Driver 76

Driver 76 is an exclusive entry in the Driver series that studio Ubisoft Reflections made directly for the portable PlayStation Portable. The game serves as a prequel to Driver: Parallel Lines and takes place in the mid-1970s in a fictional American metropolis, where the player takes on the role of a young stunt driver still building a reputation in the underworld who later becomes the mentor of the hero of the follow-up entry. The story is split into short missions that combine street chases, shootouts fired from behind the wheel, delivering cargo for local gangs, and stunt tasks such as two-wheel driving or ramp jumps, a Driver series staple ever since its first entries on PlayStation.

Bringing the open-world philosophy to a handheld with a single analog stick and noticeably weaker performance than the home consoles of the time offered required a number of adjustments from the developers. Compared to the series' concurrently developed console entries, missions here are shorter and easier to digest for on-the-go play, both the camera and car handling were simplified due to the lack of a second stick, and the game offers more frequent autosaves along with the ability to pause at any time. The visual style stays true to the seventies atmosphere of previous Drivers, just with lower detail density, shorter draw distance, and fewer vehicles rendered at once due to the PSP's display and memory limitations. This isn't a scaled-down version of any console entry, then, but a title designed from the ground up around the handheld's possibilities and limits, which is why it never came out on any other platform. Despite being a smaller handheld title, the game still offers free roaming of the open city outside the main story missions, where players can collect hidden bonuses and complete side stunt challenges similar to the bigger console Drivers, just in a shorter, portable form suited to play on the go.

Why play it: Driver 76 will appeal to PSP owners and today's handheld retro gaming fans alike who want a taste of an open world with chases and a period seventies atmosphere in shorter chunks suited for on the go, without needing to sit in front of a TV.