WET - Review
Have you ever wondered what a game based off of Kill Bill might play like? Developer Artificial Mind and Movement may have your answer, with their new third-person shooter, WET.
WET puts you in the shoes of a hired gun named Ruby. Ruby is basically who you'd get if Max Payne and Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill had a child. She's all about guns, whiskey, and cursing. Unfortunately, her habits translate into the core of this game. Lots of shooting, lots of drinking, and lots of imaginative dialogue.
WET is undeniably stylish, but unfortunately style only gets you so far without substance. This is pretty much the central theme of WET across all categories. The visuals will stand out at first, with all sorts of things going on on-screen, but once you get past all the flash, you're left with mediocre textures, an unstable framerate, and some very stiff animations.
On the audio front, you get a great soundtrack that fits perfectly with the lighthearted tone of the game, and some extremely repetitive sound effects to go along with it. I hope I never have to hear those pistols again. The voice acting is decent with the celebrity talent and beauty of Eliza Dushku playing Ruby, but the dialogue takes itself about as seriously as George Clooney in Batman & Robin. Anyway, all these sound elements come together like a stylish headache. How can a headache be stylish? Ask the developers of WET.
If Quentin Tarantino wrote a script for a game, I'd put my money on WET being very similar to that game. Unfortunately, Quentin Tarantino wasn't involved with WET at all, so we're left with a ridiculous action/revenge story instead. There's nothing wrong with a game's story being over the top, but it has to have more than just all-out action. The characters are just not fleshed out enough, and the plot ends up feeling flimsy. It's not a terrible story by any means, but I would've liked a little less shock and a little more awe.
When you first pick up and play WET, it has a lot to like. I mean, who doesn't enjoy slow motion shootouts and slicing off your enemies' limbs with a katana? Well, you'll soon realize this is about all WET has to offer, aside from a few standout gameplay sequences. By the time you get to the last mission, you'll be begging for it to just end. Don't get me wrong though, there are some very cool elements to the game that make it a decent rental. Rage mode, for instance, is a blast.
Occasionally Ruby will flip out and the screen will turn red. In this mode you basically have to kill as many people as you can, as fast as you can, to try and get a kill streak going. Along with some great background music, this is WET at its finest. Unfortunately, to get to these sequences, you have to play the rest of the game. You'll be fighting the same three types of enemies in the same arena battles over and over again. It gets tiring fast and to make matters worse, the game throws in some half-assed platforming in between firefights.
The platforming is pretty much a simplified Prince of Persia. The only problem is that there is so much trial and error that you'll get frustrated quite often. There are just too many places where the game doesn't explain where you need to be going and lots of missed jumps are a result of this. The clunky controls and some unnecessarily limited climbing mechanics don't help either.
It's really disappointing that the gameplay in WET gets so mundane so quickly. The game tries so hard to be awesome, and you want it to be awesome, but it just doesn't hold up for its eight hour duration.
After you're done with the main game you'll unlock some extra challenges and modes, but honestly you'll be so worn out with WET, you won't come back for more. I tried to see all the good in WET, and there's some good to be found; you just have to trudge through the not so great elements that come along with it.
If WET were more polished and varied, it may have been a cut above the competition, but instead it's just a shot below the rest.
Visuals: 7.0
Audio: 6.5
Story: 6.0
Gameplay: 7.0
Entertainment Value: 6.5
Overall: 6.8
