Introduction

Wheelman arrives like a Vin Diesel cameo that decided it wanted to be a video game too. The conceit is simple and oddly theatrical: you are Milo Burik, an undercover CIA driver whose résumé consists entirely of impressive tire marks and a suspiciously calm face. The game's selling point - its only real selling point, depending on how you value personality over polish - is that it puts cars first. This is not a game that asks you to be a pedestrian. It asks you to commit vehicular acrobatics, to perform cinematic escapes and to occasionally vault yourself onto another moving car to claim it like some low-rent stunt double. Set in a fairly convincing open-world Barcelona, Wheelman pairs movie-style pacing with a handful of middling mechanics. It was developed by Tigon Studios with Midway's Newcastle team, runs on Unreal Engine 3, and launched in spring 2009 after years of staggered promises and a canceled movie tie-in that somehow involved Vin Diesel everywhere but on your couch. You will either admire the game's focus - driving as an artform - or you will notice the cracks in everything else: on-foot segments, AI, and a persistent whisper that this could have used another draft or two.

Gameplay

Wheelman is chiefly a driving sandbox wrapped around a barely coherent spy-heist plot. The open world is modelled after Barcelona and dotted with destructible objects, alley shortcuts, office-building squeezes and a generous amount of traffic that exists to be creatively inconvenienced. Story mode offers 31 missions and 105 side missions, most of which are driving-centric. There are also third-person on-foot missions, which the game treats like an awkward second cousin who turned up to the wedding and immediately started criticizing the playlist. The headline mechanic is 'Airjack', and it's the reason some players still remember Wheelman fondly. You lock onto another vehicle and, from your moving car, you jump sideways and land inside it. Execution is satisfyingly cinematic: think car-to-car parkour, minus any actual grace. Pulling off an Airjack feels good because it encourages aggressive, improvisational play. There are also special driving moves that give a brief, giddy sense of mastery, and the game willingly leans into explosive set-pieces that look and feel like action movie highlight reels. Weapons are present but subordinate: pistols, assault rifles and RPGs are on hand for those rare moments when guns matter more than rebound angles. Combat tends to be acceptable at best on foot and frustrating at worst. Critics and players noticed that the on-foot sections are the game's weak link; animations are stiff, level designs are bland and the whole experience feels tacked on to justify a plot chapter where walking occurs. The AI can be permissive, and other times it behaves like it read the manual on 'how to cheat in pursuit' and then ignored the rest. Vehicles you drive include licensed models like the Pontiac G8 and the Opel Astra, but most of your emotional investment will be in how a car handles rather than what badge it wears. Driving handling is intentionally arcadey: gratifying for smash-and-grab set-pieces, less convincing for nuanced cornering. The map rewards exploration with shortcuts and destructible routes, and side missions give variety, even if many boil down to 'get there fast, then cause chaos'. The narrative is a typical undercover-gone-wrong affair. Milo infiltrates gangs - the Canallas, Los Lantos, and a Romanian faction - working for and against them, chasing a briefcase of classified documents and watching allegiances shift like traffic lights. Expect betrayals, rooftop chases, and a yacht finale that takes advantage of the game's fondness for dramatic jumps. The voice performance from Vin Diesel (yes, that Vin Diesel) lends the story a performative gravitas; whether you treat it as earnest drama or deliberate camp is up to you.

Graphics

Graphically Wheelman sits in that familiar late-2000s middle ground: competent but easily forgettable. The cityscape of Barcelona is a highlight in the sense that the locale feels new for many players tired of every open-world map looking like 'Generic American Metropolis'. Lighting and destruction effects work well in bursty, cinematic moments, which is the game's aesthetic aim. Textures, character models and on-foot animations, however, often betray the game's limited ambition. Critics pointed out bland graphics and awkward animations, especially when the camera switches from car to foot. The Unreal Engine 3 backbone gives the game the ability to stage impressive crashes and environmental damage, but it doesn't hide rough edges. If you play primarily for vehicular spectacle, you'll forgive the occasional blandness. If you came for photorealism or intricate NPC reactions, the game will remind you why those things require more time and money than a few studio meetings and a stunt coordinator.

Conclusion

Wheelman is a purpose-built toy for people who prefer driving to paperwork. Its greatest achievement is narrowing focus: when it wants to be thrilling, it is often very thrilling. Airjacking, the special driving moves and many of the set-pieces provide movie-style adrenaline that lands more often than not. Its biggest flaw is ambition without follow-through - the on-foot mechanics, patchy AI, occasional technical roughness and a lack of multiplayer bite the game at inconvenient times. If you rent it, you will probably have fun. If you buy it at full price, you might pause and consider whether you are actually buying those 31 missions or just the memory of a rooftop car jump. The voice cast gives the whole venture some swagger, and the Barcelona setting feels refreshingly distinct. The score of 6.6 out of 10 feels like a polite handshake: not a rave, not a rebuke. Wheelman is a guilty pleasure for anyone who believes that good driving can carry a game - and that if you must bail from a car mid-chase, it should at least look cool when you do.

See Latest Prices for Wheelman on PS3 on Amazon

See Prices for Wheelman on PS3 on Ebay