Wheelman Video Game Review

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat, Wheelman isn't a great game, but I liked it and I think that's because I haven't played any of the Grand Theft Auto games with any regularity. This is the game that Vin Diesel produced and starred in. I'll be honest, I completely skipped most of the story throughout the game, so I'm not going to comment on that. From what I gathered, Milo is an undercover dude trying to play the gangs in Barcelona against each other. You do that by stealing cars, racing around the city and shooting people. Much like Skate 2, you can teleport to anywhere on the map with a mission. You've got your main missions and then all these side missions. I wasn't having as much fun with the non-mission stuff (unlike Skate 2), so I only played a few of those and ended up sticking to the main missions.

This might sound obvious, but my favorite aspect of the game was the driving portion. Not only were the controls simple, but there were fun additions to the driving mechanics like the ability to leap out of your car, kick the driver out and take over, while driving. There's also a move where you can slow down and shoot at the attacking cars, or spin the car in a 180 and do the same. That was fun. As far as the actual missions go, they were fun, though sometimes ridiculously hard (or maybe I just suck). Oh, also, the game is friggin beautiful. I have no idea if it really looks like Barcelona or not, but it looked good. Heck, even Vin looked a lot like Vin.

So, let's get into the not so good stuff. Unlike the car stuff, the portions of the game where you're controlling Vin and shooting dudes sucks pretty bad. The aiming mechanic is clunky and the bad guys can take WAY too many hits before they die. Had there been more put into this aspect of the game, I think it would have turned out better. I did appreciate how, when you're facing other humans man-on-man, there wasn't an infinite number of them. I'm having to deal with that while playing Dark Sector, and it's annoying.

As I said, the missions can be pretty tough and nothing is more frustrating than completing two thirds of a mission, blowing up and then having to start over from the very beginning. It was a LONG process. It would have been nice to restart say, after you had already blown up two of the three cars you needed it ice. Also, whenever you're heading after a "boss car" his thugs are swarming after you in their souped up cars and guns. And, unlike their human counterparts, these cars seem to have an infinite supply. And, as if that weren't annoying enough, their cars are also always, ALWAYS better than whatever one you've stolen, even if it's one of their cars! That drove me crazy.

So, in the end, it's not a perfect game, but it might be worth a rent or maybe a $15 purchase used at Game Stop. Or maybe I should just pick up Grand Theft Auto. Right now I'm finishing up Dark Sector (or maybe deciding whether to actually keep playing it cause it's getting on my nerves), but I also just picked up Gears of War, Bioshock and Crackdown, which one should I start next?

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