“Wet” works overtime to make you hate it. It’s a fundamentally good video game hobbled by poor presentation. Basically, the video spoils the game.
You play as Rubi, an improbably sexy, impossibly skilled female assassin. She’s proficient with shotguns, crossbows and swords, but her main jam is a pair of pistols that can be aimed in separate directions. When Rubi slides or dives the game dips into slow motion and one of Rubi’s guns autolocks on a nearby target. You’re free to aim the other gun at whoever you please. Taking out two enemies at once racks up the body count in a hurry.
The goal is to kill as many enemies as quickly as possible, with bonus points for acrobatic stunts. The shoot-outs are mindless, ultraviolent and awesome. So many games strive for dour realism that it’s refreshing to see a game thoroughly embrace its own inherent gameness.
The ridiculousness of “Wet” carries over to the story. It pays tribute to the same ’70s exploitation films as the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez collaboration “Grindhouse.” That gives “Wet” a unique and interesting look for a game. A grainy filter replicates a scratchy old film reel, vintage movie theater house ads randomly interrupt the action and colorful stereotypes abound.
“Wet” also shares Tarantino’s cavalier and comical attitude towards violence, something common in the video game industry but not usually this extreme. “Wet” gets its name from the torrents of blood you spill while playing. The red geysers fall somewhere between Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” on the scale of over-the-top bloodshed. It’s so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh.
The Tarantino influence becomes a burden to “Wet” when the story kicks into gear. The one-quirk characters and nonsensical plot owe less to “Pulp Fiction” than third-rate rip-offs like “The Boondock Saints.” It’s the video game equivalent of the Tarantino clones that bogged down film festivals and Blockbuster shelves in the 1990s.
Eliza Dushku, the actress who voices Rubi, deserves special condemnation. You must have to see her to appreciate her craft, as her voice-overs in “Wet” are cringe-worthy. The horrible dialogue doesn’t help.
The addictive gameplay in “Wet” is buried under a mountain of cliches and bad storytelling. Still, it’s worth playing if you can tolerate the tedious cut-scenes and don’t mind slaughtering half of Hong Kong.
“WET” Bethesda Softworks for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Rated M for Mature.
