Wheelman

Ah, yes. Barcelona. The dark, underworld capital of the world. Where gangs run riot, street racing is a part of daily life, and CIA agents are rewarded for leaving dead bodies and total destruction in their wake. Sorry, have I lost you? Well, now you know exactly how Wheelman's story plays out. It's like being asked to put together a puzzle, but there's no corner pieces and you're pretty sure half of the remaining pieces belong to the "Ducks enjoying water" set. What I was able to eke out of the story, is that you play as CIA agent Milo Burik (aka, tough man Vin Diesel), who has been deployed in Barcelona, Spain, to acquire "important information". And the only way Milo will be able to retrieve said information, is by starting a gang war between the three predominant factions. Makes perfect sense.

As the title suggests, this is a driving game. And with a digitized Vin Diesel in the lead character, you expect action. Wheelman attempts to provide this in its plentiful slow motion explosions, fast cars and destructible world. The story main missions sees Milo switching from one gang to another, while doing their bidding by what fundamentally comes down to either pursuing or fleeing rival gangs in cars, bikes or heavy duty trucks. It's not just about speed though, as brute force is also required. You have two primary offensive abilities at your command. The first is melee attacks, in which you can throw your car side ways or forwards to slam or ram the opposing vehicle. Do enough damage and you're presented with a slow motion, high explosive crash. Your second set of abilities include the Cyclone and Aim shots. When activated, these slow motion abilities afford Milo a small window of opportunity to shoot at frail, critical points on an enemy vehicles. And the result of a successful hit? Another high explosive crash... in slow motion. But you can't just slow down time just willy-nilly. Nope. You will need to earn "focus", which can be achieved through speeding, drifting, hand brake turns, breaking objects, or pretty much any activity that could be considered un-lawful. Vehicle handling in general is easy to pick up, but you'll have to overlook small things such as the laws of physics. Such as when you use the air jack manoeuvre to bail out of your car at full speed and commandeer the vehicle in front of you... even when it's parked.

It's not all about driving, and there are quite a few on-foot sections. However, they're made all too easy with the auto-lock feature, abundant cover, and poor AI. You get the feeling that the developers are just trying to stave off boredom. And I'm afraid it does eventually does set in. The main missions just aren't varied enough to provide any depth; with no story or multiplayer to fall back on.

Wheelman isn't helped on the graphics side either. The Unreal 3 engine isn't used to the fullest, and the city feels drab and copy-n-paste. Further to that, the modelling and animations should be cited here, and receive a life time ban. Poorly done, and only helps to expose the below par voice performances thanks to frequently problematic lip synchronization.

A small consolation comes in the form of the side missions, which are surprisingly a lot of fun. Implemented to help unlock weapon caches and upgrades (though they have no real meaningful impact on the main missions), modes such as Hot Potato and Taxi are well balanced and can offer up an entertaining challenge as you race around to complete pick ups or drop offs within a restricted time period.

Wheelman attempts to bring cinematic like action to gamers. But with a feeble story, the ideas that do work - lifted straight from games such as GTA IV and Burnout - fail to provide enough depth to what feels like a directionless and rushed title. Not all is lost though, and Wheelman can still offer up entertainment for those looking for a short-lived, thrill ride.

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