When I first heard that The Wheelman starring Vin Diesel was being developed by Midway, to be honest it didn’t really stick in my mind that this would be a contender for game of the year and to be honest with you, I was right, however that doesn’t mean that The Wheelman is a bad game, in fact it’s actually quite fun.

 

The game starts off with a bang, more so than most as straight away you are thrown into a good old fashioned car chase after you companion gets done breaking the law. As soon as the game loads you find yourself speeding through the city trying to get the cops off your tail and using any means necessary to get rid of them, even resorting to ramming them into nearby walls. Once the car chase if over you find out that you are in the city of Barcelona and on a mission to find a man called Felipe, this person seems to hold the key to the real reason behind your mission. The story itself it rather shrouded in mystery, all you know is that you are trying to find something in Barcelona and you have to mix with a lot of the wrong types of people to find what you are looking for.

 

 

The main premise of Wheelman is to work your way through the missions in order to progress and achieve your goal, thankfully accessing them is made easy thanks to your PDA, which highlights the main missions in green and the side missions in other colours. Once you select a mission you will usually find yourself watching a cut scene which explains what you need to do before finding yourself ready to start the task at hand. Most of the missions will see you either ferrying people around, chasing people or being chased and there is no doubt that these parts of the game are the most enjoyable. As you progress through the game you learn to ram other vehicles, fire your weapon while driving and also learn other special moves such as the cyclone and aimed shot which help add to the fun of driving at high speeds through the city.

 

The cyclone and aimed shot moves are quite a bizarre addition to the game, it’s almost like having a super power. When activated these moves will slowdown time and then you must move a target into the crossfire before unleashing your bullets at the enemy, with aimed shot this will enable you to clear cars from your path. Cyclone is different in that it allows you to take down vehicles that are behind you, although the premise is the same in that you aim in slow motion in order to blow them up.

 

There are various vehicles to be had in this game, although I do find it quite strange that when you press the highjack button cars will just stop (whether you are standing in front of them or at the side) and allow you to jump straight in and drive away, the drivers seem to lack much intelligence and don’t try to escape with their vehicle, though maybe the GTA games have just spoiled us into thinking that people trying to protect their property is the norm. Another strange thing when it comes to vehicles is the Mopeds, you would be forgiven for thinking you are somehow magically glued to the seat , just try driving into a car a full speed to see what I mean. Despite the games many flaws there is no taking away from the fact that it is fun, especially escaping pursuing enemies and cops as there is a real sense of speed to everything, especially when you push the boost button.

 

Another great feature in the driving parts of the game is that you have the ability to car jack, when behind a vehicle you simply hold the relevant button and then when the red arrow turns green, you let go and this will result in you taking control of the vehicle and the previous driver taking residence on the concrete.

 

Out-with the driving missions you will also find yourself on foot, usually gunning down enemies. This is the part of the game which is really quite weak, enemies are easily disposed of and of course this not helped by the fact that your pistol has unlimited ammo. The missions here usually involve you gunning down a load of bad guys to get to your objective, the baddies are represented by a red dot on the screen, so once they are all gone you move on. To give an example of this one mission has you drive through a tunnel in a motorbike in order to rescue someone, about halfway through the tunnel you will get off your bike, mow down a few dozen bad guys with you bullets, rescue the hostage before both of you get on your bikes again, kill a few more bad guys and then go back to the back to your destination. Missions like this are spread throughout the game and while they are by no means hard, you will be desperate for the driving missions to come back.

 

 

The presentation in Wheelman isn’t exactly bad, of course Vin Diesel is doing the voice acting which isn’t exactly ideal given that he isn’t exactly the best actor in the world, but as far as graphics go this title isn’t too disappointing. The city is well represented, there are some great little alleyways for you to squeeze your car through and there are also plenty of obstacles to crash your car through such as garbage cans and bus stops, however the best effects come when you crash through windows at height or launch your car through the air, as the angle switches to show you the best view, these scenes are probably amongst the best in the game.

 

Any game starring Vin Diesel was probably always going to make you think, “I’ll pass on this one”, unless of course you are a fan of his work, however as it turns out Wheelman is actually quite a fun game to play. Wheelman definitely has its flaws and plenty of them, but concentrate on what it’s good at and you will probably find yourself enjoying this title.