The best thing about Wet is that it knows exactly what it is. It's not trying to redefine arcade shooters, but at the same time it's blissfully aware it needs to change things up a little in order to be interesting. What you end up with is a title trapped in a Tarantino/Grindhouse love-story, confidently remixing the shooting genre with some clever ideas.
You play as Rubi, a gun-toting babe voiced by Eliza Dushku. The game takes its entire style straight out of a classic Grindhouse movie. That means there's a lot of classic film grain, a lot of violence and some obviously stiff animation and voice acting. It's stylish and comical, though those of you not particularly enamoured with the Grindhouse style might find it cliche.
It's the gameplay where the Grindhouse setting has the most original effect though. Taking the idea of the ridiculous type of stunts from said movies, Rubi is able to dive, wallrun and slide around the environment. So far, so samey, right? Almost, but the twist is that you essentially go into slow motion while performing these stunts. This allows you to target enemies and take them out mid-stunt. Rubi occupies one weapon in each hand, so you're able to shoot two enemies at a time. The game automatically targets one enemy, leaving you to take out the other manually with the targeting reticule. The mechanics take a while to get used to but once you "get" it, it's incredibly intuitive. And while it feels a little "on-rails" it's actually quite difficult chaining combos.
Rubi can also access a rage mode, where she, quite stylishly, literally sees red. In these moments you're essentially invincible, allowing you to plough through piles and piles of enemies at no real expense. These sections feel extremely fun. It's goofy and over the top, but that's exactly the aim of the game.
The section we played culminated in a car-chase littered with QTEs, shooting and explosions. The scene was well choreographed, if not a little dragged out, but the pace of the set-pieces more than made up for that.
If Wet can remain interesting throughout it's full campaign, it could be a minor hit among those looking for a real fresh arcade shooter.
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