The long-awaited DRIVECLUB finally showed up in its final version. There have been many postponements since its initial release that was supposed to accompany the release of PlayStation 4, but finally we now have the opportunity to play a title that largely met expectations.
#DRIVETOUR
Let's start by trying to understand the concept for which DRIVECLUB was created: an arcade driving video game whose online component dominates the single component. It must be said immediately that even the offline part has its strength, but the video game was created to make the most of the social function of the PlayStation 4.
The final version gives us five nations (Chile, Canada, India, Scotland, Norway) for a total of 55 tracks between variants and different versions of the main ones. These will be the areas where we will face the challenges that the video game gives us in single and multiplayer modes. We said the offline sector is not the strong point of the title, but it has the "Tour" mode on its side in which we will face a long series of races that will help our online driver to gain experience, unlocking new cars and new paint, and climbing the online leaderboards. One of the characteristics of the video game is in fact its social function which, as mentioned, takes full advantage of the characteristics of the PlayStation 4, in which the online rankings are an important function: each track has in fact different objectives to be completed, ranging from from reaching the podium to winning a championship, to the length of a drift, to beating the lap time, to reaching an average speed or exceeding a maximum speed or, again, completing a curve following the right wake. In addition, the races can be completed several times, always getting new experience. The offline sector also makes available the classic challenges to be played alone, such as some tracks that offer a certain number of laps to complete, others a single path to be completed in a certain time, or still others ranging from the classic challenge against eleven opponents in the skid tests.
#DRIVECOMPARTOTECNICO
The technical sector offers high quality and not only for the great graphic detail that cars and tracks offer. What stands out are the play of light and shadow, the weather conditions, the sound sector; all things that excel and that are certainly attested as strengths of the title.
What for sure makes the game excellent on a graphic level are the details on the track, from the leaves flying to the crowds that stir as the cars pass, through the incredible detail of the texture of the landscapes to the animals that can be encountered during a ride, like elephants or flamingos by a lake. In this sense, a great job has been done by Evolution Studios which has been able to bring together a high level of detail both as regards the part inherent to the race and for what surrounds it, creating a changing setting during a race. In certain races, we will also pass from an environment illuminated by sunlight to roads obscured by the shadows of the trees, in which the reflections on the car of the sun itself create a truly exceptional play of light and shadow. Also worthy of mention in this field are the constellations of the sky, which mirror the real ones and have been made the same with data from NASA.
The graphic work is then flanked by a sound sector of the highest level, in which the absence of an offline playlist makes us concentrate on the important work done on the roar of the car engines. At the launch of the video game 50 cars are available and almost all European, divided into five power classes and four different parameters, acceleration, speed, handling and drift, which combined together give a feeling with the different driving system. We go from the compact Mini to the fast Pagani, different in characteristics and unlockable during the increase in experience.
In this context, the absence of weather conditions at the launch also turns up the nose, as well as the complete absence of replays, as well as the failure to reach 60 fps which however do not create too many imbalances in an incredibly detailed graphic system.
#DRIVECLUB
The online sector remains the strong point of a title created specifically for a social function in which the Clubs are its focal point. Each Club created has its coat of arms, colors and members at its disposal, for a total of six at the most. The results obtained by each member serve to increase the fame of their Club, to try to climb and dominate the rankings and prove that their Club is the strongest. Certainly the online sector being the strong point of the game makes us understand why the video game has suffered numerous delays: if it had been released together with the launch of PlayStation 4 there would have been no current users and a video game based on multiplayer without online gamers. would not have achieved this success, with the online version representing the extension of the single player sector, including the additional internal objectives that the video game makes available to us and that allow us to play and replay every race.
[signoff icon = "quote-circled"] DRIVECLUB ultimately manages to convince above all as regards the technical and graphic sector even if the absence of numerous features that will be inserted later as DLC, the meteorological change or the photo mode, lack a small masterpiece that Evolution Studios has created. [/ signoff]
