AgtFox
09-16-2009, 06:08 AM
WET Review
Title: WEThttp://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=12145
Platform: 360/PS3
Developer: Artificial Mind and Movement (http://www.a2m.com/en/home.html)
Publisher: Bethesda (http://www.bethsoft/)
ESRB: Mature
MSRP: $59.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/WET-Xbox-360/dp/B000XJS00K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1253034610&sr=8-2)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/WET-Playstation-3/dp/B000XJNTQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1253034610&sr=8-1))
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: The music choices fit the areas they are used very well; a couple good set pieces; Kill Bill/Grindhouse-like feeling is persistent
What's Not: Sameness in a specific set piece where you have to close off spawn points snowballs annoyance; tries to be like Devil May Cry, Max Payne and the new Prince of Persia and fails; story is rather lame; Rage mode is only used at scripted moments; controls too loose when trying to jump
WET is a game that tries to take some of the best stuff from games like Devil May Cry (guns, swords, combos/multipliers), Max Payne (slow-mo shooting, but this time whenever you jump or slide) and the new Prince of Persia (climbing, hitting A button when you hit a mark on a wall), but leaves the fun in all of them behind. As a first step into the major console world, Artificial Mind and Movement has made a game that probably could have used more gestation time to tighten up a bunch of things and make things flow more smoothly. What this previous handheld game developer has done correctly in WET is to convey a sense of style with 70s exploitation movie feeling and using music that really fits where the main character is in the game.
The game is shown in a scratchy film format where the lighting drops in and out of bright and dark with jumpy up and down motion much like the old projectors did for those low budget exploitation moves from the 70s. Luckily you can turn this graphic gimmick off because I only lasted 30 minutes before I couldn’t take the up and down motions any more. The other effects tied to it were cool, but the motion just wasn’t working with me so I turned it off. This of course gives you a clear look at the game and it honestly plays well either way, although the graphics take a bit of a hit without the addition of the film scratch. This won’t win any awards for graphics and doesn’t push the system at all, but it certainly moves at a good pace with no slowdown.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot1.jpg
It is obvious from the beginning that this game is taking a page from Quentin Tarantino and his Kill Bill movies as well as his collaboration with Robert Rodriguez in the Grindhouse movie. The lead character, Rubi, uses both guns and a sword to dispense of her attackers. The music from actual bands with lyrics has a 70s feel to them and when Rubi goes into her scripted Rage mode you hear much the same high pitched sound from Kill Bill when Beatrix goes nuts. The cool thing is you are then treated to a mostly red screen with all the enemies having silhouetted looks to them with their bodies being black and their outfits being white. It looks cool, but it is sad that the Rage mode sections are scripted and that Rubi cannot unleash it after reaching a certain multiplier doing combos. Going along with the Tarantino feel is the fact that almost every other word spoken is the F word. The voiceovers by Eliza Dushku, Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming are basically phoned in, but then again they aren’t given very good written material to work with.
The basic story has Rubi, who I’m guessing is a hired mercenary, hijacking a heart for a client’s father. The game then fast forwards to one year later and the father now has a job for Rubi to find the son in Hong Kong and bring him back home. Rubi doesn’t like to fly, but undertakes the mission anyway. She eventually captures the son, brings him back home and everything goes south as it is wont to do in these situations. In-between all this Rubi shoots and slashes anyone that gets in her way. Since she can dual wield all her weapons, when you jump (A) or slide (B) you go into slow motion and can shoot at two enemies at the same time. One is outlined with a red circle, which is the one the secondary gun is shooting at while you can move the circle recticle and shoot at another character. Most of the time you will be shooting people, but I really liked it when I could get in close and start slashing at people. The shooting usually will pay off in bigger experience points that you can use to upgrade your weapons or learn new skills after leaving an area or finishing a mission.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot2.jpg
This all sounds cool, but the gameplay overall is average at best. It tries to borrow liberally from Devil May Cry and Max Payne while sprinkling in a little Prince of Persia as previously said, but it fails to do the mechanics as well. The action isn’t fast or free flowing enough to stand with DMC and the slow-mo shooting is overdone since you can do it whenever and the only limit to the slow motion is Rubi finishing her jump or slide, but then you can go into another jump/slide. There are some extra gameplay elements brought in. The car shooting/jumping with QTE elements from the demo is here early in the game and late in the game. Rubi also blows up a plane in the middle of the story and has to shoot falling enemies and then she goes into a dodging mini-game where airplane parts fly toward you trying to hurt you while attempting to reach a parachute. This section was really frustrating for me, they just kind of dump you into a new situation and there is a certain path you need to take to complete the dodging section. It synthetically increases your game time that is already so small at roughly 6-7 hours to beat.
