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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action Developer: Tigon Studios Publisher: Midway |
Expectations for videogames based off of films are never set very high, and the same is true with the release of “Wheelman.” Most
people enjoy watching the occasional crappy action film, even if it is just to get a laugh. Going in people will expect Vin Diesel to deliver
cheesy dialogue, an unbelievable story to unfold and lots of explosions to enjoy. There is a large amount of cheesy dialogue and lots of
explosions, but there is also a complete lack of story, mentally challenged enemies, a overly repetitive city and some lame missions to
attempt.
“Wheelman” is an apparent undercover mission in Barcelona starring Vin Diesel, apparent because the story is never explained with
the exception of a short cut scene at the beginning of the game. Diesel meets up with some guy from an agency who gives him a folder
of information and mentions a world ending thing that is in Spain. From there players take on Diesel’s undercover persona Milo, a
professional driver for the bad guys. Throughout the game players rip through the streets of Barcelona chasing a document tube, a guy
names Felipe and more, but players will never have any idea why they are doing all of this.
The first big flaw is that Milo doesn’t know who he is or who he is working with. Between missions the player are given profiles of
characters from the RAI but at one point Milo says that he works for the CIA. Why would the CIA be in Barcelona? What does make
sense is that there are three factions of bad people in the city and Milo needs to work with each one of them to find the big thing that
could cause so much destruction. These are some pretty big storytelling flaws.
Making players feel even more detached is the fact that the open world environment gets messed up. Players can get through the entire
game in roughly eight hours, but this is designed to be like the sandbox world of “Grand Theft Auto.” When players pull up the world
map on their PDA, they will see green icons for story based missions and a number of other colored icons for the seven categories of
side missions. One of the greatest things about the Grand Theft Auto series was getting to know the city, knowing shortcuts, tight turns
and where people live. Players won’t’ get this in “Wheelman” because players can simply jump from one mission to the next from the
map.
Though there are a lot of flaws to the game, “Wheelman” isn’t a complete failure, there are some fun parts to the game once players
are able to accept the fact that there isn’t a story and the city is fairly boring. The game has a few over the top, unrealistic elements
involving the cars that will draw many players in. When Milo is barreling down the street and coming up on a car, players can hold down
the airjack button and watch a red arrow appear over the vehicle in front of them. When the triangle turns green, players let go of the
button and Milo will leap from the current vehicle to a new car in slow motion. It is pretty cool to see Milo just from one speeding car to
another one. Upon impact players will see shattering glass and Milo will be behind the wheel of the new car. It is completely
unbelievable and it looks somewhat funny, but this is the kind of stuff that would be expected from a game of this type.
Another crazy idea the game employs, but can actually be a cool addition to the game is the vehicle melee. Here, the right stick acts as
the car’s hit stick. When players are moving down the street, players can jerk the stick left, forward or right to perform a body check in
that direction. Of course this would never happen in real life, but for a videogame starring Vin Diesel, again anything is possible. When
a specific car in worn down, a finishing move can be performed and the camera will follow the rolling ball of flaming wreckage that used
to be the enemy.
For a lot of the missions, players will be going after a certain car or trying to get away from a group of gang members. This means that
players are in a match with a handful of other vehicles and it is up to the players to take out all the enemy cars using melee attacks,
along with some super moves that use the turbo gauge. As players speed through the city, do handbrake turns and other maneuvers, a
gauge in the bottom left corner will fill with juice that can be used to boost or perform two types of tricks. The first trick slows down the
action, turns the screen black and white and puts players in the driver’s seat so that they can shoot 180 degrees. Circles appear on
the enemy vehicles during these moments so players can pull off some instant explosion and the results can be pretty satisfying.
The second move does everything like the first move, except this one spins the vehicle 180 degrees so that players are now face to face
with their slow motion enemies coming right at them. This is a great trick for taking out bad guys who are a little bit behind the player. It
usually ends with the car whipping around back to the front and crashing into some obstacle that popped up in front of the car.
