As a child of the Eighties, I have no first hand experience of life in the Seventies. But, if Starsky & Hutch have taught me anything, it's that big hair and flares make for some exciting adventures. Which makes driving all the more interesting because, not only did they have style, but them cats were fast as lightning. Okay, so it's fairly obvious that I had to crowbar that line into the review, but it rather suits the latest addition to the ever popular Driver series. In fact, it's so jam-packed with super-fly dialogue and jamming tunes that even Huggy Bear himself would approve.

Many of us will remember the days of the PSOne (known simply as a PlayStation back then), when two little unknown titles appeared on the scene. One was a 2D RPG involving the theft of cars in order to commit various controversial deeds, the other an impressive 3D driving game that involved working undercover to bring down the mobile crime industry (that's crime involving automobiles, not scummy little scagheads stealing a ten year old's phone). Since then it would be fair to say that Grand Theft Auto has advanced with a little more success and admiration than the Driver series, but Atari promise to deliver plenty to shout about with their release of Driver: Parallel Lines.

The year is 1978 and in the streets of New York City there's a new cat (expect a lot of use of words such as 'cat', 'fly' and 'baby' in this review) in town with hair like a lion's mane and pants so tight it's near impossible to bend at the knee. You play a streetwise smooth guy trying to get plugged into the grimy underbelly of the New York City crime pipeline. The introduction is lengthy, but it's so well directed and produced that you become totally captivated rather than reaching for the start button. We expect no less than the PS2 pushed to its absolute limits these days and, graphically, Parallel Lines' opening sequence more than lives up to this. Within the game the imagery suffers no dip in quality either and as someone who has been fortunate enough to visit the big apple, I can honestly say that the domination of the colossal surroundings has been captured perfectly.

Another commendable point is the tutorial, if you want to become a much loved title, then modern standards dictate that you need a fly tutorial that explains all the intricacies of the gameplay in an interesting manner. Ideally, users shouldn't need to navigate away from the main storyline to learn the controls and user manuals should merely act as a reference for those with a memory of a particularly forgetful goldfish.

The first tutorial takes you through pimping your ride, because only a chump would be caught without pink tinted windows and velvet interior. The multitude of options and changes you can make to a vehicle's appearance is more than impressive, and although it costs some major cheddar, it's more than worth it (and the first few alterations are on the house). Once you've done some minor pimping (we're not Huggy Bear just yet), it's onto protecting yourself from the other no good street punks. Targeting is very intuitive, while lock-ons can be cycled through with the analog stick, it is also easy to free aim, and with added strafing you can comfortably achieve the desired effect when pointing a gun at someone. Now I'm by no means implying that this game is greater than that of GTA, but it's not often you come across an aspect of a title that Rockstar overlooked. Although GTA's drive-bys are somewhat infamous, Parallel Lines takes it that step further by allowing users to shoot at objects in front by leaning out the car window; pure genius.

It's also very rare that I pay much tribute to the musical choices made by a game, but Parallel lines has a soundtrack that can only be described by the word 'super-fly'. It's pure seventies gold (so much so I want to put it on a huge chain and wear it round my neck) and I challenge anyone not to feel a little bit like Shaft. If I'm honest, there was more than one occasion where I found myself running over enemies as I yelled, "You outta time baby!!!"

I've always loved the elements of AI in the Driver series and Parallel Lines is no exception. The map shows any nearby police activity, meaning that it's entirely up to you whether you speed past them whilst making an explicit gesture out the window or just cruise by with the top down, maybe giving them an arrogant raised eyebrow that says 'you can't touch me!'. Either way, committing a felony along the way doesn't necessarily mean that several patrol vehicles by chance appear in the area.

I don't want to give any of the storyline away, not only because it would ruin the game, but because a few lines in this review wouldn't do it justice. It's a compelling tale, which is more than backed up by some fly graphics, cool soundtracks and smooth gameplay. If you have nothing better to do this week, and if you're reading this you probably don't, go and buy some flares, a big collared shirt, some hip shades, a wig, a medallion and a copy of Driver: Parallel Lines; you will not be disappointed, although anyone who sees you dressed like that almost certainly will be…

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).