Vin Diesel WHEELMAN

He's back to what he does

best, kill bad guys and drive

fast cars. Join Vin Diesel for

another explosive adventure.






Vin Diesel has been going through

a rough patch of sorts in recent

times. His past few movies have

failed to make a significant impact at the

box office and his last movie, Babylon

A.D was panned as an abject failure

in which he actually cried in the movie

(what next? Starring role in a romantic

comedy?). Obviously that didn’t go

down with his fans who’re used to seeing

this man disembowel aliens with ease.

Thankfully, we now have the new Fast

and the Furious movie to look forward

to in which Vin seems like himself

again. But Vin Diesel also loves making

games. In fact his first collaboration

with Starbreeze Studios based on the

character, Riddick was a phenomenal

success. He’s looking to recreate that

magic with Wheelman, a game that was

to be based on the movie of the same

name. The movie’s MIA at the moment

but the game’s here and that ladies and

gentleman is what this review is about.





In Wheelman, Vin Diesel is an

undercover cop who fi nds himself

embroiled with the shady criminal

underbelly of Barcelona. As him, you’ll

interact with some shady characters, pit

a few factions against each other, play

the errand boy many times and kill all

of them by the end of the game. The

funny part over here is that nothing is

explained to you so you don’t really know

who you’re working for. How are you in

this situation in the fi rst place? And how

in God’s name did your cover get blown

so fast? The plot’s clichéd, boring and

downright confusing, so don’t bother.

Voice acting is hammy and not even

Diesel’s supreme coolness can salvage

the script. But once you get past the

weak plot, the game’s actually fun to

play. Since the name of the game is The

Wheelman, you’ll be driving around...

a lot. In fact, we would say you’ll be

behind the wheel for nearly 65-70%

of the game. The rest of the time

you’ll indulge in some gunplay that’s

as basic and uninspiring as it gets.

Lock onto targets with your left trigger

and spray them with bullets until they

die. Release left trigger, lock onto new

target and repeat same procedure till all

enemies are dead. You can’t jump in the

game and the cover system isn’t what

you’d expect in an action game today.

Once you’re back in your ride, things

do spice up a notch as your car in this

game, is actually your weapon. You can

use it to slam enemy cars and then

obliterate them in the form of slow

motion takedowns. As you progress

through the game you’ll encounter

tougher vehicles that have to be

smashed many times before they can

be taken out. Sometimes vehicles will

be full of gun wielding thugs whose

constant barrage of bullets permit you

from getting too close. In such cases

you can use two of the game’s super

moves – Cyclone and Aimed shot. The

Cyclone can only be performed on

vehicles behind you and in this move Vin

Diesel stylishly jacks his ride around in

a 180 degree turn in slow motion while

you individually target various parts of

the vehicle be it windows, the hood or

the petrol tank. Shoot the petrol tank

and the vehicle bursts into a huge ball of

fl ames. Too many people present in the

car? Shoot the driver and watch the car

spiral out of control. It’s an interesting

mechanic that you’ll use a lot not only

because it looks cool but because it’s a

great option to have during some of the

tougher stages.





In Aimed shot, time slows down once

again but this time the vehicle stays

straight and the camera zooms in over

Vin Diesel’s shoulder so you can pick off

enemies in front of you and at the side peacefully.

It isn’t as cool as Cyclone

but it’s perfect for getting through those

pesky, explosive barrel laden barricades.

Of course, you won’t have an unlimited

supply of cool moves at your disposal;

you’ll have to drive like a maniac, indulge

in some jumps, and take sharp turns

and so on to earn them. The fi nal super

move available right from the start is Air

Jacking and it allows Diesel to leap from

one car to another while both are in

motion in a cinematic sort of

way. It’s not original and

not realistic from any

angle but then again

neither is pretty much

anything in this game.

It aspires to be an

over-the-top action

game and it does

deliver to a certain

extent but sadly it’s

also bogged down by

tons of issues.







For starters, the game

doesn’t look all that hot. Since it's

based on the Unreal 3 engine there are

constant texture delays synonymous

with this engine. View distance can

be terrible at times with objects and

entire roads suddenly popping in from

nowhere. Characters look beyond plastic,

especially Vin Diesel’s who looks as stiff

as a muscular blow up doll. Enemy A.I. is

downright stupid and Barcelona seems

like it’s full of retarded pedestrians who

like running around in panic even though

I’m abiding by all the traffic regulations.





There is also an insane amount

of loading you’ll have to sit

through as well. It’s got

a painfully long install,

terrible frame rates

and way more texture

loading issues than

the Xbox360 version.

Once you’re done

with the single player,

there’s nothing much

to do over here since

there’s no multiplayer in

this game. Sure you could

indulge in some side quests,

but they’re utterly useless. If you are

going to be chasing people, jacking

vehicles and smashing the life out of

them in the campaign for 8-10 hours,

why would you want to do the exact

same thing in your side quests? Oh and

you never need money in the game so

getting supplied with paper every time

you finish a mission is downright stupid

since you can’t upgrade weapons or even

change your clothes.







At first glance, the game does look

like a GTA clone and if you pick up

thinking that way you’re going to be

disappointed. Sure you can drive around

the city of Barcelona, indulge in side

quests as and when you feel like but The

Wheelman is still a very linear sandbox

game that lacks all the production

values of a Grand Theft Auto. It’s not a

very good looking game and it suffers

from a terrible plot, sub-par visuals and

repetitive gameplay. Still if you can look

past that, there is a certain amount

of fun to be had here. We would not

recommend shelling out the big bucks on

this one but you should check it out once

the price drops.



RATINGS

THIRD-PERSON SANDBOX

Vin Diesel Wheelman

PRICE Rs 2,499; Rs 2,899 (Xbox 360, PS 3)

PUBLISHER Midway Games, Ubisoft

DEVELOPER Midway Studios, Tigon Studios

DISTRIBUTOR Milestone Interactive

PHONE 022-28203319

EMAIL info@milestoneinteractive.com

PLATFORM PS 3, Xbox 360

Category: Vin Diesel WHEELMAN