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Version differences

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This is a sub-page of Driver: Parallel Lines.

The game was released by two different publishers, Atari and Ubisoft; Atari released the game on the Xbox and PS2 platforms, while Ubisoft released the game on PC and Wii. There were significant changes between the Atari and Ubisoft versions.

General#

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PlayStation 2 / Xbox#

Released more than 1 year before the Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Wii versions of the game, it is notable that the game features numerous differences from the aforementioned releases, including render distance, graphical quality and mechanics, the former 2 also being limited due to the power of the PlayStation 2 and its direct competitor, the Microsoft Xbox.

Overall, the game is significantly different in graphical quality by the fact the PlayStation 2 version, alongside the Xbox version, lacks an anti-aliasing system, meaning raw pixels, particularly those in far render distance, are more visible. In the HUD, the scale and size of the fonts used for the speedometer is significantly smaller than that of the PC version, and the Nitro reading reads simply "N", rather than "N20". It can also be noted that faded-out parts of the HUD are more prominent than those in the PC version.

Being the first platform to receive the game alongside the Xbox, the beta version of the game is also significantly different to the final version.

Other changes to the gameplay are:

  • The 2006 heart icon next to the health bar is lower down compared to the PC version.
  • Both the 1978 and 2006 variants of the HUD, including the Speedometer and Ammo have smaller fonts than the PC version.
  • All weapon icons and models are slightly adjusted, for example, the Shotgun lacks a handle unlike the PC version.

PC#

Released more than 1 year after the the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 releases, the entire game was overhauled to run appropriately. The game will run at a maximum resolution (assuming the appropriate display type is used) of 1920x1080 (1080p HD) at constant 60 frames per second. The game has little popin as vanilla, and screen tear is null when v-sync is enabled.

Graphically, the game's significant increase in texture quality, frame rate, resolution and render distance, changes in shader versions and and texture mapping and models makes the PC platform the most graphically-suitable, surpassing the Wii, Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions.

Wii#

The edition of the game differs majorly from the PC and Console ports of the game, in that it was specially optimized to function with the Wii Remote supplied with Wii consoles. Like other Wii games, Driver can also be played using the Wii Wheel.

Generally, the only notable differences are noted in the HUD of the game. It can be seen that the curved Heat bars found around the Speedometer and Mini-Map are removed, and in replacement, separate rounded rectangle, containing 5 stars, which symbolize the heat. These bars are found underneath the Speedomter and Mini-Map, and are marked with a driving steering wheel (left) and a silhouette of a person (right), representing driving heat and on-foot heat, respectively. The speedomter itself has also been simplified, replacing the original "N" for Nitro with a Nitro canister. The numbers are in a slightly larger font and the slider has been enlarged. The Health level at the top right has changed from a number into a bar.

Other changes to the gameplay are:

  • The variations of traffic; traffic density is much lower
  • Render distance is decreased compared to other platforms.
  • The camera angle for vehicles is slightly higher.
  • The gun marker symbol is different.
  • The Paramedic spawns with a different livery, wherein the PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions' stock-livery cannot be obtained.

Soundtrack#

The soundtrack for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions consists of 86 songs, these songs can be heard depending on the Era the player is in, either 1978 or 2006. However, when the game was released for the PC and Wii there was a drastic reduction of songs to 57, the official reason for why this happened has never been given, but it is believed to have been due to renewal issues with the licenses for these songs when the game was switched from Atari to Ubisoft.

List of Removed Songs#

1978#

  • "Dizzy Dizzy" — Can
  • "Expansions" — Lonnie Liston Smith
  • "Express Yourself" — Charles Wright
  • "Free Your Mind" — The Politicians (ft. McKinley Jackson)
  • "Gang Bang" — Oscar Brown Jr.
  • "Gettin' Uptown (To Get Down)" — United 8
  • "Ghost Rider" — Suicide
  • "Love The Life You Live" — Black Heat
  • "People Say" — The Meters
  • "Pick Up the Pieces" — Average White Band
  • "Red Hot Mama" — Parliament
  • "Sleep Talk" — King Errisson
  • "Smash It Up (Part 2)" — The Damned
  • "Subway Joe" — Joe Bataan

2006#

  • "A Different Age" — The Dead 60s
  • "We're Adjusting Ourselves" — Warren Suicide
  • "Against The Wall" — Cagedbaby
  • "Boom!" — The Roots
  • "Can't Get Enough" — Infadels
  • "Chin High" — Roots Manuva
  • "Cool Boots" — Automato
  • "Hey Scenesters!" — The Cribs
  • "I Changed My Mind (Stereo MCs Rattle Snake Remix)" — Lyrics Born
  • "Intro (Reprise)" — Ils
  • "Louis XIV" — Louis XIV
  • "My Favourite Mutiny" — The Coup (ft. Black Thought & Talib Kweli)
  • "Nowhere Again" — Secret Machines
  • "Too Cold" — Roots Manuva
  • "Worth It" — Narco

Additionally, the Wii version contains 6 songs for the 2006 Era that are not found in any other version.1

  • "Woke Up in Berlin" — Rathbone Pick
  • "Take Me Far Away" — Rathbone Pick
  • "Here We Go" — Enemy One
  • "Don't Pick Me Up" — Robert Vincent & Heather Grody
  • "Club Bounce" — Enemy One
  • "Bozo" — Marvin Strait, Dre Zagman & Galileo Seven

Ray's Autos#

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  • Unlike the PC version, the Wii, Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions allow the player to rotate the camera around the selected vehicle in any Ray's Autos branch.
  • In the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions, the weapon ammo restock icons are different to both the regular HUD weapon icons and also the in-game model of the weapon itself. This is fixed in the PC version, where all icons match the in-game and HUD models.
  • "Express Yourself", by Charles Wright, plays inside Ray's Autos in the 1978 era in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, while in the PC and Wii versions, "Lowrider" by WAR plays instead.
  • "I Changed My Mind (MC's Rattle Snake Remix)" by Lyrics Born, plays inside Ray's Autos in the 2006 era in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, while in the PC and Wii versions, "Muscle Car (Sander Kleinenberg's Pace Car Mix)" by Mylo plays instead.
  • In the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions, ads for the Atari 2600 can be seen in the garage during the 1978 era (when it was known as the Atari Video Computer System or Atari VCS), a reference to the game's original publisher, Atari.

Cutscenes#

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This section is related to the topic of removed songs, some cinematics originally had one of the game's songs in the background, however, for later versions these scenes were re-edited to replace the song with another that they were still able to keep.

References#

  1. https://racingsoundtracks.com/game/driver-parallel-lines↩︎