Driver 3

Driver 3 (stylized as DRIV3R) is a 2004 open world action-adventure video game. It is the third installment in the Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari, Inc.. Driver 3 was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on 21 June 2004. In Europe, it was released on 25 June, although due to the way Atari shipped the title across the continent, it made its way into independent UK retailers before the release date, reaching sixth place in the ELSPA chart for that week. A simplified version of the game for mobile phones was developed and released by Sorrent and published in North America on 23 June 2004, while it was published by Unique Games in Europe. On 15 March 2005, it was released on PC for US customers, it was also released on Game Boy Advance 25 October 2005. At one point a Nintendo GameCube version and an N-Gage version were planned, but both were cancelled. The game received mixed reviews on all platforms except the PC, which received mostly unfavorable reviews.

Although two Driver games were published between them, 2011's Driver: San Francisco is considered the sequel to Driver 3.

Gameplay
The vehicles in Driver 3 are based on real-life vehicles and are designed to behave as such, using realistic damage modeling (e.g., bullet holes appear when a car is shot, or if the car is hit from behind the trunk of the car will pop out).

Weapons are unnamed in the game, with weapons beyond the player's initial weapon unlocked by completing mission or, in Take A Ride mode, from stealing them from police or other enemies. The players can unlock a variety of weapons, including pistols, rifles, and grenade guns.

NPCs react to the player's actions. For example, pedestrians will flee if they see Tanner with a weapon or if he drives too close to them.

Plot
A shootout occurs in Istanbul, Turkey between FBI agent John Tanner, a South Beach cartel agent named Jericho, and the police. Tanner and Jericho shoot each other.

Six months earlier in Miami, Florida, Tanner is tasked by the Miami Police Department to infiltrate a crime syndicate called South Beach, headed by a woman named Calita. He works undercover as a getaway driver in South Beach, catching a man named Baccus and is involved with the apparent death of a man called The Gator.

Tanner leaves for Nice, France with South Beach. There he meets two Interpol agents, Henri Vauban and Didier Dubois, who are also working against South Beach. Tanner decides to pursue his case on his own terms. The Interpol agents accidentally spoil Tanner's cover, and he is ambushed by Jericho. Tanner escapes with his partner, Tobias Jones, but Jericho kills Dubois.

In Istanbul, Turkey, Tanner is now working as a rogue agent due to the incident with Interpol and being subsequently framed for the murder of Dubois. Tanner continues to work against South Beach operations. As he does, he learns Jericho is the real leader of the crime ring. Jericho is involved in a car chase with the Turkish police, and Tanner catches up to Jericho. Jericho is shot by Tanner, but Tanner refuses to execute Jericho; Jericho takes the opportunity to shoot Tanner in the back. Tanner is rushed to the emergency room, where he flatlines. The doctors attempt to resuscitate him.

Development
The game was in development for around three and a half years. Special attention was paid in rendering the cities of Miami, Nice, and Istanbul. The in-game music was composed by Marc Canham, Rich Aitken, and Narco.

Atari also shot a short promotional video about Driver 3 called Run the Gauntlet.

Reception
The PlayStation 2 version of Driver 3 received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

After an extensive and intensive promotional campaign, Driver 3 received "mixed" reviews on all platforms except the PC version, which received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

The Times gave it all five stars, saying, "The graphics are divine, with vast urban locales and spectacular crashes. The cars handle well, and each vehicle has its own characteristics. Yet this is no easy driving game — one of the reasons why, subject matter aside, it carries a 16+ rating." Playboy gave it an 88% and stated: "Your investigation jump-starts reckless car chases through more than 150 miles of highways and city streets in detailed re-creations of Miami, Nice and Istanbul. Slam into any of the 30,000 buildings and your car crumbles realistically." However, The Cincinnati Enquirer gave it three stars out of five and called its controls and animation "unresponsive and stiff".

"DRIV3Rgate"
While Driver 3 received mostly mixed reviews, two outlets operated by Future plc, PSM2 and Xbox World, gave the game 9/10 scores. This disparity led some gamers and journalists to claim that the early access Atari gave Future was contingent on receiving favorable ratings, but Atari and Future denied any wrongdoing. The incident was dubbed "Driv3rgate".

After the accusations of review fixing arose, the GamesRadar forums (also operated by Future) were filled with critical posts, many of which were deleted by moderators. Although the comments were said to be removed for being libelous, some users suspected a cover-up. Some comments defending Driver 3 and Future were traced by forum moderators to Babel Media, a marketing company that made use of astroturfing. The users admitted they worked for Babel, but said that they were posting on their own behalf, not for Babel. The thread was eventually deleted in its entirety.