Atari recently stopped by to give us our first hands-on look at Driver: Parallel Lines, and we got a better feel for the driving-focused, mission-based gameplay that we mostly only got to hear about during our first look at the game. Early indications are that Parallel Lines will focus less on a grandiose, Hollywood-driven plotline and more on the nitty-gritty tire-squealing gameplay that made the Driver series a hit in the first place.

　　The open-ended mission structure will let you tackle the job of your choice, allowing you to steer the game's storyline through a number of branches.

　　In fact, Parallel Lines dispenses with all but the barest plotline, giving you just enough backstory to justify your continued crime spree through late-'70s New York City. As a brief recap, you'll play the role of a beginning wheelman known only as "the kid," who has come to the Big Apple to take on jobs from every crime boss he can find in an attempt to climb the ladder of the city's underworld and become somebody. The kid's got a pretty distinctive appearance that fits with the period, but you won't be customizing his duds or seeing his character intensely developed. As we saw during our demo, the focus here is squarely on getting you behind the wheel.

　　In fact, after a brief intro sequence, it's exactly what the game does. The events depicted in the opening lead straight into a getaway car chase that has you trying to escape the popo after a quick heist. This fairly forgiving mission gives you a chance to get used to Parallel Lines' core driving engine, which we found to be pretty accessible in the arcade driving style, while still letting you kick into powerslides and pull off other advanced maneuvers. Once you've completed your getaway, the game will open up into its main story mode, and your map of New York will show you where the next plot-related and optional missions can be picked up. You'll also have a pager that will go off (indicated by an onscreen icon) when new missions become available.

　　The mission-driven plotline will proceed in a branching fashion, in that you'll often have a number of story missions available at once with the freedom to tackle the next one of your choice. We got to see a number of missions with varied objectives during our demo. One mission tasked us with stealing a particular car and driving it to a drop-off point without wrecking it. In another, we had to participate in a circuit race, but not with the intent of winning the race ourselves; rather, we had to ensure that a particular other car won the race (meaning it was up to us to interfere with the competition by any means available). Finally, we saw a mission later in the game that had us attempting to orchestrate a prison break, and this one let us hop into the cab of a bulldozer and trash the area outside of the jail by plowing right through walls and construction equipment. Once inside the jail, the kid had to engage some guards on foot in a series of shoot-outs with an assault rifle.

　　You'll even be able to join the criminal underworld along with seven other players in Parallel Lines' online mode.

　　Speaking of circuit races, there will be plenty of them available, along with a wide assortment of other minigame-style optional missions that will earn you cash whenever you get the urge. The circuit race minigame will have you participating in a regular car race on a closed loop. We played one race on a dirt track, though other types of tracks will also be available, so you'll be required to pick the best car for the track type. There will also be street races, which have you racing through the city itself; arranged hits, which will have you tracking down and killing specific troublemakers; car thefts, which have you stealing and delivering certain expensive vehicles; and demolition derbies, which are pretty self-explanatory. Reflections intends for these minigames to make up a large part of the game, since you'll be able to keep doing them repeatedly for fun and also to build up your wealth, which will help make your story missions easier to complete.

　　We also got a more in-depth look at Parallel Lines' car-customization interface during our demo. You'll essentially be able to take any car you steal to a nearby chop shop to cash in some of your earnings on a sizable assortment of automotive upgrades. In the performance category, you'll be able to beef up factors like top speed and acceleration. You'll also be able to repair any damage to the car or add nitrous for a speed boost. You'll even be able to make your ride more defensible with additions like bulletproof glass and armor plating. And, of course, there will be plenty of cosmetic upgrades available, such as new paint jobs, spoilers, and so on. Of course, since you're just modding a car you snagged off the street, all that investment is as good as gone if you take it out of the shop and wreck it. So you'll have to be careful with your shiny new ride once you've got it on the street.

　　Reflections has been working on beefing up Parallel Lines' technology alongside its refined gameplay. The new game is looking and running better than its predecessor, Driver 3, even at this relatively early stage of development. The game is running at a nice, smooth clip on the PS2, with the famous areas of the Big Apple streaming off the game disc as you drive around. In fact, you won't even have to stop for mission loads. There's also a full day-night cycle that we got to see in an accelerated fashion, with street lights and building illumination fading in nicely as the environment darkens. In terms of presentation, it looks like the artists have nailed the feel of 1978 New York pretty well, with lots of bell-bottoms and muttonchops and so on. The soundtrack hasn't been finalized yet, but we heard plenty of hits from the era that will definitely help establish the right feel (if they end up making it onto the final list, which is said to be 80 tracks strong).

　　Will Parallel Lines restore the Driver name to good standing? We'll find out when the game ships next March.

　　Finally, we got some dirt on Parallel Lines' multiplayer mode, which will let you and up to seven other players meet up in a matchmaking lobby so you can all jump into the gameplay at the same time. Once you're in an online game, everyone will roam around the same gameworld, and there will be seven or eight minigames that you can set up and then initiate within the game. Once you've done this, the other players will automatically get an invitation to join your minigame, and you'll be off to the races (figuratively or literally, depending on which game you've chosen).

　　Driver: Parallel Lines is already looking good and features solid play mechanics that let you jump right in and get your life of crime started. It looks as though Reflections is well on its way to restoring the Driver franchise's good name, and we'll find out for certain whether all the elements will amount to an entertaining game when Parallel Lines ships on both the Xbox and PS2 next March. Stay tuned for more before then.