12 Video Games Too Big To Fail (That Did Anyway)

8. Driv3r

Why It Was "Too Big"

Though the Driver series has always been divisively received by critics, there was an enormous amount of hype surrounding 2004's threequel, which in addition to being the series' PS2 debut, promised a more cinematic story alongside extensive on-foot gameplay and the use of guns.

Particularly in the UK, the marketing campaign for Driv3r was extremely aggressive, with publisher Atari hoping to transform Driver into a true flagship action franchise.

Why It Failed Anyway

Conventional wisdom dictated that, like the previous games in the series, Driv3r was kind of a mess, a fact only exacerbated by its more ambitious development.

Despite praise for the cutting-edge visuals, the game was pilloried by critics for its abundance of technical issues, its awkward gunplay and its utter, soulless blandness. The end result felt patently unfinished, and that's because it effectively was.

The Damage

With scathing reviews from most major outlets - not to mention a scandal surrounding a few suspiciously positive reviews - Driv3r quickly became an early laughing stock of gaming's sixth generation, and a textbook example of the dangers of runaway hype. Impressively, though, it still managed to sell reasonably.

The series limped along for a few more instalments and actually enjoyed a bit of a critical uptick, but with the last AAA entry releasing to deaf ears back in 2011 (Driver: San Francisco), it's safe to say the series is basically dead at this point.

A reboot isn't out of the question given the easy marketability of the brand name, and the fact that 15 years is probably enough time for (most) people to forget about the calamity that was Driv3r.