Publisher: 
Bethesda Softworks
Developer:
Bethesda Softworks
XBOX 360 and Playstation 3
When I was younger and a little console called the XBOX was the rage with people who loved first person shooters on the console and wanted something really different from time to time. I can remember games like Oddworld Stranger, Nightwatch, and Armed and Dangerous. All these games were wonderful titles and I really loved playing through everyone of them. But they all had one thing in common; they had some major mechanical issue that made them unplayable to the average player. Wet is another such game.
In WET you play as RUBI a no holds barred killer who doesn't take kindly to people screwing her over. Which is by all accounts awesome. She could have been a touch prettier but hey who am I to judge. Eliza Dushku of Dollhouse and historically Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame voices RUBI and does an excellent job. A couple of lines seem a little too enthusiastic but really this is a Grindhouse action game; what did we really expect.
WET is best when it is running a full speed and you are doing acrobatic slow-mo kills of a screen full of enemies. Where it has problems is when it is doing virtually ANYTING else. RUBI seems to even run and walk in a funny way. The shooting allows you to wield two guns and each gun can be aimed at different target. She also has a sword that she can kill guys with when she gets close enough. Its all about Devil May Cry or Club style combo accumulation. These parts of the game are wonderful and I really even loved the quick time actions which allow the player to have time to see the button and press it rather than just trying to hit the button as fast as you possibly can. It all worked wonderfully. But there is another side to WET; something that is just SO BROKEN, that it should have been axed from the game.
The main problem is with the constant platforming that WET seems to be committed to making the player deal with. The second problem are the horrible off the wall sequences in the game that have nothing to do with anything like dodging plane wreckage. Please folks don't copy bad sequences in movie games and call it anything but filler(X-MEN ORIGINS: Wolverine, had exact same horrible sequence). The platforming is a issue because it has no REAL rhythm to it. Unlike games that ACTUALLY DO platforming, this game just sets up one jump after another and makes the player find each one; rather than being carried naturally along to the next one. By the time you get about half way through WET you will figure out some of the all too subtle touches that the designers felt the mercy to put in. But this is a trial by fire that this game doesn't need.
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The unique things about WET basically begin and end with the style that the game has throughout. The absolute committment to the Grindhouse movie theme is run like a spine through the whole game. The music is INCREDIBLE and I REALLY am looking for this soundtrack; so twitter me if you know where I can get it. The blood soaked areas of the game that have RUBI and the music going insane are wonderful except that it would have been nice if they weren't pre-scripted and they allowed RUBI to be invulnerable or have unlimited shotgun ammo or something. Something that made the shift anything more than an artistic indulgence. Everything in a video game needs to serve story or gameplay. Very little in WET does this, at least the stuff that is broken anyway. I'm not going to complain about this, but there should never be a mandatory challenge mode in a non-racing game.
By this point, as a reader you are probably wondering if you should buy, rent, or skip WET. Well, I have to admit I enjoyed some of the highlights of WET and I was abysmally frustrated by the things that were broken in the game. I really wanted to like WET the way I liked Nightwatch, Oddworld Stranger, or Armed and Dangerous; but I just couldn't. Unless you have a deep love for Eliza Dushku, Grindhouse, or really hard games you might want to skip this one. If you like any of those three, rent the game first.
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