Then there is the worst offender that creeps up all the time. Rubi will get into a set piece where you are shown how many spawn points there are in the area represented by skulls. You have to kill everything in sight and block off the spawn points in order to proceed. The first few times this is rather cool, but having it happen ad nauseum and watching Rubi do her little cutscene gets annoying quickly. Same goes for her drinking booze in order to get her health up. You see a small cutscene of her drinking it, throwing it in the air and shooting it. All. The. Time! Add into this the QTE boss encounters because the game has no one-on-one sword mechanic where you can block and parry and you start to see just how average the game is. To add gasoline on the fire, the last two battles are fully QTE events and involve no gameplay at all. Just push the button that comes up in the ample amount of time you have and you finish off the two final bosses.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot3.jpg
WET is ultimately a disappointment and one I can’t recommend spending $60 on. It has style and good music, but the gameplay is just underwhelming and repeats too much, keeping it from rising above the games it is trying so hard to emulate. Loose jumping controls also hurt this game and Rubi’s acrobatic moves just are not as fluid as they could be. When there are acrobatic moves, it should be something more along the lines of Mirror’s Edge in its smoothness and concept. If you want to play this game, renting it is the best option I can give you.
Score: 3 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
Loren says, ”A decidedly average game that tries to combine concepts from a number of games, but ultimate fails at mastering any of them. The style and music, as well as the early gaming experience is good, but once you start seeing the repetition of set pieces throughout the game it just isn’t as fun anymore. If you must play this game, rent it.”
*Note - Review based upon the 360 version of game
Title: WEThttp://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=12145
Platform: 360/PS3
Developer: Artificial Mind and Movement (http://www.a2m.com/en/home.html)
Publisher: Bethesda (http://www.bethsoft/)
ESRB: Mature
MSRP: $59.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/WET-Xbox-360/dp/B000XJS00K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1253034610&sr=8-2)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/WET-Playstation-3/dp/B000XJNTQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1253034610&sr=8-1))
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: The music choices fit the areas they are used very well; a couple good set pieces; Kill Bill/Grindhouse-like feeling is persistent
What's Not: Sameness in a specific set piece where you have to close off spawn points snowballs annoyance; tries to be like Devil May Cry, Max Payne and the new Prince of Persia and fails; story is rather lame; Rage mode is only used at scripted moments; controls too loose when trying to jump
WET is a game that tries to take some of the best stuff from games like Devil May Cry (guns, swords, combos/multipliers), Max Payne (slow-mo shooting, but this time whenever you jump or slide) and the new Prince of Persia (climbing, hitting A button when you hit a mark on a wall), but leaves the fun in all of them behind. As a first step into the major console world, Artificial Mind and Movement has made a game that probably could have used more gestation time to tighten up a bunch of things and make things flow more smoothly. What this previous handheld game developer has done correctly in WET is to convey a sense of style with 70s exploitation movie feeling and using music that really fits where the main character is in the game.
