Driver Parallel Lines

By Reuben Ellett

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Driver: Parallel Lines has been out on Xbox and PS2 for some time now, but Ubisoft has revealed plans to release it on the Nintendo Wii. This time the game will be based in New York and will follow two timelines, one in the 1970's and the other set in 2007. Parallel Lines will return to the roots of the series with extreme traffic dodging, narrow alley racing, and hanging out your window while gunning down enemies. Utilizing the Wii controller for Melee combat and high octane driving will be an interesting challenge for Ubisoft - an eighteen wheeler truck will need extremely different control style than a sports bike, but the Wii is sure to pull off the difficult task.

The open mission structure unfolds a story of backstabbing and revenge. Typically, GTA and its clones take up a cliché plot: the story of a man who gets betrayed or wants to return home to fix problems in a family or gang, then goes out and kills other gang members to ultimately take over the city. Parallel Lines, however promises to be different though, with as many twists in the story as movies like 'The Wrong Man', where deceiving the audience or player into absolute assumption of what happens next is the key. This whole world and story sits well in the city of New York, a perfect environment to stage a retribution upon those who have hurt you.

The graphics for the game look certain to be the best for the Wii so far. The New York City setting seems to transition well between suburbs and time to create a real sense of being a small fish in an ever changing tide of scenery. To witness the city while riding around on a 900cc motorcycle and being chased by the police at the same time just adds to the experience and the enjoyment.

The utilization of the Wii-mote for driving, shooting, and melee combat seems like a difficult task to work into the game, but Ubisoft has it sorted. Say if you were riding a motorcycle in the game, in order to control it you would turn the Wii-mote horizontally. Likewise with the nun-chuck, holding the 2 like a set of handlebars. This setup would be sensitive to motion as well as the analog stick on the nun-chuck. For shooting while driving, it's just a simple point and click with the Wii-mote while you keep steering with the nun chuck, making the task of shooting while driving a lot easier. This would be the same for driving cars, and for walking down the street.

Even with the reinvigorated controls and graphics, can Ubisoft raise the Driver series from out of the gaming graveyard? Or will this attempt to salvage the franchise float like a lead balloon? Keep your browser locked to NZGamer.com for our review!

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