After the rather mixed critical reception handed down to Driv3r, and despite its undeniable clout with consumers, publishers Atari were oddly left with a one-time standout franchise that suddenly looked set to topple through an unfortunate case of misdirection. Indeed, many quarters believed Driv3r would be the sad end of the road - as it were - for Atari’s Driver series. Yet, unperturbed, they set about batting down the hatches and retrieving the one-time excellence of the Driver series from the depths of the development dungeon to which it had seemingly been confined, and they duly threw it back at Reflections Interactive - along with a well-used chamois leather, a stout tub of high-gleam wax, and a demand for the application of extreme elbow grease. Driver: Parallel Lines is the end product. Well, it’s certainly shiny, it’s definitely new, and it’s supposedly a re-imagining of the original Driver in terms of gameplay. But is it any good?
Parallel Lines opens in 1978, and places the player in the shoes of 18-year old TK, a fresh-faced arrival to New York City who’s looking to make a name for himself. Through his above average driving skills, it doesn’t take long for TK to fall in with the criminal fraternity as a ‘wheelman’, or getaway driver, and pretty soon his reputation is on the up. The player then experiences progressive mission-based segments of gameplay as TK gradually nurtures his positioning and value as a wheelman. However, the age-old adage states that: “crime doesn’t pay”, and soon enough TK becomes mixed up in a drugs empire and is abruptly busted… and sentenced to a hefty 28 years in prison. The game then flashes forward to the present day as TK is released from the slammer with a craving for vengeance.
Gameplay is built, as the title implies, around driving a host of speedy vehicles, and Parallel Lines has lots and lots of them on offer throughout both of the game’s pivotal story eras; players are ably to freely ‘jack’ (and even tune-up) pretty much anything they like. Though, that said, the cars in Parallel Lines are so disposable from mission to mission, that investing time to tune one singular ride for the duration seems somewhat pointless. Mission are generally rather mundane and they include the usual sway of pick-up and delivery for items, cars, and people; then there are also street races, various forms of theft, and assassinations, etc. The missions are fairly well implemented through the game’s narrative structure, but on the whole there’s very little in evidence that hasn’t been done before - and better. There are occasional missions that deprive TK of his car and must be completed by fleet of foot, and here the game’s third-person perspective for shooting weaponry comes into play. However, the targeting system is (still) an exercise in frustration and players may well find the air turning blue while trying to accurately return fire against marksmen-like A.I. opposition.
Presentation in Parallel Lines varies across the available platforms, and while the game looks fairly impressive on the Xbox, it tends to feel somewhat rough around the edges on the PS2. There’s a definite grimy feel to everything - including the cars - yet there appears to be very little to complain about where jagging, pop, or draw are concerned, which is a plus on a fast-paced driving game. The same can be said about the framerate, which handles the on-screen action capably and keeps player attentions on the road ahead without sullying the overall illusion. A nod of approval should also be noted regarding Parallel Lines’ rendered cut scenes, which are superbly produced and contain some extremely convincing character animation¬ - particularly in terms of facial expression and lip-synching. Sound perhaps emerges as somewhat of a disappointment, and though the game has been hyped before release upon its kick-ass musical soundtrack (which is fabulous, at least during the 1978 era, Blondie and all), the peripheral effects layered around the game’s score aren’t especially strong. Voiceover work is a tad melodramatic at times too, though oddly befitting of the game’s general atmosphere, but overall performances feel as though they’re trying a little too hard to emulate the impact of a certain game series by Rockstar.
There are some admirable touches to mention, and they include the obvious visceral jump experienced when taking to the streets in 2006 after initial gameplay in 1978; the stark musical change is also well woven and certainly helps to portray two completely separate times in New York. Small touches help create a sense of elapsed time too, such as the game’s HUD (Heads-Up Display) totally changing in design, and also TK’s flagrantly arrogant 1978 swagger being replaced by a much more sombre, knowing jaunt that smacks of hard time and hard lessons. There are also some moments of detraction too, and these main revolve around the in-game attentions of the NYPD (either era), and their astounding lack of intellect. Players incur the wrath of New York’s ‘finest’ if their actions attract too much attention and subsequently raise their ‘heat level’. Police vehicles in close proximity are highlighted on the game map, and each unit has an area of coned vision preceding their movements from street to street. Should the player speed, jump a red light, knock over a pedestrian, cause a pileup, etc, while passing through the vision cone, then the police immediately take chase. This is all well and good, and adds a level of caution to the gameplay, but evading the boys in blue is often merely a case of cutting down an alleyway while they rumble past in an instant state of confusion. Furthermore, the cautionary approach inspired by the attending police units means that the necessity to sometime follow traffic regulations, speed limits, and stop at traffic lights becomes rather tiresome and damaging to the game’s entertainment value.
In essence, Parallel Lines does indeed revisit the old style of semi-sandbox gameplay founded in Driver, and later expanded so monumentally by Rockstar’s GTA series. However, that chronological step backwards in terms of inspiration now tarnishes the overall experience with a distinctly derivative aftertaste. Indeed, although the original Driver was a thoroughly decent - and inventive -game for its time (1999), this latest iteration lacks any semblance of gameplay innovation, and rather feels like a carefully constructed homage to its founding father, while also running on (“ahem”) vaguely parallel lines to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. There’s little doubt that in some respects it’s eminently better than Driv3r, but it’s definitely a case of too little too late where wrestling back the mantle of success is concerned. Solid but uninspired, and largely forgettable despite the convincing tyre tracks it leaves in the sandbox genre.
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