Get your hands wet with tons of Wet information
Cornering the market on hormonal male adolescents, Wet seems at its surface to employ the voluptuous female lead as a replacement for interesting gameplay. Since we haven't heard anything about the game past an old trailer, it's nice to update the game's progress by experiencing the game vicariously through someone else's hands-on. The verdict? Wet is apparently "shaping up to be one seriously thrilling all-out action killfest with brains as well as bust and enough imaginative features to have Ms. Croft and a certain Persian royal casting nervous glances over their slender shoulders."
Developers A2M generally make kids' games, so of course all this pent up violence and sex will explode somehow. Seems like Wet is going to deliver the same rush as a summer popcorn action flick. A big draw to this game is the intuitive split-aiming mechanic employed by the dual-gun-wielding heroine Rubi. All previous efforts to make this option work generally, well, suck. While holding the lock-on button, you can flick the analog stick to move the second weapon to whatever enemy you want, probably as another lock. Sounds easy enough. More on the gameplay itself after the jump -- trust us, it's good.
Seems the game employs Rubi's acrobatics to pull off victory, as the folks who got to play the game continued to die within moments of falling into action. They described the game's producer's actions while playing this way, which really brings to mind something awesome: "he caps one from a distance, then runs up a wall and executes a perfect backflip. The action decelerates as Rubi arcs through the air, splitting targets in mid flight and pumping round after round into her slo-mo foes. Landing, she skids towards a nearby enemy while leaning back and shooting a flanking baddie, then leaps up and rams her knee into the face of her final victim, drawing her sword and piercing him from behind with one deadly swipe, which sends a splatter of blood arcing across the screen. Fortier flashes us a self-satisfied smile." How can that not sound awesome? Maybe by replacing Rubi with a koala.
These linked attacks really show what kind of potential A2M is banking on with Wet. If the combo system is as easy to get into as, say, God of War, then we'll probably have a surprisingly competent game on our hands. If it's complex to master, we'll have something like Prince of Persia or Devil May Cry. These are also very competent games. The only downfall is if the combo system really doesn't impress -- but with descriptions like those above, how can you not think that would be awesome to watch, let alone do? As Games Radar pointed out, the big downside will be if the game grows too easy too quickly with all that you can do.
Why sword kills, though? Apparently, gun fights are just build-ups to them. You can off enemies with guns, sure, but if you wanna use that sword, you gotta close the gap between you and the baddies first. "She can only use her sword at specific moments to kill enemies, she can't run around wielding it. The sword kills integrate smoothly with the action, so you could be climbing up a wall next to an enemy and choose to use your sword and the game will automatically execute a relevant sword kill. She also has an Unleashed mode, which makes her invincible for a while and lets her go completely berserk. You'll need to fill up her Unleashed meter first by using lots of acrobatic moves, because we want to reward the player for playing that way."
Overall, we're surprisingly impressed by this hands-on experience. The game is still a year off, but to have this much excitement already drawn in and playable, we're eager to see and hear more. While it seems action-packed and not utilizing its star solely to draw in the young lonesome crowd, the one problem we can't shake is the possibility the game will prove too easy. With all that Rubi can do, how can any enemy even compete?
