Whether it’s on foot or in your car, Midway Games is ready to heat up March with their release of Wheelman on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. We had the privilege of speaking to Simon Woodroffe, creative director on Wheelman, over the weekend and were able to pick his brain on a variety of topics relating to the title. From Vin Diesel’s involvement and input on the title to the possibility of download content, Wheelman is shaping up to be one of March’s most anticipated titles.
PX360: How did your job at Midway Games come about and what does your job entail?
Simon Woodroffe: I'm the Creative Director on Wheelman, my role is to run the design department, promote the game's creative vision and, above all, make sure it's a fun experience for players.
PX360: For those who haven’t been following the development of The Wheelman, could you fill us in on the storyline and any of the significant lead characters?
Simon Woodroofe: The game puts the player in control of Milo Burik (played by Vin Diesel). He's an undercover agent sent from the USA to Barcelona to uncover and stop a criminal plot that's taking place in the city. Initially, details of what exactly the plot is are sketchy, and Milo spends some time working for each of the major criminal gangs until he gets to the bottom of what's going on and puts a stop to it. I guess the most important secondary character is Lumi Vega - initially appears to be a small time thief, Milo quickly begins to realize she knows more than she's letting on.
PX360: Could you describe the gameplay of The Wheelman? Is it primarily a driving-oriented title or will there be a lot of segments where gamers will get to control Vin Diesel’s character?
Simon Woodroofe: The game is heavily focused on action driving gameplay - but the player always has the choice to get out of the car and control Milo directly. Many missions in the game have sections where gun combat on foot is an option - and the player is usually free to make their own mind up how to approach any given situation. Wheelman's driving is really something special and unique however - the game allows players to do things in a car with the sort of grace and freedom more usually associated with on foot gaming. Our objective from the outset was to make the player feel like the world's greatest action driver - and I'm confident we have achieved that.
PX360: Can you go into detail of one of the defining moments the development team had when creating The Wheelman?
Simon Woodroofe: I think, when we realized just how fun and powerful the Vehicle Melee system felt, everyone in the team was inspired. It was such a natural progression from our driving mechanics to allow the player to quickly and easily attack other vehicles, it quickly became one of the central focuses of the whole experience.PX360: Has Vin Diesel had any input on the game, and if so, how was it like working with him on the project?
Simon Woodroofe: Vin has been involved with the game longer than I have! He and his production company Tigon were there right from the very beginnings of the idea. His input isn't just limited to the story and cutscenes either - Vin is a gamer through and through - and he knows exactly what great games should feel like. It's really good to be able to work with a star who really takes his games seriously and understands the processes by which they are made.
PX360: For those who rely on the multiplayer aspects of their favorite video games for replay value, what does The Wheelman offer for multiplayer fans?
Simon Woodroofe: We are not supporting traditional multiplayer it is a single player focused experience but we will be supporting the game with DLC post release.
PX360: How long will it take for gamers to complete the single-player campaign of The Wheelman with all the side-missions included? On top of that, are there any favorite missions you’d like to fill us in on the details?
Simon Woodroofe: Our tests shows it would take in excess of 30 hours to complete the entire game for average gamers - with the main story taking up around half of that time. I guess my favourite mission is one called Recover the Documents - where Milo goes after a speeding subway train on a motorcycle! It's 15 minutes of some of the most intense gaming you're ever likely to experience.
PX360: How do you feel about Vin Diesel’s other video game project, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena that releases in spring 2009? Do you think that it’ll benefit both games having Diesel’s named attached to both products due to large amount of fans he has in the action genre?
Simon Woodroofe: I think Vin is carving his own niche as a genuine video game star. There are lots of celebrities that lend their voices and likenesses to games (usually via a movie) but Vin is kind of approaching things from the other direction. It can only benefit Wheelman to be associated with incredible titles like Riddick and Vin's name is becoming a seal of quality for a game these days.
PX360: Has the team had much coordination with the film production that is adapting the title for the big screen? Also, is the film adaptation still on track to release around the same time frame as the video game?
Simon Woodroofe: Tigon has been handling all of the film production aspects, not sure on the timescales of that but I know discussions are ongoing. We have helped them by providing key art and game demos which really help.PX360: Are there plans for a release of a demo for Xbox Live or PSN? If so, how do you weigh the feedback from a demo when it releases to the community?
Simon Woodroofe: It’s as a direct result of feedback that we have decided to do a pre-launch demo, everyone that played the game during our preview events and our focus testing really loved the game when they got hands on so we wanted to maximize our awareness by allowing the gaming community to have a small sample of Wheelman before release.
PX360: Has your work with the Unreal Engine 3.0 been as successful as you would have liked?
Simon Woodroofe: Unreal Engine 3.0 has been teased and tempted into doing things it simply wasn't ever intended to do by Midway's tech teams. Now we have a situation where we get all the advantages of working in Unreal AND it's capable of doing some of the things we need to do (such as open world streaming). Ultimately, the road has been long and bumpy - as expected - but the results speak for themselves and the Midway teams are in an incredibly strong position going forward to capitalize on their experience in the technology from ALL of Midway's titles.
PX360: With the recent layoffs at Midway, how has the work environment been recently?
Simon Woodroofe: The work environment has been fine - we're all super excited that Wheelman has come together so well and is a fun and genuinely top drawer experience for gamers. Most of us are either putting the finishing touches to it or working up the concept for our next title - it's a genuinely exciting time to be here at the moment.
PX360: What’s next for the development team after The Wheelman is released? Any plans for a sequel in the works?
Simon Woodroofe: We're going to use the technology and lessons we have learned from Wheelman to really shake up the open world genre. Wait and see!
PX360: Last question for the day, what makes The Wheelman a must-have title?
Simon Woodroofe: Wheelman is a pure Hollywood inspired action title - it's accessible, it's intense and it's fun as hell. It's the summer blockbuster title that allows you to feel like an action hero from the comfort of your own living room.
Thanks go out to Simon and the whole team behind Wheelman for taking the time out of their busy development schedule to sit down and chat with us; stay tuned for more features on the game as it nears it's late March release.