Parallel Lines is s fun game while it lasts but doesn’t do enough to make it a classic.
The good news is that the developers have come to the party and insured that what happened with DRIV3R doesn’t happen again. That said Parallel Lines still doesn’t reach the same level of fun and entertainment that the likes of GTA can deliver but that doesn’t mean that Parallel Lines doesn’t have its place in the world.
Parallel Lines follows the evolution of TK as his grows in the world of underground crime, from a young 18 year old getaway driver to a drug dealer. But when a mission to kidnap a drug lord goes south and TK is left to take the fall, he goes to jail for 28 years. Fast track to 2006 and TK, which stands for “The Kid” by the way, gets out of jail and executes his plan for revenge. The game is set in a scaled down New York City which presents the player with over 200 miles of open road, across the three main islands. The whole city is available to the player from the get go and has much for the player to do and discover. From street racing to stealing cars for orders, the player can spend hours doing random little side jobs as they drive around the city.
The game has many colourful characters that the player interacts with, from your first boss Slink to the man only known as the Mexican, Parallel Lines has a cast you won’t soon forget and a story that entertains.
Visually, Parallel Lines looks okay. It offers a large view distance with the New York skyline always visible from anywhere in the city. That said the graphics are a bit too plain and don’t really take much advantage of what current generation PC can do. The game looks a bit sharper than the PS2 version but one feels that’s due more to the higher resolution that PC can deliver rather than sharper textures. Another disappointment is that as colourful as the characters are in the game, their models aren’t very detailed. The look of 1970s New York City is bright and funky and fits the style of the era. New York of 2006 is a more realistic and less cartoony and adds to emphasize the change that has happened over the 30 years. The cars themselves are very well modelled, with very detailed damaged models. Going too fast causes the hood of the car to rip off and accidents almost always result in a huge mess.
The game boasts 80 different vehicles which range from simple bikes to sports cars to superbikes. That said the bikes suffer from poor handling. Making sharp turns are almost impossible on them and when travelling at high speeds it is almost impossible to steer them.
Sound wise, the game has one of the best sound tracks that can be found in a game. The music matches the era perfectly and is one of the best features of the game. That said, the sound of the cars are also fairly realistic and add to the whole audio experience of the game.
Overall, Parallel Lines is a much better game than DRIV3R, so much so, that in one of the rubbish bins in the game, the player can find copies of DRIV3R in them… The story in entertaining while it lasts and driving around New York is a fun experience. Then again it still has a way to go for it to reach the level that GTA: San Andreas is at right now. If you’re dying to play a third person driving game, Parallel Lines can keep you busy till GTA 4 comes out. Or you could just replay San Andreas.