NOT A WET BLANKET

Coming into 2009, there were three highly anticipated titles that were up in the air because their original developers dropped them suddenly and their fates were left to the winds. Luckily for us, those three games were too hot to be left there for long. The first was Ghostbusters, which came out in June and was dropped originally by Sierra before being picked up by Atari. The last one is Brutal Legend, comes out October 13th, and was originally a Vivendi Games title before being rescued by Electronic Arts. And then there is this little title called WET that just came out on September 15th, originally an Activision Blizzard game that was saved from the scrap heap by Bethesda Softworks.

WET follows around the most brutal Fixer to have ever stepped into cowboy boots, Rubi Malone. A Fixer is a nice description of what Rubi does in between whiskey shots and heavy weapons training. Rubi cleans up some of life’s most screwed up situations, usually in the crime underworld, with a trail of death, destruction, and misery in her wake. “Wet” is also a nice way to describe the blood on her hands.

We open up finding Rubi tasked with procuring a heart on the black market for an emergency transplant of a drug crime lord, but some small time hood has beaten her to her quarry. We are immediately immersed in Rubi’s world as she dives, slides, and runs up walls, all the while firing her patented dual pistols in the always awesome bullet time. The bullet time is critical because it allows us to aim Rubi’s pistols independently of each other, one automatically locking onto her nearest threat’s gut, the other free to wander around to other threats, or possibly the primary threat’s cranium for a quicker kill. Not to mention it’s just damn cool.

Some situations don’t always call for pistols though, especially in cramped quarters. With a quick tap of the X button, Rubi can hop out of bullet time and switch into a close-quarter she-devil as she slices limbs off with unbridled prejudice with her katana. This fighting flexibility is the staple of the gameplay and only by mastering it and recognizing what weapons work best where can Rubi progress through the game’s 12 stages.

As the game progresses, Rubi also unlocks a shotgun, SMG, and crossbow with explosive bolts, adding to the controlled mayhem that Rubi finds herself in throughout the game.

The action is there and is addictive and diverse enough, with Rubi randomly being thrown into a rage when she gets splashed with blood like she was Carrie or having to mow down hordes of enemies in an arena setting, to keep you glued to the game. That isn’t to say this game is without fault. In terms of gameplay, there are a lot of glitches. Walking through walls or falling through floors at certain points are old-school glitches that you just shouldn’t see anymore. Not to mention the game freezing later on during load-screens making you restart the game and probably the most anti-climatic final boss battle in all of gaming with a push-button prompt sequence (X flashes on screen, you press X; Y flashes on screen, you press Y, etc.) against the final two foes.

This said the plot is also a little thin. Although left open for a sequel in that cheesy, 1960s drive-thru, B-movie way (complete with commercials to remind you to buy food from the lobby; hysterical) that seemed to be the theme of the game, there was no real establishment of the characters, especially Rubi and her crew, and the plot itself just seemed to progress too quickly for my taste. There may have been 12 levels, but some of them were completely done in the rail-shooter style, which is a nice changeup from the regular gameplay, but that meant there were only nine levels of Rubi’s patented “monkey business” (a running gag for the game is Rubi’s acrobatics have her compared to a chimp on many occasions by some of the more unsavory characters and it also leads to toy monkey collectibles on each level).

In terms of graphics, the game is probably slightly above average. The blood effects weren’t the best and the grainy film effect added to much of the game to help cover this us was nice, but I would have rather of had a perfectly crisp, clean experience instead of gimmicks to cover it up.

The audio is something this game really shines in. Easily the best original soundtrack I’ve heard in a long time with original music from some up and coming bands on MySpace and some great voice acting from Eliza Dushku as Rubi, Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Pelham, and Alan Cumming as Sorrell and “Ze Kollector”.

At the end of the day, this is a really solid game. I’m on the fence about saying if it is a straight up buy due to the glitchy gameplay and thin plot, but when you add in collectibles throughout the levels, a high score mode, instant kill mode, and challenges galore unlocked after you beat the game for the first time, and I would say this is probably a solid investment if you play it to its max considering one play through will take you 10-15 hours by itself.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 8.0: The grainy film effect was nice, but a clear attempt to cover up the generic looking backgrounds and average blood effects. Rubi looked very nice though.

Audio: 10.0: An awesome, blood pumping, original soundtrack that fit the game perfectly mixed with awesome sound effects and great voice acting from big stars like Eliza Dushku, Malcolm McDowell, and Alan Cumming and this is a wonderful listening experience.

Plot/Plot Development: 6.0: The plot felt a little thin and a little rushed, but the basics were there. I would’ve liked a little more character development though, especially with our heroine.

Gameplay: 7.0: The bullet time was flawless and it needed to be considering 80% of the game takes place in slow-mo as you try to pour bullets into various lowlifes. There were still a few very basic glitches with the environment though and freezing during load screens later in the game was beyond frustrating.

Replay Value: 9.0: I don’t know how they could have worked a multiplayer into this game, but there isn’t one. Aside from that, there is a lot to bring you back to the story mode including several new modes of play after the first play through and the toy monkey collectibles.

Overall (not an average): 7.5: The glitchy gameplay takes away from the great action concept that is WET. A lot to bring you back to this title, awesome bullet time effects, funny dialogue, and awesome music makes this a solid, but not spectacular gaming experience. Probably worth a buy though.

WET is available now for Xbox 360 and PS3.

-Ray Carsillo