Lock and Load, it’s action time
WET is pure action. When the developer I spoke to (whose name completely escapes me at the moment) told me there was no defense only offense it gave me chills. Even in the more action intense games of recent years there has always been some sort of way to hide and keep yourself out of the line of fire; there’s none of that in WET. You run around, you fire your guns, you slice and dice and you make yourself more offensive than the enemy; this is a gamer’s dream scenario.
Now, while in theory there is no defense, you do have defensive methods to keep yourself out of gunfire. The entire game is based around acrobatic moves that Rubi Malone (your badass main character) must pull off in order to survive. Rubi will slide on her knees, jump through the air, jump off walls and ledges, use enemies to flip off of and do a combination of several of those in the same sequence. All of these moves are performed in slow motion, which gives you ample time to target your weapons (sometimes two at a time) and take out enemies. It’s a creative method to offset your lack of ducking, dodging and hiding. After nearly 12 hours of gameplay it’s still an interesting way of getting the job done. These moves are incredibly easy to pull off and the combos are fun to mix and match. For example, you can have Rubi fling herself upside down from the side of a wall, flip backwards, contort while firing a six-shooter from each hand. Once she lands you can move her into a slide and keep the gunfire going in a 360 degree method. You might ask yourself, “What would motivate me to do these acrobatics?” Outside of the fact that this acts as your only defensive possibility (you go into slow-mo mode, which allows you to have less bullets flying at you) it also builds up style points multiplier. Throughout the game there are two ways to regenerate your health. One way to get your health back is to build up the style points multiplier and the other is to collect multiplier points around levels you’re fighting on. The more style points you get, the faster you health regenerates. If you don’t have multiplier points, your health does not regenerate; it’s really that simple. The game forces you to go into acrobatics so that you can survive. Sometimes this method is really quite charming, while other times you’ll want to throw the controller through the LCD screen. The left trigger in the game allows Rubi to climb walls and turn on Rubi Vision (you will see red glowing lines giving a hint where Rubi can jump to). It’s incredibly easy to use and it’s very helpful during large gunfights. When you use it with the jump button (A) it can get a little frustrating. For example, on one particular level I had an enemy in front of me. Behind that enemy was a bar I could grab and propel myself onto a ledge. Between the bar and ledge was an important point multiplier. So, my plan was to jump in slow motion, blow the enemy’s head off, grab onto the bar, swing around, get the points, and land on the ledge. Sounds simple, right? Well, seven out of the ten times I killed the enemy, landed in front of the bar (which should have been attainable), jumped for the bar, missed it, got the points, missed the ledge, landed in a pack of bat wielding enemies and got the (bleep) beaten out of me. Another example of frustration with controls, after disposing of a ton of enemies, I had a boss left over (my enemy Rat Boy — I spent two days fighting this guy). I was on a ledge firing down on Rat Boy and he was firing up (missing terribly). Once he had enough bullets pumped into him by Rubi, he tried to run away. Rubi needed to go after him, so I jumped off the ledge to pursue this (bleep). Instead of landing on the ground, Rubi automatically attaches herself to the bar hanging from the ceiling and decides to spin around a few times. After about ten or so curse words, I missed my chance to take care of Rat Boy and basically had to start back over with him. The game sometimes assumes you want to do things when that isn’t the case at all. Having some sort of automatic grabbing method is nice, but it’s also frustrating and annoying.
In the long run, the controls were still had more positives than they did negatives. The game was basically built around this system and for the most part it does work. If you can get through the frustrations here and there it does make for a very enjoyable experience. If you can get the combos down pat then you’re in for a very fun ride; only if you can get them going.
As for your arsenal of goodies, you come standard with two six-shooters that allow for your split targeting. During your wonderful acrobatics, you can perform split targeting during slow motion sequences that allow for one gun to automatically target the closest enemy, while the other is manually controlled to target whomever you would like. It’s a John Woo type of shooting that puts you in the mood to kick ass. It works really well and gives the game a little bit more style in combat. What’s great about this is that you can activate this pretty much during any acrobatic scenario. My favorite scenario? (thanks for asking by the way) When Rubi is on a ladder and enemies are below her, she’ll flip upside down while hugging the ladder with her legs (think strip bar) and fire downward as she slides slowly; this type of gunfighting is so choice.
