- Publisher: Bethesda
- Developer: A2M
- ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
- Genre: Action
- Pros: Outstanding presentation; fun shooter gameplay; Rubi is awesome
- Cons: Clunky platforming; terrible airplane level; short; lacking polish
Wet is the story of a gun for hire named Rubi Malone. Rubi is double-crossed on a job and is out for revenge on the people responsible. The story is pretty straightforward, but awesome anyway. Probably the best part is that despite the fact that Rubi is an attractive woman, she isn’t overly sexualized. She doesn’t have huge boobs that jiggle constantly. She isn’t scantily clad. Not every camera cutaway is an excuse to look at her butt. She is just a 100% bad ass that is treated surprisingly respectfully. I dig it.
The presentation, as I said above, is pure Tarantino. The game has a film grain filter over it that makes it look like a 70’s grindhouse flick. There are even drive-in movie-style commercials and stuff that pop up throughout the game to really give it a movie feel. The music and cinematography during cutscenes and the over the top action all scream “Kill Bill”. If you like that sort of movies, Wet is hard not to like.
Gameplay
At its core, Wet is a third-person-shooter that mixes equal parts of Stranglehold with Tomb Raider. It is all about stylish kills with guns and swords fueled by an infinite amount of slow motion that you activate by sliding on the ground or jumping through the air. The game is sort of frantic and silly in that you are pretty much constantly jumping around during combat, but the results are really quite fun. You can tear through a room full of enemies pretty quickly and easily and it is a blast. A little repetitive, but fun. To ease this feeling of repetition, there are a number of other gameplay types that come and go in the campaign. There are platforming sections, similar to Tomb Raider or Prince of Persia. There are a couple of car chases where Rubi jumps between moving cars (very cool). Turret sections where you man a turret and blast away at waves of enemies. And a nifty “rage mode” where the graphics change into red, black, and white and Rubi is super powered (and super pissed). There are also quick-time-events thrown into the mix here and there, but they give you plenty of time to push the right button so we really don’t mind them (and even hoped there were more in certain cases).
And the absolute worst part of the game is a level where you are freefalling through the wreckage of an airplane and have to avoid the pieces while trying to reach a parachute. This level sucks. It is insanely difficult and frustrating and is the sort of thing that would have made me just quit the game entirely if I didn’t have to review it. It took at least 20 tries before I somehow managed to luck through it.
But, I did eventually get through it and got back to the fun bits in the game. That is sort of the way Wet works. There are frustrating and repetitive bits that will drive you mad, but also plenty of flat out awesome things that will keep you playing. It is a game where the individual gameplay parts don’t seem that good, but when you beat it you’ll look back upon it as a whole surprisingly fondly. Some extra polish or leaving a level or two on the editing room floor would have helped a lot, though.
Graphically, Wet is pretty deceptive. It isn’t particularly detailed or nice looking, the environments are kind of ugly, and the characters are only so-so. But the film grain filter puts everything into context and perspective and makes it all OK. This is yet another case where art style can trump realism. I’d like to see more stuff like this, personally.
Sound
The sound is pretty good all around. Good voice acting. Solid sound effects. And great music. Wet nails the sound.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, Wet is a game destined for cult hit status. Taken at face value, it seems like an ugly, clunky playing mess. But when you put some time into it, and put everything into the context of a 70’s explotation/grindhouse action movie, everything starts to make sense. You put up with the clunky bits to get to the good stuff. And when you add the whole experience up at the end, it turns out it was pretty good as a whole. Does it have problems? Absolutely. That is why it is a 7/10. But if you can get over those hurdles, you’ll find a pretty darn fun and satisfying and beautifully presented game that is definitely worth playing. I can’t recommend it at the full $60 price tag, but give it a price drop or two and Wet is worth picking up. At the very least give it a rental.
