Wanted: Weapons of Fate Review

For a number of reasons, I tried my best to steer clear of this game. One of the main reasons is that we grew damn sick and tired of going through an infinite amount of exasperating movie tie-ins. Another fairly good reason is that I didn't watch the big-screen version of Wanted. On the other hand, I heard about some of the unique aspects of Wanted and thought that it could translate quite well into the game.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate takes us on an adventure after the events of the movie. You assume the role of gun-happy assassin Wesley Gibson (evidently he used to be a geek). Everything Wesley became he owes to his father, who was also a deadly assassin in his time. Wesley's momma is, alas, dead and now he's out for payback. Ah, but not until he finds out what the hell is going on and why a French-speaking SWAT team burst into his cozy little apartment. That pretty much explains the introduction to the game. Later on, our once geekish protagonist finds out he's being hunted down by a renegade faction of the so-called Fraternity.

As far as plots go, this one doesn't dwell on too much detail. The "Who?" and "Why?" aren't the focal point during gameplay. The game itself is more concerned with the "How?" Perhaps the puzzles fall into place if you've watched the movie, but for me I kind of lost track a bit when the game started with the flashbacks. Yes, you switch between missions where you control Wesley and past events where you step into the shoes of Wesley's father.

Naturally, you'll be mastering a few assassin moves along the way. In addition to melee attacks, your character wields dual silencer handguns and UZI-like pistols. There's also the occasional sniper segment, during which your character remains stationary. Now, you can call me an old-fashioned gamer and a fastidious bastard, but having a shooter with just two (well, alright three) weapons on offer might cast a small gray cloud of boredom over the entire experience... which it does.

Gunning down enemies charges up your Adrenaline meter, which in turn gives Wesley the opportunity to use his special skills. The conventional slow-mo Matrix style shooting will exhaust your Adrenaline meter very quickly, but you can also fire curve bullets. After a few missions, you should become and expert bullet bender. Targets go from red to gray and that means you are free to fire at your enemy from the best possible angle. It's a system that's surprisingly easy to use. However, you must always make sure to take down a few enemies in order to fill the Adrenaline meter.

In short, this is a fairly standard 3rd person shooter, featuring relatively straightforward cover mechanics and a clear-cut combat system. Getting into cover is practically effortless, while getting out again can lead to frustration. You take cover by pressing the "A" button, but to step out of cover you need to press "A" button once more and that's somewhat confusing in practice. It's not a serious controls flaw, although quite enough to get on your nerves in combat.