Driver San Francisco

[Ayatollah Hermione 13856]

Because you all should have done. Basically, you play John Tanner, a detective who gets involved in a dangerous crash at the start of the game, is taken to hospital and has severe brain damage as the rest of the games plays out in his head as he goes around stopping criminals and assisting the police with his black stereotype friend.

 

The key mechanic is "shifting" where you can jump between your car and any other car on the road. So, if you're chasing someone, you switch to a car in oncoming traffic and smash it into the criminal. Why the game remains so enjoyable is that it builds and builds on that original premise as each chapter goes on (about 8 in total) and each mission, you do (there are stunt missions where you have to drive like you're in Bullitt, race missions where you assume the role of a nerdy Chinese person who can't drive but is racing anyway etc) has a steady progression in difficulty where you're using everything you've learned.

 

What also makes it great is that there is no mystery to the whole "insane detective in a hospital bed" thing, the audience knows straight up and it makes everything really funny because this plays out like a 70s buddy cop drama which is clearly everything your character has ever hoped for and he's the wise-cracking detective who has all the answers.

 

This was criminally slept-on; it's just the right length if you stick to the story missions but there's tons of optional content to play which unlocks cars and challenges. The driving is really tight and the shifting is incredibly fun once you get it right. Graphically, it's good and there's multiplayer too but multiplayer is probably dead on it right now and really wasn't needed.

 

I saw something on HotUKDeals about this being cheap somewhere so pick it up. One of my favourites from the past year for sure.