that Vazquez is using Havana as the frontier for his arms operations, and plans to use Lenny's contacts to flood Chicago with guns and take over Caine's business. Tanner and Jones ruin Vazquez's arms operations in Havana, and also discover that Lenny is going to be leaving the city in a ship called Rosanna Soto. Despite Tanner's attmepts to arrest Lenny before the ship leaves, Lenny escapes.Afterwards Tanner learns from Jones that Jericho has arrived in Havana, having learnt of Lenny's betrayal, and plans to kill all of Lenny's men at a hotel in Central Havana. Tanner and Jones follow Jericho to the hotel, where Tanner is unable to prevent Jericho from killing the men, but nonetheless rams Jericho off the road in a chase. Tanner and Jericho then form a truce, hiding from the Brazilians and head to Vegas to meet Caine.
Las Vegas
When Lenny arrives in Vegas, he is greeted by Vazquez, who is overseeing the arms shipments and is taking over Lenny's contacts after Lenny's failure in Havana. Tanner, Jones and Jericho arrive in Vegas and meet Caine. Tanner infiltrates Caine's gang by telling Caine that Jones and him once worked for Lenny but were betrayed and want revenge. Caine assigns Jones to track down Lenny while Tanner will use his driving skills to assist Caine's Vega's operations.Tanner completes the tasks given to him by Caine, including delivering a car bomb to Vasquez's casino in Vegas and assisting Caine's henchmen in a bank robbery. Jones, infiltrating Vasquez's mob, discovered that Lenny has left Vegas and Tanner had to transport him to the airport (after shaking off a police ambush and subsequent chase). Caine then had Tanner disrupt Vasquez's operations by destroying his main front in North Vegas, and destroyed the trucks containing Vasquez's weapons. Caine and his henchman brutally interrogates one of the Brazilian guards and learn that Vasquez (and Lenny) are in Rio.
Rio
Tanner, Jericho and Caine meet Jones in Rio, despite Jones telling Caine that it is too dangerous for him to be in the city. Caine dismisses his warnings and only concern himself to find Lenny. Tanner still uses his driving skills to assist Caine and disrupt Vasquez's activities, such as ramming a stolen bus into the Brazilians' cars and tricking the Brazilians into giving Tanner cash for Caine.Around this time however Tanner is worried that Jones's cover is deteriorating and that Vasquez will figure out that Jones is supposedly working for Caine. Tanner only gives Jones four days to find out the information where Lenny is before Tanner heads off to destroy a boat transporting Vasquez's weapons to Chicago. Jones later calls to Tanner that Vasquez has sent a gunman to kill Jones, forcing Tanner to save him. Tanner arrives at Jones' place to find him wounded and the gunman still lurking around. The gunman flees and Tanner rams him off the cliff of the coastal route.
With time running out and Vasquez losing, Caine finally found out that Lenny is attempting to escape Rio. Tanner is forced to pick up Jericho before heading to Lenny's location. The two manage to shoot down the helicopter Lenny is in when Tanner reveals his true colours to Jericho. Leaving Jericho behind, Tanner chases Lenny's helicopter through the streets of Rio while evading Caine's henchman. The helicopter finally crashes and Tanner quickly disarms Lenny before beating him to submission.
Ending
Tanner escorts Lenny back to Chicago and handed him over to the coroner seen at the introduction. When the coroner asks Tanner what was the connection between Caine and Vasquez, Tanner only replied "Took me a long time to figure that out". It is revealed that the two had been affiliated in the past and are shown to have reconciled with each other before the statue of Christ of Redeemer in Rio.As Tanner drives away from the airport, a mystery car starts to tail him...
Cities
Driver 2 includes four cities which are notably larger than the original game. The cities are Chicago and HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, which are both immediately open for 'TAKE A RIDE' mode, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, which can only be accessed once missions are complete for the first two cities, and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, only accessible after completing the Las Vegas missions. The cities all have secret cars hidden within them, which become available once the player finds the buttons to unlock the entries to where the cars are located and then approaches the cars to unlock them. The cities include many of their respective landmarks, such as the Navy Pier
Navy Pier
Navy Pier is a long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost of $4.5 million, equivalent to $ today. It was a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and...
and Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
in Chicago, the Havana's Plaza de la Revolución
Plaza de la Revolucion
Plaza de la Revolución is a municipality and a square in Havana, Cuba.The municipality stretches from the square down to the sea at the Malecón and includes the Vedado district.- Square :...
and El Capitolio
El Capitolio
El Capitolio, or National Capitol Building in Havana, Cuba, was the seat of government in Cuba until after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and is now home to the Cuban Academy of Sciences. Its design and name recall the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., but it is only superficially similar...
