Take one part Stranglehold, one part Mirror’s Edge, and one part Heavenly Sword, and throw it into a pot of grindhouse movie magic and what do you get? The latest game from Bethesda and A2M, WET of course! This gritty action game combines bullet time mechanics, with some slice and dice swordplay, all while fluidly running across the map. It all worked out well with some great gameplay, but something about WET just felt average.

The story seems simple enough, girl gets job, girl gets screwed on job, girl gets revenge while leaving a wake of bodies in her path. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but the grindhouse film touch added that extra something that kept the story interesting. The only problem was that the flow of the game was interrupted by these cheesy theater commercials, which were cute and all, but after they were done Rubi would often be in a completely different setting. It always pulled you out of the immersion and left you wondering what happened in between then and now.

Graphically, the game looked very good. The only problem was that some of the environments seemed lacking, especially the car jumping scenarios. Most of the cars seemed blocky and rough around the edges compared to the bouncing beauty on top of them. Still this was only an issue that came up a few times during the game. Most of the scenery looked just like you would imagine. Gritty dark alleyways, and shifty warehouses were exactly what you would expect from a grind house style game such as this. Though, let’s not forget the characters themselves. Aside from the goons, which there were more than you could shake a stick at, every character in the game was unique in their own way. From Rubi herself who looked like the hot tom girl we all had a crush on in high school, to the little dwarf torturer, a grimy little bastard that left you glad that he got his.

The game play itself was plenty entertaining. Personally, I always sucked at pulling off the cool looking combos from games like Mirror’s Edge and God of War, so when I started to play WET I thought I was in for more of the same, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. The game play was simple in its execution while still looking completely awesome on screen. Jump, shoot, shoot, shoot. Wall run, shoot, shoot, shoot. Slide, shoot, shoot, shoot. Stab, slice, shoot, kill. I was able to do it all, but it wasn’t so simple that I would get bored with it. Accompaning this style of gameplay are some arcade style shooting moments. Some will remember the car surfing scene from the demo, where you are picking off enemies from the roof of a car, however you are not physically moving during this time. You are just aiming at your foes and making them eat pavement. There are a few moments like that throughout the game, and they are a nice relief from the run and gun chaos of the main style.

There is something to be said about the flow of the gameplay. This is a game that shouldn’t be played in one sitting. While the run, kill, shoot, style of game play is fun, after a while it starts to grow thin. Charge through a hallway of enemies into an arena of enemies, and then go on to kill even more enemies. It’s not a bad style necessarily, it keeps you active and always doing something, but you will get the most satisfaction from this game if you break up your game time, trust me.

Patrick Fortier, the creative director for the game, told me in an interview that WET is a game that does what it does well, and he was right. It’s not necesarrily a bad game, but at the same time it didn’t blow me away with anything new. It’s just a fun game, plain and simple. What’s wrong with that?

Score: 8/10

• Pros:
  • All action, all the time
  • Unique blending of gameplay styles
• Cons:
  • Unnatural breaks in the story
• Random Fact:
  • Wet was written by 24 writer Duppy Demitrius

  WET was developed by Artificial Mind & Movement, and was published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on September 12, 2009 for the PS3 and Xbox 360