Monday, March 30, 2009

Become the Wheelman

Rule the streets as Vin Diesel in this thrilling car chase epic on PS3.

Fans of high-end Hollywood blockbusters movies are in for a treat with Midway and Ubisoft's new joint venture, Wheelman. A pastiche of everything that is great about big budget car chase movies, the game stars Tinsel Town tough guy and action movie star, Vin Diesel of Chronicles Of Riddick and The Fast And The Furious fame as Milo Burik.

A getaway driver of the highest calibre, Milo is pulled out of retirement and sucked into a world of gangs, girls, guns and breakneck car chases through the street of a sun soaked Barcelona where every car is game and the laws of gravity don't apply as you roar through alleyways, office blocks and busy streets with the cops or gangsters on your tail.

Grab the wheel

Taking control of Milo you have a number of spectacular moves at your disposal such as handbraking using the Square button and the left stick or drifting around corners using the L2 button, which is extremely useful if you find yourself being chased and have to turn corners quickly without wanting to lose any speed.

Milo can also slam enemies on either side of him or ram through barriers by flicking the right stick left, right or forwards, plus he has the ability to Airjack enemies by leaping from car to car, which makes for hair-raising chases through the highways and byways of Barcelona.

The more skilled your driving the more Focus power Milo builds up, allowing him to perform special moves such as an Aim Shot, which is a devastating single gunshot through the windshield performed in slow motion that can blow up a rival driver's car in an instant. His last flashiest move is the Cyclone, a 180 degree slo-mo spin and single shot takedown with a pistol, perfect for when you need to downsize the number of chasers on your tail in the game's adrenaline fuelled missions.

Opening with an exhilarating bank robbery, Wheelman's first mission sets the scene of what's to come as you tear through the streets trying to escape from the police and quickly find yourself sucked into a world of crime kingpins. Using your GPS map you can highlight a mission, set a waypoint and drive to the action or just jump straight in, depending on how fast you want to play through the game. Missions include everything from stealing cars, to taking down assassination targets using your death defying car skills, to ferrying people to and from places on the map.

Take a walk

You won't spend all your time behind the wheel of a car, scooter or superbike. There are plenty of on-foot missions to get to grips with as you guide Milo through underground tunnels and streets in shoot-outs and rescue missions. For these Milo can wield an arsenal of weaponry such as pistols, machine guns or explosives, ducking behind objects for cover during more intense firefights - of which there are plenty!

For those that like to explore and push their driving skills to the max, the map is littered with a huge selection of jaw-dropping jumps and ramps that, when successfully manoeuvred, trigger epic cinematic scenes of cars, bikes and Vin Diesel sailing through the air. Plus, by completing all the side missions in the game you unlock weapons caches, garages and tonnes of upgrades for your Focus meter, which allows you to pull of Wheelman's death defying super stunts and special moves.

Fuel injected fun from start to finish, Wheelman is an adrenaline rush blockbuster movie on PS3 that you control with a great story, a huge map, myriad missions and ludicrously enjoyable car chases. If you like the sound of that why not download the demo from PlayStation Store right now and get a taster of Wheelman's breakneck pace.