Joystiq impressions: Wet

Wet is a stylised, Tarantino-flavored acrobatic shooter for the PS3 and 360. The emphasis here is on constant movement and pulling off Kill Bill style moves, without having to resort to cinematics or quick-time events. Imagine Mirror's Edge meets Stranglehold and Devil May Cry. You play as Rubi -- voiced by Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku -- who is a "fixer." That's another word for "hired assassin," which explains the game's name -- a shortened version of the term "wetworks."
The game reeks of 1970s action films, from the art direction and animation to the music and the environments. There's even a grainy film filter over the entire game, though apparently this can be turned off or changed in the settings menu. What we saw wasn't the most graphically impressive game in the world, but the abundance of style made up for any technical shortcomings.
Gallery: Wet
As the emphasis is on over-the-top acrobatics, you'll be spending a lot of time with your feet in the air, or running along walls thanks to Rubi's impressive wall-running skills. Whenever you leave the ground, you'll enter a Stranglehold-esque slow motion mode, allowing you to not only aim faster, but to utilize your second gun. This happens automatically and will auto-aim at anyone on screen. If you get tired of shooting at everything, however, you can always pull out your sword and perform some bloody and gruesome finishing moves.
Stringing together your acrobatics is key to building up a strong multiplier bonus. Rubi can wall run, jump, flip and slide off pretty much everything in the game. The level we were shown started out as a tutorial, teaching each of Rubi's abilities. Once the skillset has been sufficiently ingrained, the level opens up to become one big playground, allowing you to utilize whichever moves you see fit in order to dispatch the encroaching swarm of enemies.
And there will be many enemies in this game. The developers at A2M are putting a lot of emphasis on massive battles where the odds are stacked against the protagonist. Thankfully, by chaining moves and kills together, entire armies can be cut down without much difficulty. Doing so will rack up your score, which is then used as currency in a Devil May Cry style shop system through which you can upgrade or buy new weapons and moves.

Rubi has a bit of a temper and, at several points in the game, will enter Rage mode. These are predetermined events, rather than voluntary triggers. The example we were shown consisted of a cutscene in which Rubi faced off with a single enemy (quite literally -- she shot his face off), resulting in her face getting splattered with some of his innards. That's enough to make anyone see red.
Here, Rage mode begins and the color scheme completely changes so that everything is white and red. It looks a little like Madworld, but better. Again, we have to give props to the artists at A2M for pulling off such a great sense of style throughout the game. Rage mode isn't just a pretty effect, though. Rubi is faster, deals more damage and, as a result, has to contend with a lot more enemies. It's like playing the Crazy 88 scene from Kill Bill. These Rage mode sections will occur around seven or eight times throughout the game and each one will have a different gimmick.
From there we moved on to a ridiculously over-the-top car-hopping scene, where Rubi is attempting to chase down her mark. The section plays out like a long QTE in which you can still operate the game's shooting mechanics. Rubi hops from car to car, shooting at enemies and causing a lot of mayhem. It's visually very impressive, though there will no doubt be many who complain about the QTE nature of these sections. It's hard to tell just by watching, but these sections could either be very fun or very frustrating.

As for the rest of the game, it's looking like a really interesting title. If moves are as easy to string together as it appeared, then action fans will have a field day. Emphasis is placed on a great single-player experience; there will be no multiplayer aspect to the game whatsoever. The developers expect the game to last around eight to ten hours, with unlockable modes adding further longevity.
These extra modes include challenges, set in Rubi's home -- an airplane graveyard -- as well as unlockable difficulty settings and a Points mode where you are rewarded for beating certain scores in each of the game's levels.
It's a good thing Bethesda saw fit to rescue Wet from publishing limbo. We're definitely intrigued to see more of this fall 2009 title and can't wait to get our hands on it.














Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason Statham (Aka Vegeta) @ Apr 27th 2009 11:34AM
Holy shit, this sounds pretty fucking interesting. Here's hoping it turns out to be a good game.
Mr Khan @ Apr 27th 2009 11:39AM
Sounds like something Suda 51 did
Rein @ Apr 27th 2009 11:41AM
Is it too cliche to say that I'm wet with anticipation?
*shot*
Dirty @ Apr 27th 2009 11:53AM
Im certainly moist.
jumpshot @ Apr 27th 2009 12:01PM
*Enters Rage mode...
PedoJokerBear (aka Deeznuts) @ Apr 27th 2009 1:05PM
*cocks gun*
haha!....double entendre.
NoughtSoClever @ Apr 27th 2009 1:41PM
I'd go as far as to say triple entendre.
Jack Tretton @ Apr 27th 2009 11:43AM
"[Rubi] is a 'fixer.' That's another word for 'hired assassin,' which explains the game's name -- a shortened version of the term 'wetworks.'"
Why stop there? Call it Weh.
NoughtSoClever @ Apr 27th 2009 11:57AM
is "resued" a real word.
NoughtSoClever @ Apr 27th 2009 1:35PM
corrected
DiggyStyle @ Apr 27th 2009 4:52PM
I just went from meh to fairly interested. Thanks joystiq for the well written impressions of a game I knew so little about.
j.howlett @ Apr 27th 2009 12:36PM
i have a good feeling about this game. i can't wait to give it a go.
FluxWaveZ @ Apr 27th 2009 12:37PM
I've been interested in this game since the beginning. But I'm a little sceptical because look at A2M's track record. Licensed games like Monster House, Kim Possible and Lizzie McGuire don't fill me with confidence but I have hope in this one.
WiredKnight @ Apr 27th 2009 1:36PM
Hopefully they'll do better with their own original IP.
crsh @ Apr 28th 2009 6:25AM
It's definitely new-ish territory for A2M, but you certainly can't blame them for trying to break out of the boring film/tv licence type of games.
cafecito @ Apr 27th 2009 12:37PM
Add some smexy alternate outfits! When you got an interesting female lead goin on there (with an interesting voice actor) ... you just GOTTA exploit the potential for a new sex-symbol. And even if wet just means wetworks, you gotta admit people will always think otherwise.
( A little gore would be too much to ask? )
Timstew @ Apr 27th 2009 1:16PM
Games built around boobies turn out mediocre at best. They may sell to people who do not realize they have free material on the internet, but like any sex-object, it'll get old fast.
WiredKnight @ Apr 27th 2009 1:35PM
@Tim
I think most people will find that playing as a sexy character in a game is a bit different from looking up free porn on the internet.
Timstew @ Apr 27th 2009 4:23PM
I was not only referring to porn. There are hundreds of online games for that.
cafecito @ Apr 28th 2009 7:34PM
I agree with knight. I'm pretty aware of the free xxx content online, but it's totally different to actually have some sexyness added to your game :)
Erik Tomlinson @ Apr 27th 2009 12:41PM
"Grizzly" fate?
I guess it's common to get attacked by bears if you don't get published. (I'm sure you didn't mean the 'flecked with grey' meaning of grizzly).
I think you guys meant "grisly fate".
whymog @ Apr 27th 2009 1:00PM
I was just about to post this. Thanks, Erik.
But seriously, I really think you should work on improving your editing process. It's pretty unprofessional how many grammar- and diction-related problems show up in the majority of your posts.
Then again, I'm the guy who actually worked his ass off to be professional as a journalist and now finds himself without a job, so maybe I should just shut up and let the bloggers blog.
MowDownJoe @ Apr 27th 2009 1:03PM
They're referring to a Magic card.
http://magiccards.info/ju/en/119.html
whymog @ Apr 27th 2009 1:12PM
No, they're not.
MowDownJoe @ Apr 27th 2009 10:39PM
*as Foghorn Leghorn:* It's a joke, son, a joke.
jekoln @ Apr 27th 2009 1:19PM
"That's another word for "hired assassin," which explains the game's name -- a shortened version of the term "wetworks.""
i do not understand this sentence at all.
Blaze One G @ Apr 27th 2009 2:15PM
I'll answer with a skit Ice Cube did:
Ice: Yo man, You won!
Stranger: Won what?
Ice: The wet Tshirt contest, &!! *Gun shot sounds*
aristokrat @ Apr 27th 2009 1:29PM
Sweet, sounds like Ass2Mouth is developing a cool game.
Weezer @ Apr 27th 2009 1:38PM
Every time I read the company name I can't help but saying that.
WiredKnight @ Apr 27th 2009 1:31PM
I like how most games about "hired assassins" are really games about "mass murderers."
mahouneko @ Apr 27th 2009 2:11PM
Aside from that, I'm sort of reminded of Bungie's Oni game for the PS2 what with the emphasis of devastating combo attacks.
Saria the Cat @ Apr 27th 2009 5:12PM
THIS REVIEW SUX WHERE IS THE RATING
THEY DIDNT EVEN REVIEW MULTIPLAYER
michas_pi @ Apr 27th 2009 8:17PM
it's right here god damn are you fucking blind stop shouting
Saria the Cat @ Apr 27th 2009 8:20PM
It's pretty sad that people didn't realize I was joking and parodying comments on Joystiq's previous impression piece.
johnnynoknow @ May 6th 2009 2:37AM
the difference between + & - is that you forgot to add "/s" at the end of your post. maybe then it'd be funny.