Hands-On: We take Vin Diesel's new game up for a spin!
After spending some time with the demo version for The Wheelman, I came up surprisingly satisfied with how this arcade-style take on the Grand Theft Auto genre is coming along.
In The Wheelman you play as Milo (with the likenesses and voice of Vin Diesel), a driver for hire in Spain. The demo tosses you right into the middle of the action, as you have been hired by a woman who was robbing a bank to take her to safety. This is easier said than done since you are been pursued by what felt like an unlimited amount of cops. This mission introduces you to a lot of the basic elements of the gameplay. Obviously the idea is to drive the car really fast while you follow the directions from your lady friend. You are also introduced to your car's melee attacks. Yes, the car can attack! By pushing the right stick left or right, your car will side-swipe in that direction and after enough damage has been dealt to the opposing cars; you will send it flying away in a spectacular explosion. This move is also ideal to send them into incoming traffic and even as a way for you to quickly dodge incoming traffic. Pushing up on the right stick works as a battering ram of sorts that is used to break through roadblocks. The entire chase felt exciting and presented various opportunities for you to smash cop cars and take some insane shortcuts.
By smashing debris and drifting through turns, you fill up a focus meter. This meter has various uses, all of them shown to you in the demo. The most basic use is the super boost, which allows you to increase your speed dramatically. This is activated by pressing X. There is also an Aimed Shot, which slows down time and allows you to shoot vehicles blocking your path, clearing the way for your car. This is activated by pushing up on the D-pad. Although it felt unrealistic to shoot up a van with a simple pistol, it fits well within the arcade elements of the game. The other move is the Cyclone, which causes time to slow down as you do a 180 and shoot the cars pursuing you. The game shows you this during a sequence in which a bunch of gangsters (I assume, for their connection to Milo and his lady friend was not revealed) in motorcycles. It felt like something taken out of The Transporter films, as you do this 180 and shoot them all down while driving in reverse.
After the story mission concludes, you are allowed to try some side missions. One of them involved stealing some cars and delivering them to a specific place. This was designed to allow the gamer to test the Air Jack feature. Instead of ramming the car off the road and beating the driver senseless like in Grand Theft Auto, in The Wheelman you just follow the driver, hold the circle button and when you are close enough (shown by an indicator that turns green) you release the button and Milo jumps from his car into the target car, knocks the driver out and keeps on driving. Another side mission was a standard two lap race. The good thing is that you have all your special moves available during the race! That means that you can melee attack the other drivers, shoot them with your pistol and do the crazy Cyclone move if you are so inclined.
The Wheelman feels like the arcade version of Grand Theft Auto, or like you are playing one of The Transporter movies. Stay tuned for a full review in the coming weeks.
