Driver Madness

If you haven't herd about the next driver title please read this first.

So far we only know the title of the next driver game.

Driver: The Recruit
What do you think this could mean.

I hope I'm wrong...

I think that there may be a chance that this means...


we will be playing as Tanner in his youth, back when he was a minor recruit...

there has previously been speculation of it being Tanner in his ealier years, so it wouldn't surprise me.




I really hope so anyway...

*EDIT*

it would kinda make sence, because if you remember in D3 it seemed as though it was based in the modern times, hence the Nokia mobile phone in the first cutscene...

and I always thought that tanner was a little old in D3... maybe in his late 40s early 50s... so going back to his youth would make sence, partly because it would be back in the 70's and partly because he may have a bit more of an attitude, which would be good for the Driver series...

and it would be good to see tanner before the original Drivers storyline!
I think that I remember in the first Drivers cutscene that Tanners boss said something like "Truth is tanner, your still the best Driver that I've got" which may be because his boss has tried recruiting a few other people back then too...



I think that this may be a good way for Reflections to kinda start the series again, (before the original storyline started) and you may see in sequels tanner getting older, before he returns to the age that we see him at in the previous titles.




Thats just my thoughts anyway!.

I hope they get an awesome voice actor for him.

I think it could be that we are told Tanner is dead, and a new person to take his place is recruited.

OR

Tanner is no longer fit to work and must find a replacement for himself.

Guys! Chill. My fan-made Driver games will always have Tanner! His story continues(unless I decide to kill him off. But don't worry, I would never do that.)

I couldn't imagine Tanner standing with a similar pose to Simon Cowell watching kids drive in circles...


and if Tanner was dead, why did they say he's not dead on the wall in D: PL?

Serioously, getting rid of Tanner would be a big mistake.

obviously, the best option for U/R if tanner is still alive would be to take Tanner back to his younger days! (when he was getting recruited) which would enable us to find out a little about Tanner and his past!.

Have just been thinking.

If this game doesn't concern Tanner in his younger days then he must be dead, as if this game were to follow Tanner wouldn't it be called Driver 4.

So, it's either Tanner in his younger days or Tanner's gone.

Hey hey I'm back. Sorry for disappearing again but life's been hectic. As soon as i found out about The recruit yesterday i just had to get on here and see if anyone knew... Apparently so.

Anywho...

I unfortunately at this moment have ideas leading towards both theory's that have been put forward. This leaves me sitting on rather sharp and pointy fence as to my opinions. I have no trouble concerning my hopes such as the return of Tanner and a really hot girlfriend, but i have to be realistic.

Option 1:

"Tanner Lives" proclaimed the large graffiti art in TK's apartment yes, as well as the 2006 era being seemingly littered with a number of Easter eggs that may or may not have been intentioned as official cannon for the for the next Driver installment.

One possibility behind this was, noticing no cannon in '78, that Tanner is indeed alive and living in the beautiful realm of 2006. After his encounter with Jericho it would seem Atari reflections had the intention to revive Tanner from the flat line that left all us fans hanging on screaming NOOOOOOOOOOO! It isn't an unfair assumption, i don't think, that DPL was merely created by Atari Reflections to try and revive the Driver trademark with a new direction while leaving previous fans chomping at the bit to find out what happened to the beloved James Micheal Tanner (Not his real name). So when DPL was a success, Atari would have kept old fans and brought in knew ones to the series, in the hopes of releasing in the future, the final installment of the Tanner Vs Jericho series.

Now this my have seemed like a vote for Tanners return right?

And yet, here comes the BUT!

BUT!!! And this is a shame...

DPL fell flat on its face, with i think the lowest sales margin of all the Driver games. It also caught a colossal rap from the gaming media who stated it to return to the roots of the original Driver, and sucking at it. This caused Atari's plans to also fall flat on their faces too, and as a result of a number of failing names in Atari's possession, including Driver and it's design team Reflections had to go. Reflections is now owned by Ubisoft, meaning any plans Reflections had with Atari are now irrelevant. Reflections may have always planned to continue in the direction they set with Atari, but if the head honcho at Ubisoft doesn't want that, then well, BURST!!! (That was Reflections' proverbial bubble... Madness should get that little joke... Oh yes Madness... It is BACK!!!)

Therefore After all that, this makes me think The Recruit will not follow the story of Tanner and will be another, new direction crap show such as DPL or D76 (No one actually said that, it is just a phrase).

