Driver®: Parallel Lines

I remember really liking this game when it came out, the dual-era "mechanic" being a highlight for me. Due to my nostalgia goggles, I was cautious approaching it again in 2019. Thankfully, while not being perfect, Driver: Parallel Lines still stands on its own. The driving is enjoyable, the story is serviceable and the two eras, while (in my opinion) underutilized, do spice things up a little. It doesn't do a lot but what it does is enjoyable. I think it's one of the better games in the Driver series. I only wish that the eras would switch more often than just the one time in the middle of the game.

This game was obviously developed with Windows XP in mind. It does not perform well on Windows 7. If you use a modern OS, be ready to encounter serious bugs, for example game crashes during early cutscenes (soon after level 1 or 2). This particular showstopper immediately went away after booting into Windows XP. GOG, you can do better! (Intel Core Duo E8500 - Ati RADEON HD67xx - Win 7 Pro)

Despite being almost 20 years old this game is better then Minds Eye

Probably the main problem with Driver 4 is that the developers tried to make a GTA clone, but didn't know how to do it. Driver 4 has nothing to offer and is one of the simplest and emptiest open world games I have ever played. The game lacks interesting content. The city is very empty and boring, with the only a bit entertaining form of side missions being circuit racing, which after a while gets very repetitive anyway. Other than that, there are some collectible stunts and that's about all you get in freeroam. The story itself has an interesting premise, but is not very well executed, plus the main hero is bland and easily forgettable. The missions are not very interesting either. Most of them have simple objectives like "Drive a car from A to B", "Go to B and kill C", "Take the car and loose the cops". Where the creators did succeed, though, was the great atmosphere of the 70s supported by a wonderful radio soundtrack. The second biggest problem of the game are controls and car handling. Yes, a game that's called "Driver" has a bad car physics and handling. It takes most of the fun from driving, which is especially troubling in a game where you use cars 80% of the time. And thank god for that, because those other 20% are missions on foot that really show the developers' anti-talent for TPS shooters. The controls are clumsy and slow, which really doesn't help the terrible shooting mechanics and makes the action parts of the game downright irritating.

Parallel Lines has a unique vibe, but is plagued by crashes, and clumsy in-vehicle aiming & car camera. Enemy AI are challenging, and the environment is littered with destructible objects, which makes chases intense. The handling and damage modeling is admirable. Driving is good, but combat is awful, and later missions are poorly-designed. Though impressive, the soundtrack loops the same couple songs over and over, so you'll get sick of them in a short time, which is a shame. It deserves credit for not being just another San Andreas knock off like Saints Row 2, but the final product is disappointing.