Worth picking up at its current price? That’s a definite yes from me. There’s a lot of content here and it is fun being in Vin Diesel’s shoes for the duration of the game (even if his character’s actions in the story don’t often ring true, given who he’s really working for). So far, however, I’ve had a blast working my way through the missions in a variety of cars (many of which have Midway game references as their number plates – you start off in a car with MRTL KMBT plates, for example) and yes, I’ve definitely had my money’s worth already – even with just a few hours of gameplay under my belt so far.ĭespite its many flaws, I do think The Wheelman was unfairly maligned upon release, though releasing so soon after GTA IV is unlikely to have helped the situation. There’s some truly repellent violence in cut scenes, which is completely unnecessary. Side missions can feel incredibly challenging, with tight time limits and ridiculously tough objectives. The driving itself is satisfyingly weighty too, with a real feeling of power behind your vehicles, especially when engaging in swiping other cars into obstacles and off the road. Likewise the silly but oh-so-awesome ‘air-jacking’, which sees your character leaping from his own car onto and into another vehicle, stealing it while each car is still in motion. The Barcelona setting lends The Wheelman a different feel to other open world, crime-based, US-set titles the ‘car combat’ mechanics, which see you using your vehicle as a weapon (and even give your car finishing moves!) are interesting, brilliantly satisfying and well-implemented. Though the in-engine cutscenes feature awful animation, lip-sync and low detail on the featured characters, the game itself generally looks pretty nice and runs well. Though it’s trying a little too hard to be an edgy GTA-alike, there are some really interesting and well-implemented ideas in The Wheelman that make it worth checking out at its current price. I figured, finally, why not try it?Īnd you know something? I’m glad I did. I picked The Wheelman up recently in Game’s XBox 360 clearance sale – all of their last gen stock was (and still is, in some locations) being sold off for 99p or less. It sank without trace from what I recall at the time. The game itself finally limped over the finish line to – at best – mixed reviews in 2009. I don’t recall there being any hype for the game in the following years.Īn accompanying film was announced, intended to be a sequel to the game. The trailer used what appeared to be in-engine graphics slightly buffed up to look more cinematic, but there was no getting around the fact that the model representing the star of the game, Vin Diesel, looked comically awful in the scenes shown. The Wheelman had a bit of a tortured development I remember seeing the announcement trailer, way back in 2006 if I recall that correctly, and it looked less than impressive even then.
So – shall we get started with today’s game then? Not quite reviews, because I won’t have played enough of the games I look at to give them a fair assessment, but more than just first impressions or a preview. So here I am with what may well be a regular feature for me – games picked up on the cheap that I’ve never tried before, with a CEX link in the price details. I’m not going to lie – despite reaching my 100 consecutive daily article goal yesterday, it’s been a bit weird to consider not writing anything at all today.
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