The Soul Driver

It's a driving game.

The Soul Driver on Kongregate is a driving game where the player drives a car along a desert highway while being chased by cops. Yeah, the basic gameplay is similar to similar racing games with law enforcement in pursuit, albeit with a side-view. It even has the star meter (at the bottom right of the screenshot) that increases as the police take notice of the player, which is fun to fill - because it means more cops to play with.

In the basic story game, the player is required to drive for 42 miles to the Mexican border with the cops in pursuit. Breaking speed laws, harming civilians and cops will gain the law's attention and fill up the star meter. As each star is filled, more law enforcement tools are released to stop the player... including a traffic police that stands in the player's way and demand he/she stop... (like that would work).

Another day at work for some people.

(Please excuse the low-quality screenshot. I had the graphics set to low quality so that the game does not lag. It is a necessity when playing on lower quality computers.)

In addition to surviving cop pursuit, the player also needs to gather Soulons, the game currency, to fix and upgrade his/her car. Soulons can be picked up from the road (some nice people dropped them for you, unintentionally) or earned by performing certain deeds, such as smashing the cop cars after the player. The latter is the reason why the game is so fun with more stars.

The car really needs fixing.

At regular intervals in the game, there will be a garage where the player stops (it is compulsory) and the game saves (the engine needs to be off to save). In the garage, the player may fix the car and/or upgrade it for better speed and handling. This is where all the Soulons are spent.

More toys to play with.

As the player progresses through the game, more obstacles are added. That means more challenges to drive an upgraded car through. Fun!

Achievements make me feel special.

In addition to simply surviving and collecting Soulons, there are also achievements to complete during the drive. Achievements are additional fun objectives to complete. Each achievement only needs to be completed once - not necessarily during the same game.

Completed achievements award the player with Soulons for the challenges.This fund is separate from the money in the story as it is only used for challenges.

More fun!

In addition to the story mode, the game also comes with a set of challenges. Depending on the player's performance in each challenge, the player is awarded medals of different quality. And medals are necessary for the humble player's ego.

In the challenges, the player's car may be upgraded with only the Soulons earned by completing achievements. And that is the benefit of completing achievements.

The Soul Driver is a fun lawless driving game through a desert highway, with lots of obstacles to play with, without worrying about why hitchhikers stand in the middle of the road when thumbing for a ride. The basic story mode is fun and the additional challenges are addictive. I slept late one night (early morning) attempting to get the gold medal in the screenshot.

Oh, and don't drive like this in real life. Obey the traffic law.

Don't do this in real life.