Wet

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on August 12, 2009

Final Glimpse: Massacre thousands Ц with a little style!

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If you're like me and wished you could play in a Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez film, then Wet may whet your appetite. Canadian developers A2M are putting the final touches on a gritty, stylistic and way over-the-top third-person shooter that is heavily influenced by these two masters of ultra-violent action flicks.

Wet is shaping up to be a video game version of a 1970's grindhouse movie so beloved by Tarantino and Rodriguez. Visually, this is achieved by utilizing a grain filter and a yellowed palette to give it the appropriate film УagingФ but the insane action is pure modern-day mayhem soaked with gallons of blood.



You will play as Rubi Malone, a sexy assassin reminiscent of Uma Thurman's character in the Kill Bill films. Rubi is a nasty killing machine able to dispatch dozens of enemies at a time, all while flipping, diving and rolling with cool acrobatic moves. In fact, these moves are central to the game as you will rack up points for style, which in turn can be redeemed to unlock new weapons, attributes and abilities.

Rubi's acrobatic moves combine everything from John Woo to the Matrix, and from Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider. She can run along walls, slide upside down on ladders, leap and flip across balconies, slide limbo-style on her knees and more Ц all while blasting enemies with her twin pistols. Chaining together moves and stylistic kills will add big bonuses so you will need to add a little flair to your killing. For example, Rubi can run up an enemy's chest, do a back flip and blast him in the face while still in the air. Nice.

The coolest example of her abilities is showcased in an exciting highway chase lifted straight out of The Matrix Reloaded. Rubi must leap from vehicle to vehicle taking out enemies speeding down a highway. Although this is a rail shooter section with Rubi jumping to different vehicles only when prompted, it still looks way cool.

Every time Rubi uses one of her acrobatic moves, one of her pistols automatically locks onto an enemy while the second pistol is in free aim. This allows you to target two enemies at once, though you fire both guns with a single trigger. Fortunately, the action will slow down into bullet time every time you use her moves, giving you time to pick and choose your targets.

Rubi's not all about guns, however. She is also armed with a deadly samurai sword that not only slices and dices through enemies like wet tissue paper, but should be an infinitely more satisfying way to kill baddies and let the blood fly.

Rubi can also enter into Rage mode that changes the graphics into a monochromatic style a la Suda 51. Walls are blood red, characters are solid black and blood is eerily white. While in Rage mode Rubi does extra damage (often gibbing enemies) and racks up huge point multipliers. It looks awesome and really adds to the stylistic nature of the game.

You may be thinking that all of these super acrobatic moves and Rage mode might make things too easy, but rest assured you will be swarmed by many enemies at once. The game not only emphasizes style, but an outrageously bloody body count as well.

The game will feature Eliza Dushku of Dollhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame as Rubi, with Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming also lending their considerable voice talents, so expect more than a few cinematic cutscenes as the expectedly cheesy grindhouse story unfolds.