Moving on to other goodies, you also have a nice shotgun that you can tote in the game. It’s one of the more powerful weapons that can do some heavy damage. In fact, when I got the shotgun I actually was able to do some fantastic damage to our old friend Rat Boy before retreating to the rafters and hiding away. Other than that, the samurai sword that Rubi totes is one of the more deadly items, but also one that is highly misused. I was incredibly disappointed that you can’t do aerial attacks with the sword. I do admit that I wasn’t able to finish the entire game before this review (I played on the most difficult setting, cut me some freaking slack), but what I did see really saddened me. To use the sword Rubi must be on the ground with her two feet solidly planted. The weapon does some nasty damage as you’ll see appendages fly around after the death blow has been dealt. If you could use the sword coming down from a flip this would add so much style and vicious grace to the game. Alas, you cannot and I think that AMM really missed out on a cool opportunity. Of course, to be fair, I could see how this might be difficult to institute into the game as aiming would be a challenge. On the flip side to that coin, if enemies can hit you in mid-air with their bats, it only makes sense that you could return the favor with your sword.
Outside of acrobatics, you’ll find a couple of different ways to entertain yourself within the game. The game sometimes shifts to a ‘decision-making’ process that requires you to push a certain button at a given moment. The most popular stage that was shown at E3 is the traffic scene that Rubi is involved in. The scenario puts Rubi on top of moving vehicles and has her dishing out pain while jumping from vehicle rooftop to vehicle rooftop. While the scenario does break up the original gameplay a bit, it doesn’t get too creative. For the most part during this scene, you’re hitting the ‘A’ button to jump off vehicles. When you’re not hitting the ‘A’ button you’re hitting the ‘X’ button to slice off an enemy’s arm as you’re jumping. When you’re not hitting the ‘X’ button you’re simply aiming and firing. From afar this certainly is a cool level, but mechanically it’s quite unimpressive.
The other scene is when Rubi goes into ‘rage’ mode. During a cutscene she’ll blow the head off an enemy too close to her and have blood splattered all over her face. She proceeds to go nuts, the level turns mostly red, sans a few solid blacks/whites from the enemies. As it was described to me during the booth tour at E3, it’s the sword fighting scene from Kill Bill when the Bride is slicing and dicing in the Japanese club. I have to admit, it’s damn cool and it’s very tough to get through. Rubi’s strength certainly will be on her side during this moment, but you have a lot more enemies thrown at you than normal; it’s very cool to watch and play.
Unlockables, style and grace
While I admit that I was unable to get through the entire game before this review (as mentioned above), what I saw was unique and impressive. As you gather points for doing nasty deeds, you are able to go into a shop to purchase upgrades and unlockables for Rubi. For example, the first upgrade you want to use your points for is more health. That’s the top of the list as it should be. After that, you can unlock and upgrade things such as coming out of a slide and unleashing the fury of your sword more quickly. You can also unlock and upgrade things like using enemies as human walls (I.E. running up them and flipping off their bodies into an aerial attack). All of these things can be obtained easily and unknowingly through the gathering of points. Again, it’s incredibly easy to do and it’s a fun portion of the game.
Actual unlockables are available too, as you can unlock art and challenge modes through accomplishments. The challenge mode can be unlocked by simply defeating the game on any level. Had I more time I could tell you more about this mode, but I hadn’t quite finished WET.
Shifting gears a bit, let’s discuss style.
Outside of acrobatics, the other part of the game that gives WET the love and feel is how it’s presented. Done in the style of a grind house feature, you’ll find odd quirky messages about eating hotdogs, finding God and whatnot. The devs took these drive-in oddities/commercials and spliced them in-between levels. Want to see an animated hotdog warm its ass on a fire and place itself suggestively in a bun? You’ve come to the right game. The game presents itself in this raw, gritty (scratchy film included), odd manner which pretty much sets the mood for the entire story.
