Hot Play
Vin Diesel is on the road again for Wheelman
By Scott Gardner
WHEELMAN
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Reputable sources define a wheelman as “a professional driver who excels at high-performance maneuvering, chase, pursuit, evasion and high-speed driving.” Real-world definitions add this key detail: “... and who typically works for underworld figures.”
In other words: the perfect videogame hero.
In this driving/action title, that hotshot driver has the imposing look and rumbling cadences of actor Vin Diesel. The actor stars as Milo Burik — an undercover agent on a mission to infiltrate criminal gangs in a beautifully rendered Barcelona.
Wheelman, however, is not your typical movie-based game...mostly because there’s no movie. Announced in 2006, it was intended to support a Diesel-ish action flick of the same name, which has since quietly disappeared. Happily the game lives on, and it’s better for the loss, since the setting, story and action sequences are now wholly original.
Gameplay includes some third-person shooting and fisticuffs, but Wheelman’s heart is combat driving — sideswiping opposing vehicles or shooting at them. Special moves include hijacking other vehicles on the fly, and spinning 180 degrees to fire a few shots at your pursuers, then spinning back to resume your escape through Barcelona’s narrow, obstacle-filled streets.
This is Vin Diesel’s second videogame appearance, following 2004’s excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay — a terrific game sunk by its stinker of a tie-in movie. And like that title, Wheelman is co-created by Tigon Studios — the star’s own videogame development company. So while some of his movies may be kinda brainless, clearly Diesel is not.
Release date: February 16
KILLZONE 2
PS3
The PS2’s Killzone was pretty good. But Killzone 2 is probably the best-looking, most intense first-person shooter ever seen on a console. Seriously. It has gut-wrenching futuristic humans vs. aliens gameplay, robust online multiplayer, and both vistas and characters are detailed and lifelike. With gritty combat in ruined cityscapes, it’s the PS3’s Saving Private Ryan.
Release date: February 27
X-BLADES
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
After all that testosterone, here’s a game for the girls: anime-inspired third-person action with Ayumi — a seductive-yet-tenacious heroine who hacks her way through the forces of darkness with a bladed pistol and magical powers, all while clad in an armoured thong bikini. Oh wait — this one’s for the boys as well.
Release date: February 10