Wanted: Weapons of Fate Game Review - Playstation 3

OUR RATING:

7.6

VERY GOOD

TANGIBLES:

Gameplay:		9
Visuals:		7
Audio:		6
Value:		6
Quality:		8

Why you should buy it: it's actually not a bad game. So, if you're not looking for something too engrossing but still offers quality, Wanted is good for that.

Why you should rent it: It's pretty short, and doesn't offer much beyond well-executed gameplay mechanics. Though, that may be enough for most.

UNIQUE RATING:

7.6

SUGGESTION:

Rent It

Wanted: Weapons of Fate

Written by: Amadeo Plaza | Tags: Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Playstation 3

March 24,2009 - It goes without saying that most movie-licensed games are utter trash. Rushed through development by unreasonable deadlines, unsubstantial budgets, and an unbelievable lack of attention to detail, most of these games come out on the other end looking nothing like their more refined silver screen counterparts. Thankfully, Wanted: Weapons of Fate is not one of those games. Certainly it doesn’t come out unscathed, but all in all, it is a well-developed movie-licensed game, and that alone is an achievement.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate is supposed to pick up where the film left off. You obviously take up the role of Wesley Gibson, perhaps the quickest study of any profession ever (who learns to be a deadly assassin in six weeks?). In the game you’re continuing to uncover the truth of your history, as well as that of your parents’, including the story behind your largely overlooked mother.

Building on the narrative from the film, and borrowing from what we can only assume is the comic, the plot in Weapons of Fate isn’t especially gripping, and its story is easily forgettable over time. But perhaps this is a weakness of the comic as well. So, who knows; maybe the source material is to blame. Either way, what there is no shortage of is white-knuckled action, and that’s where the comic, film, and game all deliver.

If there’s anything Executive Producer, Pete Wanat, understands, it’s that you can’t simply take “Generic Action Game B,” slap a movie-license onto it, and expect it to be a perceived as a quality piece of work. GRIN did well to stay the course, working to their strengths as a development studio, and experiment only where it made sense. In a recent trip to Universal City, where we met with Wanat, he pointed out that although there was an intense car chase scene in the film, GRIN has never done anything with vehicles. So, instead of including something like that and running the risk of completely bungling it, they decided it wasn’t necessary to include. A smart move.

One of the more obvious hurdles to tackle was curving bullets. The bullet-curving mechanic is well done and is surprisingly easy to manage, and you’ll certainly find yourself trying to curve bullets as often as you can as the game progresses. And depending on your distance from the target, the action will slow and zoom in on the trail of the bullet, creating a dramatic effect that never got old.

They included “Assassin Time,” which is essentially bullet-time, made famous by Max Payne. You won’t be jumping off the walls, however. You’ll primarily use Assassin Time when moving from cover-to-cover, using the offensively charge cover system. Wanat said the cover system was not meant to be a defensive mechanic, but rather push the action forward. Somehow, the idea stuck, and whether or not it’s the mediocre A.I., advancing towards your enemies in a windstorm of aggression is fun, easy, and enjoyable.

Although they were able to employ the talent of Terence Stamp and Common for roles in the game, overall, the voice acting was substandard, which is surprising for a game publisher that is attached to a major movie company. Stamp wasn’t so bad, but he didn’t especially stand out, and could have been easily replaced. Common, on the other hand, was downright terrible. The acting left much to be desired.

Visually, Wanted is above average. It’s not spectacular, but they put some work into the look of the game; certainly more than most developers who make movie-licensed games. The level design is perhaps one of the shining points. It’s hugely linear. There’s no doubting that. But the levels you do see are well done.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate, surprisingly, is not only better than a typical movie-licensed game, it’s better than a typical action game. That may not sound like much, but when so many developers are half-assing their efforts, that’s something to be proud of. It’s not perfect, and GRIN knows probably knows that. But it’s definitely a good game. Its short campaign is perfect for more casual gamers to pick up and play, while still offering some kind of depth to the combat. It can easily be said that Wanted is one of the better movie-licensed games to come out in a while.

The term 'assassin' derives from the Persian word Hashshashin. Some believe that the assassins were under the influence of hashish and opium during their killings or during their indoctrination, and that assassin derives from hasishin, the influence of the drugs.