It seems that gamers and reviewers are finally having an influence on game developers. Driv3r, the previous game in this series, was universally slammed, and saw the bottom of bargain bins almost as quickly as those who bought it came to the realisation that the game was utter crap. All seemed gloomy for the Driver franchise, but thankfully Reflections took note of Driv3r's many faults and, we suspect, an even longer look at a certain other driving series by the name of Grand Theft Auto.

Driver games have always been (as they should) about driving. More so than any other driving series, the relationship between you, the driver, and the long arm of the law rests upon how you drive in the presence of police and, even more importantly, how you get away from them if they catch you out. The situational awareness of police in Parallel Lines is an integral part of the game, and it provides for some cool moments as well as some pretty frustrating ones.

Basically (as in real life), you must behave when the cops are around. They patrol the streets in cars and these show up on your mini-map, as well as a cone-of-vision that tells when to stop being a hoon. Whilst in their vision, if you smash another car, run over pedestrians, go over the speed limit (which is mysteriously never displayed) or run a red light, they will be all over your bum like a penitentiary inmate in the communal showers. And just like that inmate, they're quick and not likely to be gentle, which means you've got to try and outrun them through traffic, alleyways and over jumps.

The best thing about Parallel Lines is the fact that there are two completely separate types of police awareness or heat. One is attached to your current vehicle (and shows up on the bottom left of the screen) and the other is attached to you as a person (showing up on the bottom right). What this means is that if you can get away from the cops in a car, and they don't see you enter or leave that vehicle, then you can ditch it and steal another and they won't come after you. The reverse is true for personal heat - get in a ‘clean' car and you can cruise around inconspicuously.

This mechanic is played out in several missions where you must steal a rival gang's car and draw some heat to it, then return it and watch them get arrested. It's in moments like this that Parallel Lines really shines and manages to separate itself from its closest competitor, GTA. That said, it borrows almost every other aspect of its gameplay from the GTA games, right down to the mini-map, circular mission markers, open city and mission types. Which is not to say that this copy-cat approach is bad; it isn't. GTA is one of the most enjoyable games around and it seems that the folk over at Reflections have come to the conclusion that if you can't beat them you might as well emulate them as closely as possible.

Parallel Lines' storyline starts in 1978 with the main character, TK, a cocky young wheelman for hire. New York is faithfully recreated, and as you cruise the streets you'll be jiving to funky beats from a generally excellent soundtrack (custom soundtracks are also included). The story video scenes are, I must say, extremely well done and at times even resemble live action people. They are a pleasure to watch and give the game a polished sheen that few games attain.

The title of the game actually refers to part of the storyline. Half way through, TK gets set up, goes to jail (perhaps to meet our inmate friend) and the game then fast forwards to 2006 (with an appropriate shift in the soundtrack). So you've got two distinct game experiences, each comprising about half of the game: one as a young, idealistic criminal and one as a jaded, revenge-seeking individual. Both aspects of the game are quite long, the game will take you anywhere from 15 to 25 hours or more to complete, though much of this length comes down to the sheer size of the gaming world. Given free reign over the whole city of New York (260km of roads), sometimes just getting to an objective can take you many minutes of driving, police avoidance and perhaps even the odd distraction or two.

You see, as well as the main story missions, scattered throughout the streets are various extra jobs and races that you can take on for cash, which you can spend on rides, upgrades, ammo and weapons. Some races require hotted-up cars, but most of the time there seems little point in pimping your ride when you can simply jack any car that you come across. Some of the main missions are fun and some aren't. One in particular seems great in theory but was actually a pain to complete: you are charged with collecting vehicles with a tow truck, which means you have to reverse into the car and then bring it back to the garage - cue annoying enemies taking pot shots and a damn car that doesn't seem to want to attach to my tow truck, and did I mention the mission was timed? Grrrrr.

Driver Parallel Lines is a game of circumstance, pure and simple. When things are running smooth it can be a blast and you'll be grinning from ear to ear as you experience the game the way the developers obviously planned for you to. But me being Mr. Unlucky, if things stuff up (i.e. you hit a wall, miss an important check point or, my favourite, the police blow a tire on your bike during an important race causing you to over steer in an extreme way) the game becomes frustrating and may cause a controller-shaped hole to appear in your wall. I also found the game's constant use of timed missions annoying. Thankfully many of the missions have checkpoints for you to restart at if you perform less than ideally.

On foot sections are generally eschewed in this game, and you can actually use weapons whilst driving: the X button locks onto cars/people and the A button fires your weapon. On foot, this changes to the usual L trigger for lock-on and R trigger for firing. The mind boggles at why two separate shooting control methods are added to this game, but there you have it. Even with quite a few weapons such as a pistol, shot gun and grenade launcher, the focus is still on driving and missions invariably involve situations such as collecting cash for businesses, racing, speed points (where you need to pass a speed camera over a certain speed, Project Gotham style) and many other driving-themed missions (I liked the one where you make a guy crap his pants by speeding so you can squeeze some information out of him). Once again, there's nothing really new here and it tends to feel a lot like that other three-lettered series I've previously mentioned enough already.

If you're a collector, there are star icons scattered around the city to collect which give you some cool bonuses like more health and free car upgrades, and there are more than eighty drivable vehicles and many cars can be bought or unlocked through the story mode and then stored in your garage to tweak for performance (go the nitro!). Muscle cars handle much differently to smaller cars. The former tend to drift whereas the latter are great for zipping between cars and outrunning the cops.

Some racing missions put you on an actual track, but unfortunately smooth racing lines are non-existent and once you get a feel for each vehicle it becomes a matter of hand-braking to swing around corners. In fact, car controls can feel extremely responsive at first, but are quite good for the city streets once you adjust. Bikes are okay to ride, but aren't as easy to control as in GTA (see, there I go again with the comparisons). The physics themselves, despite proving less than ideal for racing, are actually impressive. Stop on a slight hill and your car will roll backwards and cars have a general feel of weight and inertia. As I've said, it's a good driving game, just not a good racing game.

Graphically, the game is good. A nice day/night cycle gives some pretty lighting effects but you'll be hard pressed to notice any highly detailed textures - think a slightly crisper San Andreas. Pedestrians wander around and generally grump at you if you tick them off and alleyways are littered with fences, rubbish bins and cardboard boxes for you to plow through with great effect. Vehicles deform quite well, but crashes and explosions aren't as spectacular as they should be.

Your enjoyment of Parallel Lines will hinge on how you approach the game. If you want to be gung-ho and rip through the game then you'll find yourself getting into a lot of police chases and may become frustrated with this. If, however, you take things a bit slower, look to your HUD for patrolling cars and obey the road rules, you'll gain some satisfaction from getting around the law and still accomplishing your mission. This may result in a kind of bunny-hopping gameplay experience, but the rewards are there if you seek them.

The bugginess of Driv3r is mostly fixed for this iteration, however I still managed to see quite a few instances of TK walking through cars and cops floating in mid-air. Most of the time, the game world seems quite alive as traffic ebbs and flows naturally. And just like in real life, you'll rarely get a smooth run of green traffic lights, which is particularly annoying if a cop is sitting straight across from you. I don't know about you, but sometimes I play games to escape from reality. Sitting at traffic lights, whilst realistic, is not exactly riveting gameplay.