“Wheelman” is an interesting game, but players can’t go into it expecting to get anything too exciting out of it, but there are a few fun
elements to it.
people enjoy watching the occasional crappy action film, even if it is just to get a laugh. Going in people will expect Vin Diesel to deliver
cheesy dialogue, an unbelievable story to unfold and lots of explosions to enjoy. There is a large amount of cheesy dialogue and lots of
explosions, but there is also a complete lack of story, mentally challenged enemies, a overly repetitive city and some lame missions to
attempt.
“Wheelman” is an apparent undercover mission in Barcelona starring Vin Diesel, apparent because the story is never explained with
the exception of a short cut scene at the beginning of the game. Diesel meets up with some guy from an agency who gives him a folder
of information and mentions a world ending thing that is in Spain. From there players take on Diesel’s undercover persona Milo, a
professional driver for the bad guys. Throughout the game players rip through the streets of Barcelona chasing a document tube, a guy
names Felipe and more, but players will never have any idea why they are doing all of this.
The first big flaw is that Milo doesn’t know who he is or who he is working with. Between missions the player are given profiles of
characters from the RAI but at one point Milo says that he works for the CIA. Why would the CIA be in Barcelona? What does make
sense is that there are three factions of bad people in the city and Milo needs to work with each one of them to find the big thing that
could cause so much destruction. These are some pretty big storytelling flaws.
Making players feel even more detached is the fact that the open world environment gets messed up. Players can get through the entire
game in roughly eight hours, but this is designed to be like the sandbox world of “Grand Theft Auto.” When players pull up the world
map on their PDA, they will see green icons for story based missions and a number of other colored icons for the seven categories of
side missions. One of the greatest things about the Grand Theft Auto series was getting to know the city, knowing shortcuts, tight turns
and where people live. Players won’t’ get this in “Wheelman” because players can simply jump from one mission to the next from the
map.
Though there are a lot of flaws to the game, “Wheelman” isn’t a complete failure, there are some fun parts to the game once players
are able to accept the fact that there isn’t a story and the city is fairly boring. The game has a few over the top, unrealistic elements
involving the cars that will draw many players in. When Milo is barreling down the street and coming up on a car, players can hold down
the airjack button and watch a red arrow appear over the vehicle in front of them. When the triangle turns green, players let go of the
button and Milo will leap from the current vehicle to a new car in slow motion. It is pretty cool to see Milo just from one speeding car to
another one. Upon impact players will see shattering glass and Milo will be behind the wheel of the new car. It is completely
unbelievable and it looks somewhat funny, but this is the kind of stuff that would be expected from a game of this type.
Another crazy idea the game employs, but can actually be a cool addition to the game is the vehicle melee. Here, the right stick acts as
the car’s hit stick. When players are moving down the street, players can jerk the stick left, forward or right to perform a body check in
that direction. Of course this would never happen in real life, but for a videogame starring Vin Diesel, again anything is possible. When
a specific car in worn down, a finishing move can be performed and the camera will follow the rolling ball of flaming wreckage that used
to be the enemy.
For a lot of the missions, players will be going after a certain car or trying to get away from a group of gang members. This means that
players are in a match with a handful of other vehicles and it is up to the players to take out all the enemy cars using melee attacks,
along with some super moves that use the turbo gauge. As players speed through the city, do handbrake turns and other maneuvers, a
gauge in the bottom left corner will fill with juice that can be used to boost or perform two types of tricks. The first trick slows down the
action, turns the screen black and white and puts players in the driver’s seat so that they can shoot 180 degrees. Circles appear on
the enemy vehicles during these moments so players can pull off some instant explosion and the results can be pretty satisfying.
The second move does everything like the first move, except this one spins the vehicle 180 degrees so that players are now face to face
with their slow motion enemies coming right at them. This is a great trick for taking out bad guys who are a little bit behind the player. It
usually ends with the car whipping around back to the front and crashing into some obstacle that popped up in front of the car.
“Wheelman” is an interesting game, but players can’t go into it expecting to get anything too exciting out of it, but there are a few fun
elements to it.
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