The Dry Side Of Gaming
Mercy The Final Boss

Rubi Malone is a bad-ass. She slices her foes with a razor sharp blade. She wields two guns at any given time, popping pills in her enemies in a cool display of gun-ballet. She is a fresh character in a year filled with game sequels. She wears leather pants...Unfortunately for all the coolness that comes with Ms. Rubi, WET still suffers from fatal flaws that plague the gameplay.

 The cool thing about WET is it stays true to it's Quentin Tarantino, John Woo-esque influences. Expect a lot of slow-motion fighting and a lot of fu*king blood. The slow-motion effects are tied to an acrobatic move so wall-running triggers slow-motion. Sliding across the floor triggers slo-mo. Diving in any direction while shooting, slo-mo. You get the picture. The good thing is that all of these moves are mapped to their own button, so it's never hard to pull one off. You pull these acrobatic moves off without a hitch. For as easy as these moves are to pull off, the game still provides a challenge, especially in latter levels where you are forced to score lots of points with strung-together combos to survive an onslaught. Then there is "Rage Mode" where blood splatters on Rubi's face, the music goes berserk, and the screen changes to this red backdrop with silhouette enemies. It kinda reminded me of Killer 7 and after a while, it hurt my eyes. But it never got old and was a nice diversion from the gunplay and boring ass platforming sections.

Still, WET feels dry, like something is missing. The graphics are not the worse, but they are not the best either. The scratchy film effect is cool, but these are some of the weakest looking character models. I can't help but think of NBA2K7, where the characters just looked like "hollow men". While you do always have your trusty six-shooters with unlimited ammo, you only unlock three more weapons with limited ammo. And the targeting is awful. First, the reticle is way too damn small. This is so evident in the highway sections. Also, it always seems like you can't line your shots up "just right." Another thing is the camera, especially when you get in tight spaces. It just goes awry. And the platforming sections are so boring. They should have been thrown out, as they only slow WET down from what it does best, non-stop, in-your-face, bloody action.

But WET is still an Ok game. It manages to do a lot right. Being a new IP, that's saying quite much. The game is hella short, which was expected, but the experience is tight. The slow-motion, though a bit overused, will never get tiresome. In the game's big moments, it delivers in spades. Too bad the whole game can't. PS3 X360

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