Looking back in my time of playing video games on PS2 in mid 2000s, I played some good games such as NFS Underground 1, GTA3, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, Gran Turismo 4, Resident Evil 4, Burnout 3, etc.
I also remember I played games I didn't like such as:
The Italian Job, The Getaway, Warhammer 40K Fire Warrior, 50 Cent Bulletproof, 187 Ride or Die, etc.
And then, I've played...
DRIV3R.
Oh boi...
I played it for many hours. At that time, I didn't know why I kept playing it for more like a year and I felt like a moron that I shouldn't play it for extra hours, but I did.
I didn't pay attention to the internet a lot of the bad things and I didn't get why GameSpot gave 5.4 out of 10 score on PS2.
I was stupid back then.
Then I remember the things of why this game was bad and that GameSpot score made sense:
1) If you go inside the bar, just staying in the middle of the corridor, open the door, you see two dudes inside of the bar but you don't get inside of the bar, but the crosshair indicates with red color aiming at them as enemy AI.
I shot them with my default unlimited ammo pistol and they didn't fire me back.
So, in short, the enemy AI was piss-poor in various moments.
2) The car physics are questionable often. Wrecked cars are visible if you hit an obstacle or take damage. I like that.
3) Characters' animation are stiff that they barely felt alive.
4) I've encountered some small bugs here and there. Like the game was rushed.
5) Hiring some well-known actors/actresses didn't cut it in DRIV3R. (Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Michelle Rodriguez, Ving Rhames and Iggy Pop are some examples. I have no disrespect to them)
6) I didn't like the story. The characters are pretty much stale as hell, that I forgot their names. The ending was tasteless.
7) The "realistic" graphics didn't click me and the environment's texture was mediocre. So I felt apathetic.
and
last but not least...
well, I do like the licensed soundtrack on the cutscenes and the main menu, except when you free roam in three cities alone.
So, what did I do after the story mode (Undercover) is over?
I took a ride for a shitload of hours.
I was pretending to be kind to the NPCs in three cities, then I was killing one of those Tom----Timmy Vermicelli, finding secret cars, race a track on Go-kart for some odd reason, and so on...
It was immersive at the time.
That was the reason I spent the majority of hours on DRIV3R. It was the fun thing I had.
So, I stopped to play it and I moved on to...
Years later, I played Driver Parallel Lines.
The 70s funk/rock music, 2006 Era music, New York City, The Kid, crime,
Circuit Races, Street Races, the day to night cycle, Side-jobs...
The story? Ehh, I thought it was serviceable, but it's there.
But, man. This was so much better than DRIV3R.
It's not magnificent, but I like it.