Driver: Parallel Lines
| Driver: Parallel Lines | |||
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| Studio |
 Reflections Interactive
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| Publisher |
 Atari Ubisoft (Windows, Wii)
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Playstation 2 March 14, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 30, 2006 October 12, 2006 Xbox March 14, 2006 March 24, 2006 Microsoft Windows, Wii June 26, 2007 June 28, 2007 June 29, 2007    |
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| platform | Windows , PlayStation 2 , Xbox , Wii | ||
| genre | Action game and racing game | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad , etc. a. | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM | ||
| language | English German | ||
| Age rating |
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Driver: Parallel Lines is the fourth part of the Driver series . It first appeared in March 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox . The Windows and Wii versions appeared in a technically prepared version in June 2007. The title Parallel Lines refers not only to the storyline set in two different epochs, but also to the double line as a typical road marking. Furthermore, the game title is an allusion to the 1978 album Parallel Lines by Blondie .
action
New York 1978: 18-year-old TK (The Kid) earns some money as a talented driver through small races and finally as an escape car driver for petty criminals. His best friend Ray is always at his side, especially as a mechanic. When word of TK's talent got around, he was finally hired by Slink, a brothel owner. After he was able to prove his skills in smaller tasks (e.g. for "the Mexican"), he helped Candy to freedom during a prison break. This completes a group of criminals, including Slink, "the Mexican", a mercenary named Bishop and Corrigan. A plan is made to enter the Colombian-dominated cocaine trade. In a large-scale operation, they kidnap the leader of the Colombians and demand a ransom. The deal works, TK delivers the ransom to Corrigan, but he shoots the Colombian drug lord, identifies himself as a police officer and knocks TK down. He survived, but is accused of murdering the Colombian and ends up in jail.
New York 2006: TK, who spent 28 years innocent in prison, is released. Some things have changed in the meantime: Corrigan is now the police chief, Candy runs a company, Bishop deals in heroin, Slink runs numerous nightclubs in the city, only the Mexican has not made it very far. He works as a cashier in an amusement arcade. Controlled by hatred of the betrayal of his former criminal colleagues, TK embarks on a personal campaign of revenge. He is supported by his loyal buddy Ray and Maria, who turns out to be the daughter of the former Colombian drug lord. TK ties up one after the other until finally only Corrigan remains. He plays an ingenious game with TK, even wraps Ray around his fingers, but with the help of Maria TK manages to stay on Corrigan's heels. In the final chase, Corrigan escapes with a helicopter and is followed by TK. He manages to fire on the helicopter, which ultimately crashes and seriously injures Corrigan. When TK sets the gun to the final shot, Maria appears and asks for Corrigan to be handed over. He fears the revenge of the Colombians more than his own death and begs TK to finally pull the trigger. After a brief consideration, however, TK decides to leave Corrigan Maria, who loads him into her SUV and disappears with him. TK stays behind.
Gameplay
General
Driver: Parallel Lines has the biggest differences or innovations compared to the parts published up to then. The previous main character of the game series, the undercover cop John Tanner, no longer exists. Instead, the player slips into the role of an 18-year-old petty criminal who is known by everyone as TK (The Kid). Furthermore, the game environment is still located in a large city, but in contrast to its predecessors, the game world no longer extends over several cities, but consists of New York from 1978 and 2006.
For the first time the structure of the game is structured differently. Instead of selecting the various game modes in the main menu as before, attempts were made with Parallel Lines to introduce open-world game principles . So you can either start a "new game" or load a saved game. Then you start at the corresponding point in the New York game world and find the individual game variants at different locations on the map. Due to the change of action, there is no "Undercover mode" more, the main plot consisting of 32 missions, however, as in the past in the form of pre-rendered cutscenes told that tell a continuous story. The previous "driving games" have been converted into "side missions" which, like the missions of the main storyline, are distributed across the game world and can be approached and completed at any time. The various tasks of the side missions have been adapted to the changed framework and include the stealing and delivery of vehicles, races on their own racetracks and illegal street races, car chases, towing services or the collection of protection money.
In accordance with the open world principle, a daily routine was also integrated into the game, so that for the first time in the game series day and night merge, but weather effects have been omitted. Also new are workshops in which vehicles can be repaired, tuned or deleted from the wanted level. For this purpose, a money system was introduced, according to which the player receives money after completing missions, which he can invest in the workshop or to buy ammunition.
The level of difficulty of the predecessor has been reduced a bit. Difficult missions do not have to be repeated completely, as they are divided into several stages. If a mission fails, only the current stage and not the entire mission has to be repeated. The search system also differs from the previous parts of the series. For the first time there is a crime indicator based on vehicles and people. This means that offenses committed with a car are related to the respective controlled vehicle and that you as a player are viewed neutrally by the police again if you can leave the car unnoticed. Conversely, crimes committed on foot relate to the character, but you can immerse yourself in vehicles for a limited time. One of the biggest innovations is the removal of the film director mode, which has been typical of a series. Replays cannot be recorded, saved or edited.
Driver: Parallel Lines uses a modified version of the Driv3r graphics engine . Compared to its predecessor, annoying pop-ups have been removed and the traffic density increased.
The game contains more than seventy licensed songs that play while driving. Numerous well-known artists have been hired to match the respective epoch. Some of the songs are from the 1970s, u. a. Pieces by Iggy Pop , War , David Bowie , and Blondie . The 2006 soundtrack includes songs from Public Enemy , The Secret Machines , Kaiser Chiefs , and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs .
Cities
Driver: Parallel Lines , in contrast to the previous games, only contains one city, but in two different time periods: New York in 1978 and 2006. The differences mainly relate to the vehicles, pedestrians and the music used. Some house facades are also different depending on the time period. The twin towers of the World Trade Center, which characterize the skyline in 1978, but disappeared in 2006, are among the most striking urban changes. A color filter enhances the visual differences and bathes the New York of the 1970s in shades of brown, while the 2006 version has cooler shades of blue. However, the road network remains unchanged.
Web links
- Driver: Parallel Lines at MobyGames (English)
- Driver: Parallel Lines in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lasse Knafla: Driver Parallel Lines for Wii and PC. gamona.de, June 24, 2007, accessed October 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Marcus Kollmann: Presentation of Driver Parallel Lines. speedmaniacs.com, December 22, 2005, accessed October 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Dominik Sitzer: Reflections reveals what you have planned. speedmaniacs.com, December 13, 2005, accessed October 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Marcus Kollmann: Test Driver: Parallel Lines . speedmaniacs.com, January 13, 2006, accessed October 12, 2013 .