, recreations of the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
, and the Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer (statue)
Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is tall, including its pedestal, and wide. It weighs 635 tonnes , and is located at the peak of the Corcovado...
and some other known landmarks of Rio.
Soundtrack
In a move similar to the first game, Driver 2 featured a soundtrack reminiscent of typical 1970s car movies, containing instrumental funkFunk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and boogie
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded...
tracks as well as more popular songs by artists and composers, to further emphasize the retro feel of the game.
Background music
Background music for each city seems to match both with the car-chasing movie music and the predominant music styles of each city, for example, Havana BGM seems to be influenced by the Son cubano, Vegas BGM sounds with influences of North America's Western musicWestern music (North America)
Western music originated as a form of American folk music. Originally composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Directly related musically to old English, Scottish, and Irish folk ballads, Western music celebrates the life of...
and Rio BGM is influenced by samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and bossanova
Bossanova
Bossanova is the third album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in August 1990 on the English independent record label 4AD in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. All of Bossanovas original material was written by the band's frontman Black Francis; it...
.
Cars in the levels themselves have approximately 5 or 6 seconds of looped music, in Chicago it is Rock/Electro Beat style and in Rio it is Drum & Bass.
The licensed songs featured in the game (as listed in the credits) are given below:
- "Fever" by Dust JunkiesMC TunesMC Tunes is a British rapper from the suburb of Moss Side in Manchester. His name was legally changed to Lockett in 1981. Tunes was one of the big promoters of the Madchester-era during the 1980s and 1990s.-808 State:Tunes first worked with 808 State on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights...
- The first cutscene in Las Vegas with the trucks pulling into the gas station. - "In the Basement" by Etta JamesEtta JamesEtta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
- in a bar in Las Vegas where Tanner and Jones shoot pool. - "Help Me" by Sonny Boy WilliamsonSonny Boy Williamson IIWillie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
- Tanner arrives back at his apartment and confronts Jericho. - "Sitting Here Alone" by Hound Dog TaylorHound Dog TaylorTheodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 . He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20...
- The opening scene of the game at the Red River bar. - "Just Dropped In"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"Just Dropped In " is a song written by Mickey Newbury. Said to reflect the LSD experience, the song was intended to be a warning against the danger of using LSD. First recorded in 1967 by Jerry Lee Lewis, who rejected it, it was a hit for The First Edition in 1968...
by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition- Plays over the end credits of the game. - "Lacrimosa"Lacrimosa (Requiem)The Lacrimosa is part of the Dies Irae sequence in the Requiem mass. Its text comes from the 18th and 19th stanzas of the sequence. Many composers, including Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi have set the text as a discrete movement of the Requiem.-Latin Text:...
by Mozart- The climactic scene in Rio at the base of the statue of Christ the Redeemer.
Development
The game was first released on the PlayStation video game consoleVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and was later ported to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
. Because the game was so long, and cutscene graphics were somewhat advanced for that of the PlayStation era
History of video game consoles (fifth generation)
The fifth-generation era refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at stores...
, the game was released on two discs. The first disc contained data for the first two cities, and the second disc contained data for the last two cities.
Reception
Reception of the game was mixed. Some felt it expanded on the original Driver and contained enough fresh content to be a worthy sequel, with GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
concluding "Driver 2 is an extraordinary game". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described it as "one of the most disappointing games, if not the most disappointing game, of 2000." Others felt this was not enough of an upgrade, or lambasted the graphics (particularly the framerate) and almost constant slowdown whenever the action on the screen got too busy. However Official PlayStation Magazine gave the game 10/10 and stated it was better than the original and proved to be just as, if not more popular with fans than its predecessor.