Vin Diesel: Wheelman

This is a make or break game for Midway, and it seems they may well be safe with this release. The long time game developer has been in financial troubles for some time now and have some pretty hefty debts, so this game is a must-sell for them.

One thing that has been so often heaved onto PC gamers are badly ported major releases that are very poorly optimised. This usually results in very poor performance on machines more than capable of running them. Recent ports in this genre, like GTA IV and Saint's Row 2 have left many PC gamers with a bitter taste in their mouths, having to delve deep into forums for days on end in an attempt to try and find user created 'fixes' just to get them to run, and having to wait months for proper patches, some of which never come. Wheelman, is not one of those games...

I wasn't expecting much when I got this game, and my PC is now just an average gaming PC, with a OC'd to 3.0 ghz Q6600 chip, a trusty 8800GTX card, 4GB ram running on Vista x64 SP1.

I was pleasantly suprised to find the game ran really well at 1920x1200 with average framerates at 80+. I forced AF on in control panel and it was fine. However, trying to force AA gave it a real downer, with it plunging the frames down to about 30-40, which for say, GTA4 on PC would be considered good on my machine. So, I left the AA off which didn't spoil the look of the game much anyway. Also, it should be noted that there are no real graphic options other than resolution, but you wont need any.

As far as graphics are concerned, this isn't no GTA4 and nor does it try to be. But given the overall concept of the game is one where it doesn't take itself seriously, the graphics are fine. The game focuses more on fun and unreal 'movie type' action instead of trying to take itself a bit too seriously, which GTA4 did, and resulted in it being somewhat of a disappointment to the long standing fanbase it has.

If you are looking for a bare knuckle ride, masses of open ended gameplay, and at the same time want to support a long standing game developer like Midway - then you really should buy this game. It has had some mixed reviews in the 'pro-magazines' but those who have given it low marks really need to step back and look hard at what this game is, and isn't trying to be and rescore it.

In an age where PC gamers are treated as an after thought when it comes to optimizing ports from consoles, Midway should be given a pat on the back from all self respecting gamers worldwide.

Three cheers from me, and five stars for what is an enjoyable driving PC game (at last) which doesn't need hours of fiddling about with to get running.

Im not a fan of Driving Games but i did enjoy this for the time i played it. Its got a good story to it and fun gameplay but if you been playing GTA4 this game looks very outdated and the cars feel very unrealistic but i did get use to it. The biggest thing i didn't like for me was the mouse useing it to move your car side to side to ram other cars. Games like this you normally used to the mouse as a camera to look around so a controlla would be better for this game.

Overall under £20 this is definitely worth a buy.

Graphics 3/5
Sound 2/5
Gameplay 5/5

And if you was wondering how well it plays its very optimized.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Best. Game. EVER!

I was eagerly anticipating this game after I saw a teaser last year. After playing the game I can say that I was blown away with the quality of this game.
Every detail of this game shows quality. From the super lush graphics to the excellent vehicle handling and gameplay.
Graphics first. Barcelona has been faithfully recreated and looks fabulous with excellent light effects and vibrant scenery. The main character (played by Vin Diesel) Looks extremely realistic.
Gameplay wise this is easily the best pick up and play action title around. The game throws you straight in with the objective 'Just Drive Straight on' and thats what you do, and you do it well thanks to forgiving vehicle handling and easy to pull of slides. You soon learn abilites like sideswipes, which are pulled off by moving left or right, moving it up performs a forward ram whilst back looks behind.) There are two Special abilities, these are slow mo effects which allows you to use your fun to either shoot cars ahead of you or behind you in a spectacular fashion.
After the mission of blowing up police cars and shooting baddies off bikes, you are treated to two of the side missions.
The first introduces the 'Air Jack' feature. You start off in a car and your objective is to steal a variety of other cars for money, the better condition they are when you return them the more money you get. The maneuver is easy to accomplish. Hold a set button when behind a car then release when the marker turns green, easy.
Next you get to try a race. These are standard lap races but you have all the abilities of the game, including ramming and the 'special, slow mo' abilities. If you're good you can take out every other car in the race leaving just you.

Control options are mouse and keys or Xbox joypad. Neither are user configurable. Graphics options are limited to screen definition only. Not a bad game if you can live with those limitations and the bugs but there are so many more games deserving of your time and money