Project Natal was first revealed at E3 2009, where it stole the show with its originality and impressive capabilities. Microsoft has already promised to fully support their new motion technology and a number of game publishers have also expressed their interest with the technology.

Stay tuned to GamesCastLive for more information on Project Natal as it unfolds.

Wheelman to put simply is not about anything realistic and thought-provoking. It’s about crazy cars, stunts and guns. It’s the embodiment of a Hollywood action flick and that’s exactly what we want to get our adrenaline pumping.

In Wheelman, you play as Milo Burik, A CIA agent whose exemplary driving allows him to go undercover to infiltrate gang operations with in Barcelona, Spain. The story gets a little convoluted as Milo is playing all three sides of three rival gangs, which becomes a bit confusing to who is who. The plots pretty well presented through pre-mission cut scenes, but all you really need to know is that there are a lot of explosions and fast cars.

The majority of Wheelman’s gameplay involves driving missions, which range from evading police and rival gangs, chasing down targets, collecting goods in a specific time limit and even transporting important vehicles and people. The driving feels really great and responsive and fits perfectly with the quick nature of the action as cars are exploding and smashing into you all the time while you flawlessly drift around corners, its great! What Wheelman (and Vin Diesel himself) is priding itself on it Vehicle Melee. With left or right movements of the analog stick, the car you are driving will destructively barge to the left or right as if swerving into enemies that dare to come up to the side of your car. The whole idea of using your car as a weapon may not sound all that new, but it’s done really well and as the vehicle lunges into enemy cars, heavy damage can occur to them, eventually causing them to explode in cinematic style. The action and takedowns of enemy vehicles is quite a spectacle and you always feel like a bad ass smashing up helpless goons.

While the driving is the main focus, you have the ability to shoot out of the car. There is standard ‘hold-down-the-button-while-target-is-locked’ kinda thing, but also a slow-motion precision shot, where the camera pans into the car through the windscreen slowing time down, to allow Vin to unleash deadly shots to weak points on vehicles such as petrol tanks or engines. Another exciting move is the Cyclone, which is similar to the precision shot, yet is more for trailing enemies. When pressed on the d-pad, the car or bike will spin 180 degrees, slam in reverse, once again slowing time down to focus special shots on the vehicles behind. While these moves defy every law of physics, they are incredibly fun and emphasize the high octane action that a Hollywood movie would produce.

There is a wide variety of vehicles including bikes and cars. Whether Vin Diesel can actually fit into a Smart car is up for debate, but there are sufficient cars modeled on existing ones, along with Pontiac and Opel getting their licensed beauties in there. They obviously handle differently as missions which entail driving a petrol tanker requires planned turns, where driving the Opel Astra allows for quick evasive actions, but there is always the right car for the job, and getting the car is the most fun.

Wondering the streets for a decent car is where GTA lacked, but in Wheelman you have the ability to ‘air-jack’ a vehicle. By driving up behind the car you desire and holding then releasing a certain button, players can leap from one car to the next, stealing it without even stopping. The move may look a little ridiculous, but is an awesome addition to keep the pace of the game and is an important technique when your current car is about to blow-up or you need a faster ride.

The second part of the game, which makes up a minority of gameplay, but is still very apparent, is the on-foot shooting sections. Certain missions force you to abandon you car, which result in a third-person inspired shooting level. They are a bit awkward in the sense there is no cover system, besides a simple crouch and no jump button, leaving you to lengthy maneuver your way around the smallest of obstacles. You have a range of weapons from shotguns to machine-guns, but that’s about it. An auto-locking aiming system helps with the kills, but makes head shots a little too easy. Overall, these on-foot sections aren’t that bad, they’re a nice break from the vehicular action, but do little to add that extra something to the game.

In addition to the main story, there is a lot of side missions, which have a surmising variety to them in terms of objectives. There are taxi missions, races, transportation missions and destruction missions, which involve smashing up objects around the city or other cars. The side missions are actually really fun and you may spend a lot of your time distracted from the main story with all the fun extra activities.

Wheelman is undeniably a really good looking game. Running with the Unreal 3 Engine, the character models of Vin Diesel and other main characters look impressive, but the army of bad guys, are mediocre. The real eye-candy is the driving sequences as sparks and explosions light up the streets, while damage and the sense of speed is capture excellently. A slight issue occurred when playing is that the mission prompts appear very small on the screen and sometimes a little too late, as you’ll find yourself smashing up a car, before your even told not to, but usually the cut scenes are pretty explanatory in the mission department. The Cut scenes are well animated, but be prepared for Vin’s bass defying voice to rock your TV, headphones or surround sound. Speaking of which, the voice acting is pretty good, with the fair share of lame one liners, but as said before, it all comes down to the action.

In terms of replay value, the side missions to provide the extra hours of play as they are really fun, but the open world of Barcelona, which is free to roam, will give players the longevity as escaping police chases never gets old.

This game is all about the Hollywood effects and over-the-top action which makes it so ridiculous and awesome at the same time. If you’re looking for a realistic driving sim, look elsewhere because Wheelman is about blowing stuff up at high speeds while letting off some rounds into enemies’ petrol tanks, and that’s what makes it so awesome.

[starreviewmulti id=1 tpl=20]