The Wheelman (360 - demo)

[prinnysquad]

Had a blast on this the other night. Apparently it's one of Midway's great hopes to keep the company afloat, or at least provide a tasty new franchise to sell.

Hmm.

It's a driving game that seems to have some on-foot sections. Most of it feels like it's been done a hundred times before. The demo opens with a neat long camera tracking through the city. Visually it has a pleasant style, nothing really 'wow', but all very competent.

The first mission teaches you the ropes -

->Open Spoiler<-

pick up a bint and drive her to safety

, being chased by

->Open Spoiler<-

cops

then

->Open Spoiler<-

gang members.

To do the demo credit, it's instructions are very clear and some of the moves you can pull are impressive, such as pulling a 180 in order to cap off some shots in slo-mo at the bonnet and wheels of your pursuers. The sideswipes are handled by the right stick and have a nice feel to them, although they do take a bit of getting used to.

The rest of the demo offers a couple of sidemissions - one involves picking up cars (by 'air-jacking' them, Pursuit Force-style) and I can't even remember the other one. I think it was a racing challenge. I was a bit battered on sediment.

The cars handle somewhat oddly, they're quite floaty, but as with any driving game, it's something you'll adapt to if you want to see what the game has to offer. There's a modicum of freewill in some of the missions, such as the ability to air-jack or car-jack other cars in the middle of races. Neat if you're near the back and spot a sports car. But it's hard to tell how many challenges this can be used in, or is useful in. The first missions, for example, it's impossible to air-jack, because of

->Open Spoiler<-

the bint

in the back.

I dunno, it's a decent enough game with some neat touches, but it just doesn't have enough class or unique selling points to justify a full-price purchase. Bad news for Midway, then.

[merf]

i thought it was decidely ropey, but Vin Diesel constructed from 10 polygons did manage to portray more emotion and acting ability than the real thing.

looked like it was running on the Stranglehold engine (Midways last great hope to save the company)

it was just all old hat and felt about 2/3 years out of date

can't see this saving them at all.

[ChrisF]

I enjoyed it. Not enough to buy it on day 1 though, but I will probably pick it up at some point.

[Welrain]

Bit dull really. Adds nothing new.

[prinnysquad]

It doesn't ever really feel like a top whack buy, only the type a game I'd wait for Spatial to flog.

[Skull Commander]

I thought the demo was good fun. I expected nothing from it, but it had fun set pieces, but like the aformentioned Stranglehold, I expect the game may run dry past a couple of levels.

It kind of reminded me in a mixture of total overdose, burnout and chase HQ.

Still, good demo.

[Paulos G]

It doesn't ever really feel like a top whack buy, only the type a game I'd wait for Spatial to flog.

LOL!

I quite liked the side-swiping mechanic in this.

[GluedOnBeard]

The cars handle that way as the intention was always that it would be an arcade game.

The events in the game are:

Taxi, Made to Order (Airjacking), Street Race, Hot Potato, Rampage, Fugitive and Contracts. Out of all of them I would say that the most fun is definitely to be had from Fugitive, the street races will get better as you get through them and the rest is pretty much down to taste. Hot Potato could have you getting a tad annoyed ^^

I think although the demo does do a extremely good job, it does not show everything the game has to offer. This for me was a game you would not instantly be drawn in by but grew on you over time. To be fair if you look at what is being released just now I would rate Wheelman pretty highly!

I expect the game may run dry past a couple of levels.

You may be surprised then (:

I quite liked the side-swiping mechanic in this.

Vehicle melee is one of the best mechanics in the game, although Need for Speed try to blatantly rip it!

[Spatial]

It doesn't ever really feel like a top whack buy, only the type a game I'd wait for Spatial to flog.

Cheeky boy.

I was surprised by how mute old Vin was throughout the whole thing. I expected him to be cracking wise about the bad guys momma's cos the kids like that sort of thing.

It was better than the Wanted demo because that was utter gash. That's not saying much though.

I did like the fact that you could nick vehicles and stuff but it's not something I'd go out of my way to buy. Sorry Prinny you might be waiting till I can pick this up on budget

[Jurassic]

I thought the demo was OK, the opening section where your being chased was a lot of fun with some nice set pieces and a few good gameplay ideas.

The missions you got to play after that though were dire, uninspired and outdated is the best way I can describe them. The graphics were also a mixed bag, with the environments and cars looking quite nice if a little bland, but the character models were hideous. Vin Diesel in particular looked like a hippo crossed with a melting candle.

Another thing that annoyed me was that the controls seemed overlay complicated for an arcade driving game using far to many buttons.

[merf]

so nobody bought this then ?

very interesting thread over on rllmuk with one of the devs getting a bit upset at the reviews/feedback to this

be interested to hear views of anybody here who bought it

[Dezm0nd]

Upset Dev + Forum = Tragic but hilarious

[ChrisF]

Didn't even realise it had come out!

[Phar]

Anyone else bother to pick this up now that it's &#163;12.99 on Play.com, just had an hour or so on it and really enjoyed it so far, plays like a more arcadey GTA and as already mentioned parts of it are a bit like a modern day Chase HQ.

Looks like theres plenty to do besides the main story as loads of side missions have been unlocked in my brief time playing it, so far it seems like the best bargain I've bought this year, looking forward to putting some more time into it.

[ChrisF]

I picked it up a couple of weeks ago for &#163;14.99 off hut (or was it zavvi?). I agree with you, it's really good!