Driver Parallel Lines

Yet again, another last-generation game makes its appearance on Nintendo’s little white box of tricks. The poor little Wii console is the most graphically underpowered of all the current consoles, which sadly means we’re subjected to a lot of games which look particularly ugly next to the flashy Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The big surprise here, though, is that Parallel Lines is not a complete disaster. The previous title in the series was Driver 3, a miserable bug-ridden mess that was given a pasting by the games press and quickly forgotten. But where Driver 3 was a botched attempt at emulating Grand Theft Auto, Parallel Lines wisely focuses on the strengths of the series: the actual driving.

It uses the Wii controls to great effect, driving makes use of both the nunchuck and remote with the analogue stick steering and the various buttons on the remote and nunchuck handling braking and acceleration. The handling of the cars sits nicely between arcade and realism, letting you pull off some impressive slides with a little practice. It’s also really easy and fun to shoot while driving, something that’s usually a pain in the rear.

Not everything is done so well, though. The on-foot sections are very poor, and its emphasis on driving becomes tiresome after the 50th racing mission. Visually it is very lacklustre, though as with many Wii games this hardly comes as a surprise.

Verdict:

Decent driving mechanics and controls, but the visuals are ugly and when you’re not in a car it’s not as fun to play. This is one to rent, not buy.