The magnetic grabber is one of the key abilities available to players in WheelMates. As a specialized tool for your RC car, this gadget allows you to interact with the environment in unique ways while exploring the oversized rooms of Professor Everett Bloom’s house. Unlike standard driving mechanics, the grabber provides a layer of utility that is essential for solving environmental puzzles and uncovering the secrets hidden throughout the laboratory.
What Is the Magnetic Grabber?
In WheelMates, you and your co-op partner take on the roles of tiny RC cars tasked with investigating the disappearance of Professor Bloom. Because your characters are small, the house presents significant challenges that require special equipment to overcome.
The magnetic grabber is an unlockable ability that grants your vehicle the capacity to manipulate objects or navigate specific obstacles. While the game provides basic driving skills, the grabber is designed for players to experiment with, encouraging creative problem-solving as you traverse both ordinary living spaces and strange laboratory areas.
How to Utilize Your Abilities
The magnetic grabber is just one piece of a broader set of mechanics intended to help you reach hidden corners of the house. To effectively navigate the environments, you will often need to combine the grabber with other abilities:
- Magnetic Wheels: These allow you to traverse vertical surfaces like walls and ceilings.
- The Rope: Use this to swing across gaps and reach inaccessible platforms.
- The Magnetic Grabber: This tool is your primary means of interacting with the physical world, though the game leaves the specific methods of application up to the player's ingenuity.
By unlocking these tools, you gain the ability to return to rooms you have already visited. Previously closed-off paths may now be accessible, revealing new clues and narrative fragments that help you piece together the mystery of Professor Bloom.
Exploration and Cooperative Play
WheelMates is built entirely around a cooperative experience, supporting both online co-op and split-screen play. Because the game emphasizes teamwork, the magnetic grabber is often most effective when coordinated with your partner’s actions.
Since there is no combat in the game, your primary focus is on exploration and puzzle-solving. Whether you are using the magnetic grabber to move objects or to clear a path for your partner, communication is vital. If you find yourself stuck, remember that new abilities unlock as you progress, often providing the missing link needed to solve a room's central puzzle.
Narrative Journal and Progression
As you explore and collect items using your gadgets, you will uncover pieces of the story. The narrative journal acts as a central hub where all collected story fragments are stored. This helps you track both the house's past and the present events as you drive through the environment.
Remember that you can choose how deep you go into the mystery. You can piece the story together as you move through the rooms, or focus on driving and completing the various mini-games scattered throughout the house. These mini-games offer a way to test your driving skills against your partner, ensuring that even when you aren't solving puzzles, there is always a way to challenge one another.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the magnetic grabber available at the start of the game? No, the magnetic grabber is an ability that you unlock as you progress through the game. You will discover new tools as you explore further into the house.
Do I need to own the game to play with a friend? No. WheelMates includes a Friends Pass, meaning only one player needs to own the game to play in co-op mode.
Can I use the magnetic grabber to fight enemies? There is no combat in WheelMates. The house and its puzzles are your primary challenges, and the magnetic grabber is intended for interaction and exploration, not combat.
Sources
WheelMates: Official Gameplay Overview + New Release Date Trailer