Can’t wait for your next Wanted fix? Well the hit summer blockbuster has a tie-in game that expands a bit on Wesley’s story and his past. It’s takes the classic 3rd person shooter and adds the greatest edition to guns ever, curving.
Let me tell you right away…if your a PC player…that you must, MUST, play this game with a gamepad. The menus alone seem to fear the idea of a mouse. With a gamepad you can see the different options appear fluidly from side to side, yet with a mouse they don’t even stick out. I had a hassle just trying to figure out how to change the resolution with a mouse until pulling out the ol’ xbox 360 gamepad. Gameplay is also awkward when trying to use the mouse and keyboard. Wesley and all the other playable characters have a very stiff movement to them when using the wasd format, but is a bit more forgiving on a joystick. Also the aiming sensitivity is just ridiculous. I have never had to raise the aim sensitivity bar so high in a game, and yet still not even get it to adjust well. Really for anyone playing on a PC this is just my experience…take it as you will.
Well now that those technical problems are out of the way let’s get on to the actual game. Wanted: WoF follows hot off the trails of the hit movie, and even shines a light on events that occurred before the movie, including how Cross was betrayed and the origins of Wesley’s birth and his mother. The player switches between Wesley and Cross for the first few chapters before the game becomes Wesley centric as he takes on the traits of his father.
To key back into their stiff movements, it seems that the entire level design focuses on taking the character from behind cover to cover at every moment of the game (Gears of War style.) Is it a smooth transaction from point to point? Yes, very well actually. Movement from behind cover is right up there with the very best of games, but it does sacrifice the ability to just walk around and shoot. Of course there is no point to standing above cover since most enemies can completely rock your face once in view (Dark Sector style.) I really feel like I’m playing Dark Sector at times when I see this game. Slightly good graphics but with flaws like a blane level design, choppy characters and others. Even the way the enemies seem to just POP out of cover waiting for a bullet or two is familiar to Dark Sector. Both games introduce a unique type of attack, Wanted with it’s curved bullets and Dark Sector with the glaive. Both of which is used to take out enemies that are behind cover and refuse to pop out (though as one of Dark Sector’s best and only points…the glaive does a terrific job of dismembering enemies while the curve shot only really shows a brief slow-mo effect that only happens sometimes.) But between those two the clear winner is Wanted: WoF, hands down.
Not only does the actual movements of the game follow a point to point cover system but the level design does as well. Your character mostly blasts a few enemies (8 max…) per area and then you get to see a sometimes graphical cutsene (sometimes…keyword) only to do the same thing until the end of the chapter. If you’re lucky during certain stages, your character will go through a bullet time event, where you the player have no control of the characters movements, but instead get to wait until an enemy appears so that you can slow down time to shoot their bullet and them. Oh forgot to mention…you’re timed during these sections (but god do you get a lot of time.) It really feels like this mini-game of sorts was ripped right out of the Wii playbook of game design, but I guess other players will see this as a playable cutscene.
By the end of it all you get a good story with most of the actual actors lending their voices (except for the guy who played Wesley…douche), some decent enough gameplay, and unlockable concept art, but nothing to really keep you play afterward. You can play as some of the unlocked characters, but it’s really just a skin for Wesley and doesn’t effect the story in anyway.
(During gameplay I just had the oddest event happen…I jumped over my cover to get Wesley behind a different wall during the office stage…only to have Wesley suddenly fall to his doom in the oddest glitch ever. The screen was covered in blood but there was no signs of a Game Over screen…just blood on the screen and the sound of a heartbeat…which is usually a sign that the player is ABOUT to die. I had to exit the game via start –> main menu. Weird…)
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Rating: 3/5
Pros: Curving bullets mechanic, good story for a movie tie-in, decent graphics, great cover movement, use of actual actor’s voices.
Cons: Short game, stiff movements when out of cover, retarded AI, simple level designs, easy boss battles (if not creative).
Great: If you just watched the movie.
Altogether I had fun playing this game for the short time it took to beat it. I really hope they make another one after the next movie that adds-on to that bullet curving mechanic. Something about nailing a guy in the face while he thinks he’s safe…and seeing his body just smack to the ground is so enjoyable. =]
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