The game is shown in a scratchy film format where the lighting drops in and out of bright and dark with jumpy up and down motion much like the old projectors did for those low budget exploitation moves from the 70s. Luckily you can turn this graphic gimmick off because I only lasted 30 minutes before I couldn’t take the up and down motions any more. The other effects tied to it were cool, but the motion just wasn’t working with me so I turned it off. This of course gives you a clear look at the game and it honestly plays well either way, although the graphics take a bit of a hit without the addition of the film scratch. This won’t win any awards for graphics and doesn’t push the system at all, but it certainly moves at a good pace with no slowdown.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot1.jpg
It is obvious from the beginning that this game is taking a page from Quentin Tarantino and his Kill Bill movies as well as his collaboration with Robert Rodriguez in the Grindhouse movie. The lead character, Rubi, uses both guns and a sword to dispense of her attackers. The music from actual bands with lyrics has a 70s feel to them and when Rubi goes into her scripted Rage mode you hear much the same high pitched sound from Kill Bill when Beatrix goes nuts. The cool thing is you are then treated to a mostly red screen with all the enemies having silhouetted looks to them with their bodies being black and their outfits being white. It looks cool, but it is sad that the Rage mode sections are scripted and that Rubi cannot unleash it after reaching a certain multiplier doing combos. Going along with the Tarantino feel is the fact that almost every other word spoken is the F word. The voiceovers by Eliza Dushku, Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming are basically phoned in, but then again they aren’t given very good written material to work with.
The basic story has Rubi, who I’m guessing is a hired mercenary, hijacking a heart for a client’s father. The game then fast forwards to one year later and the father now has a job for Rubi to find the son in Hong Kong and bring him back home. Rubi doesn’t like to fly, but undertakes the mission anyway. She eventually captures the son, brings him back home and everything goes south as it is wont to do in these situations. In-between all this Rubi shoots and slashes anyone that gets in her way. Since she can dual wield all her weapons, when you jump (A) or slide (B) you go into slow motion and can shoot at two enemies at the same time. One is outlined with a red circle, which is the one the secondary gun is shooting at while you can move the circle recticle and shoot at another character. Most of the time you will be shooting people, but I really liked it when I could get in close and start slashing at people. The shooting usually will pay off in bigger experience points that you can use to upgrade your weapons or learn new skills after leaving an area or finishing a mission.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot2.jpg
This all sounds cool, but the gameplay overall is average at best. It tries to borrow liberally from Devil May Cry and Max Payne while sprinkling in a little Prince of Persia as previously said, but it fails to do the mechanics as well. The action isn’t fast or free flowing enough to stand with DMC and the slow-mo shooting is overdone since you can do it whenever and the only limit to the slow motion is Rubi finishing her jump or slide, but then you can go into another jump/slide. There are some extra gameplay elements brought in. The car shooting/jumping with QTE elements from the demo is here early in the game and late in the game. Rubi also blows up a plane in the middle of the story and has to shoot falling enemies and then she goes into a dodging mini-game where airplane parts fly toward you trying to hurt you while attempting to reach a parachute. This section was really frustrating for me, they just kind of dump you into a new situation and there is a certain path you need to take to complete the dodging section. It synthetically increases your game time that is already so small at roughly 6-7 hours to beat.
Then there is the worst offender that creeps up all the time. Rubi will get into a set piece where you are shown how many spawn points there are in the area represented by skulls. You have to kill everything in sight and block off the spawn points in order to proceed. The first few times this is rather cool, but having it happen ad nauseum and watching Rubi do her little cutscene gets annoying quickly. Same goes for her drinking booze in order to get her health up. You see a small cutscene of her drinking it, throwing it in the air and shooting it. All. The. Time! Add into this the QTE boss encounters because the game has no one-on-one sword mechanic where you can block and parry and you start to see just how average the game is. To add gasoline on the fire, the last two battles are fully QTE events and involve no gameplay at all. Just push the button that comes up in the ample amount of time you have and you finish off the two final bosses.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/wet/shot3.jpg
WET is ultimately a disappointment and one I can’t recommend spending $60 on. It has style and good music, but the gameplay is just underwhelming and repeats too much, keeping it from rising above the games it is trying so hard to emulate. Loose jumping controls also hurt this game and Rubi’s acrobatic moves just are not as fluid as they could be. When there are acrobatic moves, it should be something more along the lines of Mirror’s Edge in its smoothness and concept. If you want to play this game, renting it is the best option I can give you.
Score: 3 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
Loren says, ”A decidedly average game that tries to combine concepts from a number of games, but ultimate fails at mastering any of them. The style and music, as well as the early gaming experience is good, but once you start seeing the repetition of set pieces throughout the game it just isn’t as fun anymore. If you must play this game, rent it.”
*Note - Review based upon the 360 version of game