GameSpy Review of Driver: Parallel Lines

Pity poor Reflections software: After pretty much creating the "drive anywhere around town" genre back in less demanding times, where leaving a race track and maneuvering off onto grass was a major event, the developer got dizzied when GTA went 3D and was knocked the frick out after answering back with a frankly appalling third installment that gave the kids a "wandering around Istanbul doing nothing" simulator. The Driver series? It's SNK's Fatal Fury to Capcom's Street Fighter II. It's Alone in the Dark, not Resident Evil.

To its credit, Reflections regrouped, focused on one city and two time periods, ditched Hollywood acting talent, and tried to return to form. After dozens of hours at the wheel, I can happily report they've made massive improvements, and a few critical mistakes.

The "Parallel Lines" suffix refers to New York in two time periods: 1978 and present day. It seems Reflections brought in some metrosexual game-guidance counselors after Driv3r, as your avatar isn't a tough-talking Tanner, but a hippy androgynous waif with girl hips called TK. He sashays around New York, acting as a wheelman for a variety of low-lifes, including the stereotypical black afro-sporting hustler man and the pock-marked leather vest-wearing Latino man, before he's double-crossed, sent to prison for 28 years, and comes out meaner and keen on revenge.


The storyline is derivative, with tired and disjointed segues from cutscene to mission, script work you'd associate with an early '90s Steven Seagal movie (in other words, "awesome" if this game wasn't trying to take itself so seriously) and an ending you'll be puzzled over (although the final mission is wildly entertaining).

Big Apple: Big Improvements

The storyline is mostly bunkum, but there are a few other ways the game excels. If you're planning a vacation to a shrunken version of your favorite city, employ the Reflections team to construct it; this is the best representation of New York, in terms of space and the enormity of buildings, ever seen in a video game. Better than Liberty City. Better than The Godfather. Driving along the Hudson River side checking out the Manhattan skyline at sunset is incredibly impressive. The Reflections staff should feel justly proud of its achievements; the two eras (with new buildings erected over old ones) blend the city together seamlessly into a slightly-too-brown facsimile of the Big Apple. While we're all excited about what's been done right, a quick congratulatory message to whoever picked the music selections, especially in the 1978 section of the game. There's enough R&B and funk to educate your kid brother on which song hooks current rappers have stolen from, and even Peaches by The Stranglers makes an appearance, so you can inform the denizens of Hot Topic on what real punk sounds like. It's as if Guy Ritchie was choosing the song selections prior to marrying his anti-muse, Madonna.

After years of preening, the driving controls (once you get used to the too-slippery handbrake) and physics are second-to-none; Reflections knows how to control cars better than anyone else in this genre. There's nothing new here; "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems to be the mantra this time. A shame then, that there were actually bits that needed tinkering with: Wilder crashes still break the physics engine, and there's a wide variety of glitches (such as your character blending into vehicles and incorrect mid-air animations on most pedestrians). Thankfully, much more scenery (such as the dreaded unbreakable lampposts of Driv3r) is destructible… except at low speeds, which is annoying when you've been fishtailed into a refuse-filled alley by an over-zealous cop. Generally though, this is the pinnacle of perambulator-based action in a living world environment.

Taking Liberties in the City

It's a shame the on-foot sections still suck. A terrible targeting system married to horrific walking animations (literally, it looks like the characters don't know where they're going in the in-game cutscenes) merge with design problems, like different controls for in-game and on-foot firing. If you want to see great strides backwards in gun combat, check out Parallel Lines' travesty of aiming at car tires using a free-look targeting system so imprecise you'll threaten all manner of unspeakable acts at your television. Be thankful for small mercies however; there are far fewer on-foot shenanigans this time around.


Then to the missions. Ah yes, the crux of any living world game. And this is where those expecting mediocrity are to be rewarded: Try as I might, I wasn't able to find a single mission that hasn't been done before. Fans of the genre won't mind this. In fact, they'll be pissed reviewers are mentioning this fact when any first-person shooter is essentially the same game as Doom, and any 3D fighter smacks of Virtua Fighter. But living world games are held to a higher standard because it takes so damn long to get anywhere, and heading to a nightclub to pick up a cash drop while rival gangsters attempt to waylay you is exactly the same gameplay we've seen countless times in the past five years.

Mini-game Ha Ha

As for the mini-games, they're exactly what you'd expect. Can you drive fares around town? Yes. How about stealing cars and taking them back to a chop-shop? Yep. What about driving around an airport through giant purple halo checkpoints within a time limit for cash? You betcha. Then there's the systematic purchasing of houses in a neighborhood, keeping your shopkeepers safe, and constructing new businesses across town in a melding of Sim City and GTA. Then there's the GP races which get difficult and repetitious and show the limits of the game's driving engine. Look, is it too much to ask that there be thousands more collectibles to find, and that these unlock new neighborhoods, or an underground sewage system, or something? Spend less time on your CG cinemas, and more time handing out the fun in stunt-filled packages next time.

There's a teeny drop of innovation, as you can tinker with your vehicle this time (which serves to unlock secrets if you drive the car for an obscene number of miles), adding bits and pieces; but when there's a just-as-cool car around the corner to snag for free, it becomes a little pointless. As does restarting during a mission, which is far better than respawning miles away outside a hospital, but it does take all the trepidation out of a mission, knowing you're able to try again with full health almost immediately. Cop a Load of This

But the biggest problem with the game is the cops. What is an amusing diversion in GTA quickly turns into a high-speed Metal Gear Solid avoidance, as cops begin to chase you if you run a red light, are speeding (in areas where the limits aren't shown), but not if you jack a stationary vehicle. Get caught in their zone of sight, and they start hassling you with dogged determination. This bizarro-world logic completely hampers the fun if, for example, you're nearing a mission start, attract the cops, and then waste minutes weaving onto grass or swapping cars to throw them off the scent. This finally results in a lurching stop-and-go ride through the city, as you strain to check the mini-map for the law instead of rampaging through downtown in a blaze of glory. Speaking of blazes, the car explosions now look terrible. And the final problem? New York is flat, and although there are some undulating landscapes in Central Park, there's nothing like the cliff-top dives and mountain road weaving you experienced during Driv3r's Nice missions -- the single saving grace of the previous offering.

Still, Xbox owners should get a kick out of the 480p resolution on offer here; the single biggest reason for recommending this over the PS2 equivalent: Hook this up to TV that can handle it, and you've got yourself a smoother, less pixelated version. Even on standard televisions, the Xbox version wins out; expect jagged edges, a rougher look, and slightly longer load times on the PS2 version. However, with four shoulder buttons, firing from a car is more intuitive on PS2, while the Xbox's analog triggers allow for more pinpoint acceleration. Those with poor eyesight can toss a coin; the rest should go with the Xbox version.

Driver: Parallel Lines is a competent title with hours of gameplay on offer. But the parallels to the grand-daddy of living world titles are obvious. However, where GTA used humor, masses of distractions, OTT violence, and a giant game world with a real sense of space and depth to mask the unimpressive visuals, Driver is the opposite, using an impressive physics engine and city to hide repetitive and languid gameplay that's becoming increasingly difficult to enthuse about.

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