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Wheelman Preview

• By Travis Moses
• January 12, 2009 10:26 AM PST
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Look past the Fast and Furious facade, Wheelman presents even bigger over-the-top stunts and action than its Hollywood counterpart.

For how complex the stunts look, such as spinning a car 360 degrees while shooting at enemies, the controls are suprisingly simple.

In Wheelman, you play as undercover driver-for-hire Vin Diesel, who must infiltrate the criminal underworld of Barcelona. Wheelman is an open world game like Grand Theft Auto, but with a tight focus on vehicular manslaughter that allows you to bend the laws of physics to perform outrageous car stunts. But you'll need to fill up Vin's focus meter first. Here's an in-depth look at two of Wheelman's crazier car stunts.

Cyclone

The Cyclone is a quick 180 degree spin that flips your car around in reverse, which allows you to fire at tailgating enemies. When you perform the Cyclone stunt, time slows and you choose where to shoot. Reticules appear on targets, such as car engines and the drivers. A full focus meter will give you enough time to eliminate multiple targets in one Cyclone spin.

The Cyclone is a useful stunt against cars and motorcycles. After ramming an enemy vehicle to the side, perform the Cyclone spin and shoot the car adjacent to you while your car spins around, just like a cyclone.

Hijack other cars while driving at breakneck speeds by jumping from one vehicle to the next.

Air Jack

The term "Air Jack" is misleading. Vin Diesel can't pilot airplanes in Wheelman, so there's no in-flight hijacking. What you can do, however, is Air Jack other cars by jumping from the hood of one vehicle to another. It sounds crazy, but video game physics allows for Vin Diesel's pixel self to jettison into other car windows at 60mph. The point is to treat vehicles like weapons, constantly cycling through them.

To Air Jack another vehicle you must tailgate it for short period. You're ready to Air Jack when Vin Diesel is hanging out the driver side window. When you let go of the button Vin will jump to the other car, eject the driver, and take over the wheel. The Air Jack is an amazing stunt that's useful on solo "chop shop" missions, however getting an escort to jump from one moving car to another is impossible.

Running Man

The Cyclone and Air Jack are just two of Vin's many special moves that can be performed in Wheelman. There's also the Aimed Shot, vehicle melee, and on-foot combat. Unlike Stuntman, a similar stunt-focused driving game, you can actually get out of the car in Wheelman and take down the criminal underworld on foot. So get ready for over-the-top Hollywood-style stunts and explosions in Wheelman, which should be out by the time you read this.

The graphics are impressive for an open-world game. Just look at the muscle detail on the back of Vin Diesel's dome.

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