Ever wanted to get the rush that you get from being in a stunt driving movie but never gotten it? Well now your chance has come with the highly anticipated game called “Wheelman”.

Wheelman was developed by Midway Studios Newcastle (the same people who brought you Mortal Combat), published by Ubisoft and it was made on the Unreal Engine 3.  It was released in Australia on March 24, 2009 after 3 years in the making. There has been high speculation over whether or not a movie will be released this year about the game, also starring Vin Diesel. This game had a GTA + Burnout feeling going on for me.

You, are Milo Burik (Vin Diesel), also known as; “The Wheelman”. You love fast cars, literally leaping from car to car, and love the occasional bit of action. The story is set in modern Barcelona, and Milo is an undercover agent infiltrating on the three major gangs in Barcelona. This game has over 100 side missions and over 30 story missions. The side missions contain nearly everything imaginable, from escaping gangs, transporting people from their devilish deeds and collecting cars in a set time limit. This is definitely worth forking out the $70-90 from your wallet. The story would take a good 6-8 hours to play.

The missions vary in difficulty every time, and are quite enjoyable as long as you stay in your car. The side missions really got me going, as I loved them to bits. They story missions change what you do in them every time. An example is, one time you’re following a gang on motorbikes into the subway to rescue a man then next level your stealing a truck.

After years in the making you can tell where the focused and where they didn’t. They definitely nailed the driving part of the game. A car chase is where “Wheelman’s” true colours are shown. The thrill and the rush of driving in “Wheelman” is one to take a while to forget. You can perform excellent moves such as the “Cyclone” which spins your car a full 360 degrees while letting you shoot as many cars as you can, and it’s in slow motion! There is the “Air Jack” which lets you leap from one car onto another. There is also the “car melee” which lets you strafe your car left or right with a sharp jab with the right thumbstick.

The most obvious part of game play that they didn’t pay enough attention to was the walking and free roaming out of your car. The controls are terrible and I expected much more. The enemies are weak, and it’s just boring. That was probably the biggest let down for me.

The graphics and sound effects for me were just below what I expected from a Ubisoft game. The cars look brilliant, but instead of Barcelona bursting with vibrant colours and life it just screamed dull right in my face. The characters in the game looked awful. The sound effects from cars and guns were good, but the speeches were unbelievably rubbish.

I think Midway Studios Newcastle and should have included multiplayer in the game. Even split-screen would’ve done it for me, performing my favourite moves, in my favourite car, and watching my mates shatter to a million pieces. Even just a normal race, no guns, just a circuit and four cars would do fine. They could have gone further with so many things in this game, but they focused on the one thing.

Throughout the game, you will find that it does have its cinematic moments, which actually look all right graphic-wise. You can “unlock” these moments by completing stunt jumps and destroying cars. But, it did get really repetitive in one certain mission when every time I’d ram a police car it would go to a cinematic. There are 50 stunt jumps spread out all over Barcelona. Scattered all over Barcelona are Cat Statues, and Milo hates them. There are 50 and a minor objective through the whole game is to destroy every single one.

OVERALL 7.5/10

On one last note, “Wheelman” is a great blockbuster game. It may not appeal to everyone at first, but hire it, and then you’re addicted to the game play. It may not be game of the year, but it is definitely worth the money. It could have been better graphic-wise, but it is a fun, action packed game.   

XBOX Live member user review.