Wet is a game that places style over substance and will appeal to fans who like action heavy games like Max Payne or Stranglehold.  It offers 14 levels of over the top action including plenty of eye candy and Quicktime events, and although it can feel a bit shallow at times, at least it makes up the shortcomings with some attitude and style. 

From the get go it's easy to see the heavy Grindhouse influence in the art department.  The fonts, the splatter filters, the locations, they all look like something you would find in a movie from the 70's or by something that Tarentino would've directed.  Add in a healthy dose of Asian cinema and it's infatuation with slow motion bullet time and you have the key ingredients that make up the game.  

You play as Rubi, an assassin for hire sent to various locations around the world on a quest of vengeance and retribution.  It's a pretty straight forward plot and reminds one of such storylines as I spit on your grave and Kill Bill.  You simply can't beat a revenge story, they never get old!   Rubi is a woman of few words who prefers to let her guns and sword do the talking for her not that that is such a bad thing as the voice acting can range from mediocre to terrible.  One thing that Rubi is however is one ass-kickin heroine who is just about impossible to kill.  The game is filled with a combination of QTEs and waves of hokey bad guys designed for the sole purpose of being killed by Rubi.  This game is no Mass Effect, nor does it try to be and to be fair Wet does wear its heart on its sleeve.   You know what you are getting into right from the beginning.

The thing that makes wet stands out however is that there is no limit to the amount of Bullet Time you're allowed to use.   It's actually automatic.  When you go to jump or run on a wall or slide on your knees at enemy, the game will automatically slow down so that you can execute your enemies in grand style.  For the first fifty enemies you execute, you'll start to go a bit tired of the constant slow mo, it's a great mechanic and makes you feel like a real super ninja, but once the repetition sets in, it takes away from the amazing effect of the slow mo.  At least it works and works well.  

There are also a couple of levels where you'll end up in a good old school chase scene and have to complete it by passing a heap of quicktime events.   Other levels are done in 'rage mode' which for me is where the game looks its most sexy.  Using a combination of black and white and red everywhere, the game takes on the stylish graphics that Madworld used on the Wii.  Unfortunately these stages are few and far between and I would've like to see more use of this style as it actually worked better than the style that Wet employs in the majority of the tale.

Graphically Wet gets the job done.  It's definitely not at the higher end of the spectrum but the colours and style are all there and Rubi animates perfectly.  I like her look and the look of the environments but a bit more varied enemies would've been nicer.  The grainy filters and colour palette really make Wet quite nice to look at but unfortunately what Wet makes up for in style it loses in originality as most of the game design is still stuck in a last generation mentality.

Another reason why Wet doesn't rise above its peers is that it's a very short game.  It will only take you one lazy afternoon to complete it on Normal and there really isn't much incentive to go back and do it all again.  There are some challenge modes to mess around in that will have you making it through an obstacle course like you're Lara Croft, but apart from that the game is far too short to recommend that you pay full price for it. 

There are plenty of interesting moments and set pieces and at least the mechanics are pretty rock solid but just don't expect the most original game ever released.  The developers probably set out to create a fun and fast game full of action and homage to old school flicks, and they definitely succeeded.  But with such a shallow lead character who possesses no witty dialogue stuck in a simple revenge tale that really goes nowhere, it's hard to ask the audience to adopt a love for Rubi.  I liked the game when it shifted things up and changed the style in the Rage mode parts, but for the most part it was like playing Stranglehold all over again.  Plus it was all over in one afternoon.

 

Wet does pass the test, but only just.