Speaking of moods, make sure kids are out of the room for this. There is more language here then at a U.N. meeting. If you wanted p***y, f**ker (not combined), and b***h in your video game then you’ve come to the right place. Keeping to the grind house theme, there’s no holding back the language barrier, which is fine because there should be offensive language in an action game. Much like the odd commercials, the game creates a mood, atmosphere, toughness through its language. As crazy as it may sound, the use of language actually makes Rubi seem less sexy and more badass (which is a great thing because quite frankly I’m tired of seeing Laura Croft being all prim and proper — what a (bleep)).
What I really liked about this style of game was how the main characters were modeled and presented. While Rubi does sport some tight leather and questionable hair style for a killer, you’re going to be dead set on thinking she is a killer before she’s a knockout. AMM must have been shooting for that and they got it right. Her style of clothing, her tattoos, everything about how she looks and moves really does support her badass motif. They did a great job with her and she presents herself as someone you wouldn’t want to mess with. Her details are nothing short of next gen. As for the unique bosses, you’ll find plenty of grind house, leather toting, tattoo wearin’ a-holes. They’re all detailed and unique to their personalities (which are brilliantly presented).
As for the levels, they are detailed and well-done. Open environments with depth to them, you’ll find a lot gritty style that just reinforces what the game has already told you. There are plenty of things to jump off of and plenty of places to land creatively. If I had only one complaint about the levels it’s that you can’t do much damage to things. For example, I tried shooting a television, but couldn’t get it to go. You should be able to cause unwanted, unintentional destruction to objects that reside around you. For a next generation game, it should have been a given. Other than that, the lighting effects are spot on and the structure of the levels seems very well thought out.
Finally, what brings all of this together perfectly is the perfect soundtrack. Music is 90% of any production and really drives home the point of what you’re trying to do. I found myself enjoying the raw jams of a 70s style punk music selection that fit perfectly with the action. For example, during the ‘rage’ scenes you get a very fast paced, hardcore punk style music playing to get your adrenaline pumping to help create some major carnage. There is nothing quite like going into a rumble feeling ‘pumped’. If this game included a soundtrack with it I think I would have paid an additional $10.
Overall, there’s more pro than cons with the style.
Repetitive in more than one way
If there is a major knock to the game it comes in the form of repetition. While most action games certainly have an air of repetition about them, WET kind of goes a little far with it. The enemies aren’t very stylish, sans the bosses. You have two kinds of enemies: ones with bats and ones with guns. Each level has them coming at you in droves; while random in order they still are repetitive overall. For example, during the gorgeous parade scene, you have a chinese garden to fight in and four doors to shut to keep enemies from pouring out. You have guys with guns and guys with bats constantly pouring out of these four doors during this scene. While you never can predict how many will be in what area, you can divide them up into those two groups. With that said, to be fair there are different levels of guns that you deal with in the game. The first gun toting enemies have semi-automatics, while the second tier carry automatics and the last tier carry Gatling guns (the a-holes of the group); that does provide some variety to the enemies, but not much.
The other repetitive features in the game are the levels. Most of the levels I played required Rubi to hunt down these sword crossed skulls, which were cleverly placed over a few switches in the game that, once tagged a few times with the sword, would close off entrance ways (which prevented more enemies from appearing in that particular place). You will run into this same type of level multiple times in the game which gets a bit boring and irritating after awhile. Wait until you run into the ‘rage’ level where you have to slice eight of these doorways while trying to fight off an insane amount of enemies; two words: good luck.
With all of this said, I wasn’t distracted too much by these repetitive faults, rather I wished that AMM spaced out these levels a bit more. Having some back-to-back-to-back just made the game look uncreative at times. If the dev team really wanted to make this game a bit more balanced they should have included a few more ‘car’ type scenes to break up the monotony of these moments. I give them credit, they did slip in a few things to try to break up the repetitiveness (like really well-done cutscenes and odd commercials). There is a level where you’re armed with a Gatling gun and you go ape on multiple levels of a complex that features enemies that have absolutely no chance; that was a fun level.