WET

Let’s sort the title out first, shall we? WET refers to the term “wetwork,” which is a term used to describe working with blood. It has no sexual implication here, although when you put the word on the front of the box in huge letters right next to an attractive woman thrusting her breasts out – just a few inches above an 18-certificate symbol – you know the publisher’s intentions. Fair play.

That attractive woman is Rubi Malone, a gun-for-hire with one hell of a bad attitude. Every other line she utters is punctuated with the f-word, although to be fair, if I was getting shot at, I’d likely be saying it to. Fuckity fuck with bells on, in fact. WET’s storyline forgoes the sandbox trend – thank heavens – and is presented in the standard linear way. The developers could well have taken the other route and had Rubi selecting which missions she wanted to carry out, but things play out much better this way. There’s no filler, and WET is non-stop killing from the opening titles to the closing credits.

At her disposal, Rubi has a trusty sword and a series of dual-weildable weapons. You start with a pair of pistols, and extended play unlocks a brace of shotguns and an awesome set of submachine guns. The innovation here is that whilst performing an “acrobatic” move such as a slide or a swan dive, one of Rubi’s guns auto-targets, whilst you’re given control of the sights of the other gun. Also, whilst performing an acrobatic move, the game slows down in a bullet-time style, to give you a chance to aim and whatnot. I was sceptical about this, as I’d rather leave my targeting up to…well…me, but I have to say that it WORKS – and works well. It is something that you have to get used to though, and many players will get frustrated during the tutorial. Once you’ve soldiered on and played through the first chapter though, everything feels just right. The auto-targetted gun never really feels as if it has the power of the one you control, though. A bullet from your gun will take the opponent’s head off, whereas one from the CPU-aimed firearm aimed at the same area of an enemy will merely stumble him a little. It isn’t a massive problem, but it is a little strange at times.

Also strange is WET’s presentation. The soundtrack is superb and fits perfectly, and the majority of the graphics are above par. Some things just don’t seem to fit, though. Why is Rubi sometimes suddenly playing the harmonica in a lift when the game’s loading the next section, for example? Each to their own, I suppose. The game is presented in the form of a movie – complete with original 50s drive-in movie adverts during periods of extended loading – and has a grainy “aged film” effect constantly running over the top of the game’s visuals. Some of the time, you won’t even notice this, but there are occasions when it’s just plain annoying.

Talking of annoying planes, there is a section of the main story which – initially – is absolutely superb. Within about four seconds though, it becomes one of the most poorly designed and ludicrously annoying examples of trial-and-error gaming that I’ve seen for a long time. Rubi blows up a plane bless her, and is falling to earth. The plane’s staff – who all have guns and are more interested in killing you than worrying about their own impending death. You dispatch of them one by one, and are then left to dodge through masses and masses of debris in order to reach the one remaining parachute. It took me about twenty attempts to complete, simply because there are serious depth of field issues and the camera is so poorly positioned that you can’t see what you’re supposed to dodge next. You get past one part and die. Try again. Get past the first part and the second part, and die. Try again. Get past the first, second and third part…die. And so on. Until you throw your controller at the wall. This kind of thing happens a few times, whether you’re trying to clear dynamic gaps when going across an exploding bridge, or just taking part in one of the stacks of quick-time events that occur during the game. You’ll find that you’re staring at the burning celluloid sequence as you die and are waiting for the game to restart far too many times when it wasn’t really your fault.

However, that is WET’s only massive flaw, although it is a pretty big one. Once you get past it, you’re back into the hack and slash of swordplay, the diving and sliding gunfire and light Prince of Persia-style platforming that works so well. One of the high points of the game occurs when Rubi becomes covered in one of her victims’ blood, and you enter “Rage Mode.” The entire game world turns red, aside from obvious objects and people who all turn into simplified negatives of themselves. This mode is reminiscent of several movies, although if you think along the lines of Queens of The Stone Age’s video for “No One Knows” – you’d be on the right track. In short, I wasn’t expecting the game to take this turn when it did, and it completely blew me away. More so than when I realised that every single time Rubi takes a drink to regenerate some health, a short cutscene plays out where she throws the bottle in the air and shoots it. That got old, fast – and wasn’t even that entertaining in the first place.

One nice feature here is that the acrobatic elements of the game aren’t simply for show. Acrobatic kills gain you style points, and style points can be traded in for weapons upgrades and new abilities at the end of each chapter or section. This really encourages you to play through the game in the way in which the developers intended, rather than taking it on as just another third-person shooter. I do wonder why some of the abilities aren’t unlocked from the beginning though. I mean, Rubi can slide down a ladder upside-down, shooting both guns at enemies below, but she can’t shoot a single gun whilst hanging off a pole?  Most strange – but it does give you something to play for, I suppose.

Rubi does have an attitude that you’ll probably hate for a chapter or two, but she wins you over with some genuinely funny lines as the game progresses. I honestly don’t think I could have dealt with yet another Lara Croft clone, and I don’t have to here. There are flaws – several of them – but most of them aren’t anything that’ll ruin the experience. I’m so happy to say that, since WET is bloody good fun. It’s also bloody, good and fun. This isn’t one for the kids, but for those of age who can see past the odd flaw here and there, WET is – ahem – a fuckin’ blast. Wow, I got through that whole review without once mentioning Kill Bill. Hang on, I just did. Dammit!