The Review Vault---Wanted: Weapons of Fate (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Hello fellow readers, welcome to another edition of THE REVIEW VAULT-"where I tell it like it is good or bad". This time around I'm going to do a video game review starting with the action driven game Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Now Wanted: WOF is based on the self entitled movie which in part is based on a comic book series from Mark Millar whom has gotten his own cult following from his comic series. I liked Wanted (Movie version) for its hyper kinetic action which reminded me of The Matrix with a little of Fight Club in it and for the fact that it never slowed down for boring scenes (in parts, yes) which kept the momentum at a breakneck speed from the beginning to the end of the film. While the film was good, it had a shallow storyline, lack of depth for the characters (the exception is Wesley Gibson played by James Mcavory), and was a very stylish film with very little substance but maybe a game based on a hit movie could raise it to respectable levels...or not, so we are about to find out if it is going to be a great roller coaster ride of a game for action fans.

The story for Wanted: WOF takes place about 5 hours after Wesley Gibson assassinated Sloan ( the director of the Fraternity which is a house of assassins that kill in the name of fate based in Chicago, Detroit) where it goes from being simple to a whole slew of plots to kill you that span all around the globe. Throughout the game, you learn that the Fraternity that you destroyed in Chicago was not the only one of its kind since you learned that there is one in Paris and assassins from Russia or different parts of the U.S. but it is never made clear as to how many are there. Wesley comes into contact with the arms dealer, 'Pekwarsky' whom throughout the game tells more about Wesley's father along with his mother whom is believed to have been an assassin that went rogue with Wesley when he was just a baby and more of his father's exploits that lead to Sloan betraying him which in turn leads into the movie. Throughout this already convoluted story, Wesley encounter villains from the comics (if I am wrong, let me know and sorry) like the Russian, Spider, Immortal, and maybe one more but I seem to have forgotten his name but these antagonists are as forgettable as the plot of this game. If this summary of the plot confuses you already, I don't blame you since the plot like the movie is just to serve as an excuse to pop a few head and how cool it is to be an assassin but speaking of which lets take a look at how the gameplay is for Wanted: WOF.

The gameplay is going to be the main draw of the game since the question right now is whether Wanted: WOF can overcome the curse of bad movie licensed games and it does with some enjoyable moments that keep you from being bored along with some great action set pieces that capture the momentum of the film beautifully but at a price. For the most part, it plays like a cloned version of Gears of War except you can curve bullets which are the coolest part of the gameplay to pull off as it is as every bit as satisfying to do it yourself than watching it in a movie but the overall control of the game is pretty response and easy to learn. However, you never have any real control of how you move curved bullets since all you do is point in the right angle while holding the button and let it go fast (pull your finger off gently just cancels it) and that's all there is to it not to mention that that you never really have time to enjoy it since the game can last you about 1 to 5 hours (you unlock a time attack mode which has you finish the game as fast as possible). If it couldn't get any worse just like with another game called 'The Bourne Conspiracy', there is no multiplayer of any kind which is puzzling for this type of game which could have worked online but you will have to settle with collectibles, character skins for beating the game, and special modes for the campaign as replay value for Wanted: WOF. In short, the gameplay while it captures the great action set pieces that made the movie a classic with action fans is really too short to enjoy (9 missions in total), replay value is very unsatisfying, and I thought the game was too easy to get through even on the hardest difficulty (excepted for the last mission which was cheap since the AI likes to rush up against me and act like an idiot).

Maybe a game that is based on a very stylish movie can be really good looking in the graphics department and make me forget how unoriginal Wanted: WOF is in my eyes. Well this is a yes and no situation since the graphic while they look great from far away like the character models of both main and villain characters along with the bullet curving looking deliciously awesome, it spots some very apparent flaws. There are some very horrible graphical clippings with the character models when they come up close and personal to the fact the this game looks like this could have came off of the last generation of consoles (PS2, XBOX, Gamecube) so this is not a game that is pleasing to the eye. On a side note, the sound effect for Wanted: WOF is really awesome to hear especially when a curve bullet hits it target like a anvil hitting a human head which is satisfying to hear along with the music while not memorable still doing a great job of putting you in the moment of the action scene. The voice acting is going to be laugh out loud affair since the actors are hamming it up and are over the top with their delivery but it gets the job done so the presentation of Wanted: WOF is a mixture of some great visual and sound design moments but it is not a pretty game to look at and the voice acting is not the most enjoyable to hear.

To put to ya this way, Wanted: Weapons of Fate is another average movie licensed game that is a good action game for fans of the genre but it doesn't do anything that will blow your mind away that other much better action games have done in the past 10 years. The curve bullets are satisfying at first but eventually they become just a chore to pull off since you have to get lucky to get that zoom in moment that is awesome at first but you do the same thing for the entire experience with the game. I forgot to mention that the repetition of the game is going to come in after the 2nd mission since the whole experience is get to cover, kill bad guys to get adrenaline, curve bullets for one hit kills, rinse, repeat, go online, get fond with naked ladies, and.....did I say that out loud? Wanted: Weapons of Fate will bore you for its repetitious nature but while I recommend it as rental for fans of action games in general, everyone else can send a message to developers to make quality games and not run of the mill licensed products just to make a quick buck by not buying this game for $60 dollars.

WANTED: WEAPONS OF FATE is a: RENTAL for fans of action games

For everyone else this is: SOME OL' BULLSHIT

Hope you enjoy this review of Wanted: Weapons of Fate and until next time, enjoy this picture of a comic cover for Wanted.

Source:IGN.Com, Goggle Images, Universal Vivendi for Image of Instruction Manual and disc of Wanted: Weapons of Fate, and Microsoft Xbox 360