by N1ntendo
Matrix moves. Tequila Time. Precision Aiming. 3rd person shooting games have always employed some sort of gameplay element of slowing time to help the player slow down time and overcome impossible or overwhelming odds. WET is yet another one of those titles that uses the ever-popular slowdown mechanic. WET by Bethesda Softworks/Zenimax Media is a high octane, Grindhouse-style, gritty game that throws the player into the life of Rubi, a bounty hunter.
Graphics. WET uses a classic film filter for most of the game to give it an old feel to it, like you are watching a drive-in classic. They even throw in vintage commercials from the drive-ins to make the player believe they are watching a classic movie play through. The graphics are polished, but the character models look lifted straight out of Stranglehold, as the color scheme seems to stay with only earth tones to color the game. Cut scenes are displayed in real-time with gritty film effects added to enhance the feel. In fact, when Rubi dies, the film becomes ruined and a hole burns through it, revealing a continue or quit screen. A unique touch, to say the least.
Control. Your basic 3rd person shooter controls. Right trigger shoots, left trigger allows Rubi to use her acrobatic abilities, which we will get to later on in the review. The A button jumps, Y reloads, and X button uses her sword, and the B button has Rubi perform a slide move. The buttons are otherwise implemented for the overused Quick Time Events (QTE) all over this game. Sometimes the game will throw you off by having you use the face buttons for the QTEs as well. There is no rapid fire for shooting in this game so your Right Trigger will experience quite a workout when using Rubi’s default weapons, the pistols. Due to the frantic nature of this game, prepare yourself to use the buttons, ESPECIALLY the Left Trigger, a lot. And with that comment I lead you to the gameplay.
Sound. Bethesda Softworks has taken the extra step to save this game from generic status by enlisting some surprising A-list Hollywood actors to provide the voices for this game. Eliza Dushku of Dollhouse fame voices the main character Rubi, while Malcom Macdowell play the villian role as Rupert Pelham, and even Andy Cummings joins the group as various bosses throughout the game, such as Christopher Sorrell and others. The vintage commercials are using their original soundtrack from the drive-ins (classic!), and the soundtrack is comprised of indie tracks designed to get your blood pumping, in a Grindhouse kind of way. Expect the standard Xbox 360 5.1 Surround as always.
Gameplay. There are 2 ways to play through this game, as a shooter or as an extreme sports title. As a shooter, you play through the game, shooting the baddies and gaining experience points to unlock Rubi’s entire reportoire of moves and gun enhancements. But, if you want to unlock these moves and enhancements faster, this is where the extreme sports title action comes in. WET works off a style point system where the Left Trigger and the B button help you perform stylish moves (tricks) to improve your score combo meter multiplier (think Tony Hawk Pro Skater). Any time you decide to shoot while performing these moves, a slowdown effect is used to help you aim and boost your score. Left Trigger will enable Rubi to run on walls like a Persian Prince, run up walls and flip off of them, launch off of enemies heads, and much more. B button will allow Rubi to slide and then aim her sights in any direction she pleases to get her target.
Bosses are standard fare with QTEs used to finish them off. At certain point in specific levels, Rubi shoots an enemy point blank range and gets doused in the crimson color. This sets off a new gameplay mode known as Rage Mode. In Rage Mode, the graphic style is changed to resemble a crimson and white world reminiscent of Killer 7 (look it up, it was quite a weird shooter.) Here, Rubi has gone ballistic at the very idea that blood has touched her, and she now uses her sword and guns twice as fast to kill as many enemies as possible, which is another method of boosting you combo score in this game. High combo score = more points = more moves and stronger weapons. Not a bad way to induce replayability. There are also timed levels back at Rubi’s home base, the Boneyard, where you race the clock using a newly acquired weapons and your acrobatics to achieve gold, silver, or bronze times., which also result in a score to be used in unlocking moves and weapons.
Overall. WET is a great title to help quench your thirst for a shooter that doesn’t like to take itself too seriously and just likes to provide the players with a good time. Tight controls and some sweet moves help form a title you are sure to have fun with, just don’t pay full price for it. Where else can you get a style combo, 3x multiplier, and experience points, all while falling out of a plane dropping cargo and debris at your character?
