WET - Review

Wet doesn't try to be anything more than an entertaining third-person shooter with a eccentric vibrancy throughout it. Artificial Mind and Movement have taken the exploitation films of the seventies and eighties, or simply Tarantino and Rodriguez's vision of the era in GRINDHOUSE, and created a bombastic yet repetitive action film-game. I called it a film-game instead of video game mainly due to it's overuse of the quick time events and cinemas that has been plaguing the industry for some time. These moments are fun but mainly to see than experience it through your actions.

The player is Ruby Malone, a bounty-hunter/hitwoman who serves those who pay the most. After a far too extensive prologue where she gets back a transplant human heart, Ruby is hired by the rich recipient of it to rescue his drug-pushing son. Many fire fights, parkour, and double crosses later, she now goes after her recent employer simply for her own vengeance.

The plot is supposed to be a cliched spun from the action/woman revenge flicks but with tweaking to include Tarantino-like dialogue (more of his swearing and not his morality and meta conversations). The characters' lines are funny in its over-the-top manner but the creators also made sure to make Ruby likable and upbeat rather than making her the female version of Max Payne.

The levels have a similar layout: Reach a checkpoint, run and jump your way to the next, engage in an enemy spawning shoot-out, and repeat. The game breaks up some of the monotony with two very cool gun-fights on the highways, the mentioned quick time events, and special areas where the game goes hyper-violent with the same graphical look as Killer 7. The worst moments for myself were the pointless challenges you have to go through when a new weapon is acquired. While this constant re-use of the same structure is a bit discomforting, I enjoyed playing through them nonetheless. If you play this game in short spurts, the time spent with it will be better. To help advancement in it and re-playability, you can unlock and beef up Ruby with new moves and put on some special features to the gameplay after completing the game once around.

Audio wise, the game has it in spades. Ruby is played by television star Eliza Dushku, who is just right in bringing the aggressive attitude and sincerity of the character. Malcom McDowell plays another villain role and Alan Cummings is fine though I had a hard time spotting him. The music, however, is the highlight and best part overall. The developers picked and used a mixture of variety of rock music, ranging from punk to Mexican, and placed them in every ultra violent fighting area. It makes every fight different and exciting. Plus, the songs are a treat to listen to on their own.

Though it can't reach the same level as House of the Dead: Overkill, Wet does has some fun with the grindhouse film genre and maintains a enjoyable experience.

FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5