Wet
Preview
What would happen if John Woo and Tarentino made a movie together?
by Brendan Griffiths
previewed on X360
Weaponry
Rubi is is stuck with some weak revolvers early on and I'm hoping to see some more damaging hardware in the final game. The targeting reticule is tiny and flits around even with the auto-aim turned on, which makes the revolvers even more difficult to use. The sword quickly became my favourite for quickly emptying a room of baddies.
While the sliding is cool, it is quite limited. With a restaurant full of waist-high tables it should have been a given that one could slide under them, maybe even shooting through the tables at anyone standing on them. Attempting this results in Rubi hitting an invisible barrier and floating around the edge of it instead. A shame, but easily offset by Rubi’s ability to aim at two different targets while diving through the air. This works nicely and earns you a decent bonus. If you manage to kill someone before landing you can even start on another target.
Another cool move is the pole flip move which allows you to shoot between grabs or even one-handed while swinging around the pole. You can also slide down a ladder upside down while dual firing. Neat!
Looking cool
Earning style points and looking cool is the way you score in the game. By chaining kills and performing a variety of moves, the score meter will fill up fast. It isn't easy though: players will have to make good use of all the available moves to achieve the best results. This, combined with the frightening speed your combo meter starts to fade between kills, could mean a high difficulty factor.
Throughout the game, you can replenish your health by grabbing a whiskey from specific points but in some areas your health regenerates at a rate depending on how good your current combo is. This adds a true sense of urgency to the violence. Multiplier icons can be collected to improve your chances of gaining enough health.
Wet features a Rage mode. When Rubi is truly ticked off, the world goes cell-shaded into three basic colours like comic book style silhouettes. People are black shadows, blood is white and everything else is red. Style points are thrown out the window and you are encouraged to see how many consecutive kills you can notch up with the sword and guns. It is possible to get everyone in one chain if you keep moving smoothly. Thankfully you aren't stuck with the revolvers; instead you get an awesome sawn-off shotgun or dual-uzi's.
The Grindhouse-stlye visuals feature prominently in the cut-scenes, showing scratches down the screen, dirt on the film and grainy effects that all combined turn Wet into a unique experience.
Cautiously optimistic
Extra moves are unlocked as you progress to the game which should help to keep the combat feeling fresh. If the Rage mode stages are placed well enough apart, they won't go stale and will be a welcome change to the normal modes. Oh, and the replay value is extended by the cymbal banging monkey toys that you can collect throughout the game. Didn't think I was going to be writing that today.
