Really not as bad of a game as the reviews would have you believe.

User Rating: 7.5 | Wheelman X360
By miracledirt | Review Date:
I don't know why everyone bagging on this game for its "lack of story." I guess people are under the assumption that, because it has film star Vin Diesel, it should have some elaborate Hollywood style story as its foundation. I don't recall most of the Need For Speed games having what I would call a "riveting story," but they were still really fun racing games (especially NFS Underground 1 & 2). If you're thinking about playing this game because you're looking for an amazing story, you're in for a letdown. If, however, you're going to play the game because you like racing style games that include heated gun battles and fast-paced action, you'll probably enjoy this game.

The graphics look really good (especially in HD). If you're playing the game to get achievements, you're in for some frustrating times throughout the course of the game. One achievement (worth 100 gamerscore points) requires you to complete all the side missions in the game with an S Ranking (highest rank possible) in each one. On some missions, it's fairly easy to get an S Rank on your first attempt. On other missions, it may take you 30 times of replaying the mission just to get everything right and get the S Rank.

I've been playing the game for probably around 10 hours and I've spent about 95% of my time playing the side missions. Truthfully, I don't really care about the story or how it plays out (if you want a brief rundown, basically you're trying to infiltrate multiple gangs in Spain and take them down). The side missions are where the real fun is. They give you the opportunity to perfect your driving skills (which will make the actual storyline missions a lot more manageable when you decide to play them) and on top of that, getting either an A or an S Rank in the side missions will give you some sort of "power up" that makes the game a lot easier. Some types of side missions give your vehicles more health (which comes in handy when you've got 10 gang cars slamming into you with people hanging out the passenger side windows shooting at you). Other side missions make your vehicle do more damage to other cars when you ram into them (handy for taking out gang cars). Overall I think there are 7 or 8 different types of missions that all include an upgrade or something of benefit if you get a good rank when you complete each one.

Summary: Don't rent this game if you're looking for some "Fast & Furious" style storyline. Rent this game if you're into fast paced driving games and don't really care too much about the story. Overall, if you're playing the game for achievements, you'll log a lot of hours in the side missions and you'll see more of a value in the game than someone who is playing primarily for the storyline and doesn't care about the achievements. If you stick to the Storyline Missions, the game won't take that long to complete at all.

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