Wheelman

Wheelman - (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Developer: Midway
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Genre: Action


Pedal to the metal but is this GTA clone running on empty?



Vin Diesel likes his games. The star of Pitch Black and associated Riddick titles is an accomplished World of Warcraft player (purported to be level 80 no less) and co-founder of his very own development studio.

After years in development, and what was originally supposed to be tied in to a movie, Wheelman, the latest Vin Diesel 'vehicle', has finally hit the streets - filled to the brim with street racing and testosterone fuelled gunplay.

For those cynics amongst us who think 'Great, a Hollywood ego gets his face all-over a GTA-clone'. They are partially right. Rarely has a game under-achieved as much as this title in the first 20 minutes. But get past the initial clumsiness of it all and buried beneath is an enjoyable action romp with a few neat tricks of its own.

The premise is simple. Diesel is a Wheelman, a getaway driver of sorts who winds up on the mean - and on occasion, beautifully detailed streets of Barcelona, where he has to engage with various members of the underworld, and go on all sorts of driving based missions - in order to further his own goals.

Every now and again he has to get out on foot and pump a few caps - and then there's the cops to contend with. But worry not! He has a handy PDA that receives emails, and then there's an all too familiar map with key locations to all sorts of driving based side quests as well as core mission strands. Yes, to the cynics out there this is to all intents and purposes a shadow of the mighty Grand Theft Auto games. When and where Wheelman imitates what has gone before, it falls short. But like we say, there is still fun to be had.

And that fun can nearly almost always be found in the core ingredient of this title -the driving. In addition to the standard carjacking our man Vin can airjack - literally leap from one moving car to another - especially useful when your motor is about to blow. Once in the car, combat takes on a life of its own. A quick move of the thumbstick left and right and your car will perform punishing rams on any vehicle in your path - a few of these in a row and you'll easily finish off any in hot pursuit.

But when the going gets really tough the action switches to an in-car view. By building up an on-screen meter through handbrake turns and corner drifts, our man Vin can pull off some handy 180 maneuvers that switches the action to a first person in car view. The player must match the cross hair to an on-screen reticule; normally placed on top of a gun toting bad guy or the engine block of a speeding motor. Squeeze off enough accurate shots and watch the carnage unfold - these little touches along with airjacking make the action more intense.

A lack of online gaming and no real multiplayer functionality to speak of works against this game - but there's no denying that as long as you can stop drawing unfavourable comparisons with benchmark games like GTA there's still fun to be had - just don't expect to still be playing by Xmas.