So... Option 2 it is:

"Tanner Lives" a multi generational term, does not pertain to a certain time period, it just means that Tanner is alive in general.

The year is 1976 and a young Tanner has just joined the police force, only to be mentored by... Here It Comes... You might have guessed what i'm bout to say right now... OH YEAH BABY THAT FELLS GOOD OH DON'T STOP... THE WANKER THAT IS.........................................CORRIGAN... dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little far fetched but hey why not. No one ever knew what Corrigan had done other than TK so it could work.

The Recruit as someone else has said could be a title meant to suggest the up and comings of Tanner. Under my Brain Power i have also deduced that it could merely be a Teaser to throw off people who have been watching eagerly for news. It may not even be the final title.

Back to my Tanner lives point though. Ubisoft may know that Tanner has a staunch following and that more people want him to return than TK, not just from share loyalty, but in share desperation to find out what happened after the screen faded to black. After all the last noise you here is the charged paddles going off, so it isn't unreasonable to think Tanner may be back and kicking.

If Ubisoft reads the audience right they will know we want a return to Tanner. Also if Tanner comes back it will draw back fans who gave up a while ago, not because they enjoy the game, because they may well not, but they will come back for curiosity's sake, just to see how it ends. Ubisoft must be able to see that this would be a great sales strategy for them, and if they make the game revolutionary enough, the curious fans will love it and will return to the series. And if Ubisoft can't see this, then they should employ me to tell them this kind of stuff.

So ultimately, the pointy fence on which i sit, is well... Ubisoft. It all comes down to their decisions, because at the end of the day Reflections can't do anything their employment disagrees with. It's just the unfortunate side of not being self employed.

But anyway that was just my two cents, or if i calculated it, about $6.38.

Well, I wouldn't think that tanner would be "young" in the 70s. Maybe 27/28 by the time that D1 started, which I'd guess was no later than 1975.

if they wanted to sattisfy both the loyal fans and still bring in more new fans then I could imagine a story like as follows:


in the first CutScene you see tanner in the hospital, and it fades into a dream that tanner is having about his past, and then you play the part that he is dreaming about, and once you complete the missions, then the final cutscene would show tanner waking up in the hospital!

if they wanted to add to the story opening a door for a future storyline, then they could show tanner checking on jericho, only to find that he is not there (because he may have escaped)

enabling reflections to one day make another story where we have to hunt down jericho once again!.

Please no dream sequences. That's like a creative writing essay when you run out of time in the exam and say. I woke suddenly. It isn't that it is been done to death it is just annoying, because it means there is the option it is just a hallucination. It have no problem exploring his past, but maybe more like...

There are similar themes running through tanners life and current experiences trigger flashback missions where you can explore how the situation is similar now to in the past, and piece together the history of tanner yourself, rather than being told. It is a more fun way to see Tanners past while moving forward into the future.

What do you guys think?

I agree with you there; I would love to play both tanner in his heyday and the recruit in 2009!

Here's a good storyline taking concepts from you guys:

Tanner wakes up in the hospital. Battered up and seemingly defeated, Tanner decides to calm down his lifestyle for a few years.

The first mission is on D3's Istanbul map. Tanner can drive after many coma-filled weeks in the hospital, and he heads off to the city airport and goes back to Miami (which would be in a much better map than the D3 one). In a cutscene, you see Tanner walking a few blocks from his condominium to a bar. He starts talking with some guys and they eventually get into a conversation about Tanner's past.

The second mission is Tanner going into police training. Tanner is about 22 years old at the time. He is in a very muscle-car occupied version of Miami as well. He is a regular cop for the next few missions, and he is put on an undercover mission to do a drug bust as a last resort. After proving his skills, the cops decide to make him a permanent undercover cop.

Throughout the game, Tanner goes through many trials such as busting hitman operations, breaking up street gangs, getting rid of organized crime and even defusing bombs.

He is sent to Vegas at the second third of the game and to New York at the ending third, where he becomes a part of the NYPD for about a year before the storyline of Driver 1 begins.

Ubisoft made a game called COP the recruit and driver recruit got cancelled and this cop recruit is actually quite a good game, it got a e3 rewar for best ds graphics and best ds action gme, it is kind driverish unlike driver 3 where it was more like shoot3r not driv3r, if u hav a ds its worth gettin it.