Xbox

Driver: Parallel Lines

Driver: Parallel Lines is a significant step in the right direction and almost enough to make me forget about the wasted hours I spend on Driver 3. You can tell that the designers are trying to mimic the gameplay (and success) of the GTA franchise and in some ways they have captured that essence, but they still have a long way to go. Strong in story with fantastic cutscenes and great period music, Parallel Lines definitely delivers on presentation while managing to blend driving and on-foot combat with a structured story mode. It’s definitely worth taking for a spin around the block.

In spite of a few missteps, Parallel Lines is a welcome entry in the Driver series. There are still some issues that need serious work, but some existing problems were remedied, and I appreciate that. Graphically, it’s the most engrossing sandbox game yet. The story isn’t much, but the game itself is always fun to play - providing a strong, but fair challenge as you progress, while delivering the most thrilling car chases in gaming. None of its flaws are things that can’t be fixed with time, and while that’s frustrating here given how long it was in development, the progress made makes me think we’ll see major improvements in later games. If you’ve enjoyed this series before, check this out. If you haven’t, but like the 3D GTAs, try this and see what it would be like to play a really good looking GTA game.

Two major changes were made to the gameplay at the very beginning of Driver Parallel Lines’ development. First, gone are the antics of undercover cop Tanner that players have grown to know. Second, the series decided to reach out to the path that made the game a common name among players everywhere, which is driving. So, with a fresh new plot, and a revised focus of gameplay, the team at Reflections has managed to create an experience that isn’t entirely new or refreshing, but solid in all the right spots. In fact, if they keep this up, we may be able to forgive the name DRIV3R. Maybe.

Finally, as great as the driving in this game is, to be perfectly honest, it’s a few years overdue. This was the game Driver 2 should have been back in 2001, not what we wound up with. These days, games like this are held to a higher standard and it is on these standards that Driver: Parallel Lines fails to live up to its potential. Its gets the series back on track, but its lousy on-foot controls and AI restrictions really kill a lot of the major fun factor. As a whole the package is a promise of what future titles in the series may bring, but right now it’s a rental at best.probably not.

Overall the game is not in the same league as GTA. It tries too hard to emulate the series than to find its own original niche. It could piss off fans of both Driver and GTA due to the unoriginal gameplay and shift in direction but there's no reason the average gamer can't have a ball with this game.

If the reception to Driver 3 was a revelation for the good folks at Reflections, the result produced a major shift in the way you play Driver: Parallel Lines. The fourth game in the series is less like the previous iteration and more like Grand Theft Auto than any game in the careening series' history. Instead of a story mode and a half dozen exterior mini-games, or a Director mode, or even the great Survival mode, Parallel Lines delivers a single story mode with everything packed inside it. The result is good, even if somehow it feels like a white flag was waved somewhere along the lines.

Honestly, "Driver: Parallel Lines" has surprised me in many ways. Not only is it a lot better (if not the best) Driver game ever, the game has improvement massively. Most of the glitches, if not all, disappeared with this new instalment and developer Reflections has drawn the focus much more to the driving itself. Playing in two different time zones, 1978 and 2006 is an excellent idea, especialy when every texture and vehicle is updated. Bottom line, if you had so much fun with 'Driver' & 'Driver 2' then "Driver: Parallel Lines" will absolutely please you!

Seeing as how Driv3r is one of the biggest commercial disasters of all time, I wasn't exactly thrilled to review the fourth installment, Parallel Lines. But thankfully, developer Reflections Interactive stepped up and created an immensely enjoyable videogame that not only breathes new life into the tarnished Driver franchise, but stands out as one March's best games.

Every game could be better in some respect. Even the most acclaimed titles have some slight flaws in camera, control, or playability that could have been fixed with just a little more time or money. Driver: Parallel Lines, in attempting to fix the flaws of the much-reviled Driv3r, runs head-on into a problem that I simply can’t see a solution for. The problem is that I can’t really find an answer to the question: Why does there need to be another Driver game?

Muscle Cars roar with amazing control and the police chases that ensue often have you weaving dangerously through densely packed traffic. It has some truly amazing moments to it, but outside of these infrequent sparkles, it'll most certainly put you to sleep.

Driver: Parallel Lines isn't nearly as messed up as the last Driver game was. Considering how completely jacked most of Driver 3 was, that's not really saying much, but it's still worth saying. Parallel Lines is a mostly competent game that's probably the most blatant Grand Theft Auto clone to date. Considering that GTAIII was, in many ways, picking up where the first two Driver games left off, maybe this is just a case of turnabout being fair play. Either way, Driver: Parallel Lines isn't broken, but it's almost completely uninspired and devoid of the little things that make these sorts of games entertaining. The characters fall flat, the story is uninteresting, and the gameplay controls are often inadequate. Add to that some pretty drab mission design and you've got a game that looks good on paper, but simply can't add up to a game worth playing.

As an example of how to recreate a city in a fun and enjoyable way, Parallel Lines should be admired, and the improvement over Driv3r is massive (in fact, it may well be the least glitchy game of its genre), but there´s an overriding feeling of ´too little, too late´.

Attendu au tournant par des hordes de fans déchaînés, Driver Parallel Lines laisse, à l'image de son prédécesseur un goût d'amertume dans la bouche. Pas mauvais, mais loin d'être convaincant, le titre de Reflections souffre de trop de défauts pour contenter l'amoureux de courses-poursuites. Etant un grand fan du premier Driver, je désirais intensément que celui-ci fasse remonter cette série dans des sphères plus clémentes. Même si certaines idées peuvent charmer et que la conduite est un petit plaisir, le jeu se coupe lui-même ses ailes par une absence de maturité réelle. Et ses défauts graphiques ne l'aident pas vraiment sur cette pente glissante. TK va devoir raccrocher.

The difference between Parallel Lines and DRIV3R is that while the previous game was a pretty half-assed GTA clone, Parallel Lines is more like a three-quarters-assed GTA clone. Maybe even four-fifths-assed. Sure, it's derivative as hell, but there's nothing getting in the way of actually enjoying the game now. The running and shooting are still rubbish, but you don't really have to mess with them anymore, anyway. The torturous on-foot missions of the third game are gone, along with irritations like the indestructible streetlights that could turn a satisfying high-speed chase into a trip to the store to buy a new controller. In fact, pretty much everything that made DRIV3R as much fun as a sucking chest wound has been fixed, and the result is actually an all-right game that's once again focusing on its strengths.

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.