10 More Video Games Delayed To "Get It Right" (That Still Got It Wrong)
6. Wheelman
It’s fairly well known that Vin Diesel is, despite his machismo exterior, a bit of a nerd. A dedicated Dungeons and Dragons fan, he’s also into the video game industry having previously had his fingers in a development company by the name of Tigon Studios. Tigon exists to basically cater to his ego (I mean “artistry”) as their back-catalogue contains video game adaptations of several Diesel films.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in their portfolio is The Wheelman.
The Wheelman was a bit of a passion project for Diesel and was set to be the video game tie-in for a motion picture. Whilst the film has spent the last 15 years unfinished and in the void, the video game did eventually release after three years of development. Several delays saw it move from 2007 to February 2009 and then slip again when publisher Midway filed for bankruptcy.
Diesel’s attempt at perhaps taking a shot at the success of Grand Theft Auto and Driver was met with a resounding shrug of the shoulders. It wasn’t a tragedy, just resoundingly uninteresting on every level: awkward controls, bad enemy AI, an empty open-world that is incredibly boring to explore on foot and graphics that just weren’t up to snuff considering its dev time.
We can't be too harsh on Tigon Studios though because they gave us the Riddick games at the very least so... it's not all bad.