Wanted: Weapons of Fate
Based on the graphic novel and movie of the same name, Wanted; Weapons of Fate, is a truly thrilling and cinematic game experience. It is fun, action packed, very violent, has plenty of swearing and cool gunplay and the graphics look great. Its also, in Australia at least, $100 for only four-five hours of gameplay on the HARDEST DIFFICULTY.
But what a five hours it is. Wanted sees you pkaying as a few key characters form the source material and throws a whole lot of dumb henchmen (who don't FLANK you, making the game far too easy) for you to kill with a knife, a regular shot to the head, or a CURVED bullet wihich bends around corners to hit them even behind cover. The game plays a LOT like Epic Games' Gears of War, which it obviously aspires to. The game makes a couple of interesting changes to the cover mechanics, which to describe in detail would be dull. But it helps the action feel fluid and more involving.
There are also some interactive cutscenes, but before you groan, these ones are actually quite well handled. Instead of Quick Time Events and timed button presses acting as limited control during these sequences, you instead get to aim the targeting reticle of your character, and you have to shoot down enemies and their bullets. Take too much time, and its back to the start of the section. These sections aren't too hard (well, the whole game is pretty simple to beat in under a day) but they look really cool, and fit with the sort of arcadey shooting action that Wanted offers.
Similar to 2005's King Kong, I loved the film it was based on, but the game disappoints me in terms of breadth of content. I just would have liked a little bit more for my buck, for both games. I wouldn't recommended paying full price for it. Its very short, and very easy, but the levels have a nice variety to them and there is some potential for unlocking bonus skins to play as. Bizarrely, one can eventually unlock the ability to play through the entire game as Wesley Gibson's obese boss Janice, which looks hilarious.
It's a great rental, but I would wait for a price drop to pick this one up for keeps. There's not much too it.
