Well, here is my first review. Be gentle. I was going to do a review on Batman: Arkham Asylum, but I am not for two reasons. 1, everyone has already done one and it’s received great ratings, so just go play it and 2, I played it awhile ago and forgot what I wanted to write. I decided to do a review on Wet since I just played it and it may not be on most people’s radar. I know I didn’t hear about it until it came out and I saw a commercial for it. This is for the Xbox 360 version, but I assume they’re the same.

Wet is named after the word “wetwork”, which is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to hands literally wet with blood. You play the game as a rare female protagonist, Rubi Malone, who is all things badass and beautiful in a tomboyish way (see image). The gameplay is similar to John Woo’s Stranglehold game where you do a lot of slow-motion shooting and acrobatics, but I enjoyed Wet more. Rubi is very athletic and can jump off of almost anything in the world and fire upon her enemies. They are mostly inferior to your skill, except that they usually take you on in massive numbers with a few chain-gunners thrown in later on.

Due to the game’s Grindhouse style and catchy soundtrack, it really felt like a Quentin Tarantino movie. I always felt like I was in Kill Bill due to the fact that Rubi also equips a very sharp samurai sword that can be used when enemies are at close range.

There are a few annoyances with the game. My main gripe was the fact that the game uses your acrobatics a lot in some of the levels. For example, you need to run through a burning building and dodge and jump over debris, etc. The problem is that you need to do this fast and sometimes they don’t give you an easy way to tell which way you need to go so you end up jumping to your death. Another complaint I see a lot is with the game’s “Quick Time” events. These are basically required button presses during cut scenes. It seems to remove some of the excitement from really extreme moments in the game. Technically, there is no final boss fight, it’s just a series of these button presses.

The soundtrack and voice work are top notch. With voice work by Eliza Dushku, Malcolm McDowell, and Alan Cumming and a great selection of Grindhouse-y songs, (sorry, the best description I can think of) you really feel like part of the action. Here are some songs from the game, courtesy of YouTube: Example 1 & Example 2.

While this game probably won’t win any “Game of the Year” awards, it’s definitely a fun play. If you enjoy mindless gun and sword related murder while jumping through the air off of everything and sliding on your knees while slicing off enemy’s legs, than you’ll enjoy this game. It’s easy enough to learn and difficult to master, so you’ll have enough of a challenge. If you pay closer attention than I did and not jump to your death all the time, than you may never even get annoyed by the issue I had.

Sideshow’s Verdict: RENT. Give it a try first. There is a demo out, which will give you a good sample of the different level types. I know it’s there for the 360 and I can only assume it’s also there for the PS3.