I’ve had Driven for about a week now, and I have to say that it isn’t quite as bad as some of the scores I’ve seen. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the game, and my roommates have been playing it nearly every night.

Driven is based on last year’s movie and features CART cars racing both on oval tracks and through city streets. There is a story mode, arcade mode, and two-player mode, all of which feature the same tracks and drivers. Also included is a full trailer for the movie. From what I’ve heard, the movie’s nothing special either, but it’s a nice way to do a movie tie-in. I hope Spider-Man will do the same.

Graphically, it’s rather lackluster. The cars look decent but the backgrounds are all flat and lifeless. There’s also a slight use of motion blur throughout the whole game, which seems to be there just to cover up the mediocre backgrounds a bit.

I won’t go into full details on the sound yet, but let’s just say that Sylvester Stallone hasn’t helped break the stereotypical connection between video games and bad acting.

Racing takes a fair amount of skill, involvement and practice. You really have to know where to brake and going off the road at all really slows you down. Unlike Burnout, which will reward you for recklessness, Driven strongly encourages rigid perfection through its “Zone” system. If you race well without bumping into things or going off course, your zone meter will fill up. Once it reaches maximum, you will be “In the Zone.” The edges of the screen become even blurrier, leaving only your focus clear, but speed and handling both increase.

It's not perfect, but it's fun. The problem lies in everything it's missing: no manual transmissions available; no customization; a very limited number of tracks; and a car selection that makes previous drivers obsolete when new ones are unlocked. I’m having a lot of fun with it, but it doesn’t seem like it will last much longer. I’ll have a full review ready soon.