WET
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: A2M (Artificial Mind and Movement)
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: September 15, 2009

The new game from publisher Bethesda — the brilliant developers of classics like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 — and developer A2M, WET is a game that immediately grabs your eye when you see it. Its look of pure Grindhouse-esq exploitation cinema of the 70s leads you to believe that you’re about to play a Quentin Tarantino movie, and whether you ultimately like the game or not, that alone is worth giving it a fair go.

WET follows Rubi Malone (Eliza Dushku), a bad-ass problem solver who gets what needs to be done, done…so long as the price is right. The game opens with her chasing down a man who steals what she was paid to acquire, which leads to an epic chase right off the gun that ends in a freeway car chase that would bring a tear to the eye of Michael Bay. As it turns out, the item she was paid to retrieve is a human heart that would save the man who hired you’s father. A year later, this man (Malcolm McDowell) comes back to thank her for the heart, and to hire her for another job: to find and bring back his AWOL son. This job sets off a chain of events that are a little too spoilery to share here, but let us just say that Rubi isn’t thrilled about how things go, and many, many, many, many people die because of it.

When you play this one, fair warning to all: do not expect a great storyline with complex characters and situations. No, this game isn’t made to be that at all; it is made to be a stylistic action game where you rampage your way through an unbelievable amount of people to get to the bottom of things. One might think this would quickly come repetitive, and they would be right at some points. But for some strange reason, even though it is repetitive at times, it never became boring. The reason is most likely in the variety of methods to accomplish each situation. Considering that Rubi is one of the deadliest women ever seen this side of Kill Bill‘s the Bride, the ways to end someone standing in your way’s life are bountiful.

Click on over for more of the review and for a trailer.