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WET - First Look Preview

Jon Wilcox

21/09/2007

TVG gets an early glimpse at Sierra's Roderiguez/Woo inspired shooter...

Announced at the 2007 Game Convention in Leipzig last month, WET is an upcoming action shooter from Sierra Entertainment and Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M) due for release in September 2008. A definite departure for a studio normally associated with videogames for children (Teen Titans, Happy Feet and The Ant Bully are just some of the titles produced by the Quebec outfit), WET is shaping up to be the videogame offspring of a coming together by John Woo and Robert Rodriguez.

But Sierra's recent 'first look' demonstration of WET shows something much grittier in style than the usual sort of third-person action shooters heading to console in the next twelve months. In fact, the presentation of the game skewed heavily towards a more 'Grindhouse' feel, stripped away of overly processed lighting effects and 'clean' camera angles and instead emphasised WET's over the top acrobatics and takedowns. Take the storyline of the game for instance:

Written by former 24 scribe and story editor Duppy Demetrius, WET follows a female 'problem solver' (read: deadly assassin) called Rubi, who happens to be particularly good at her job. After being double-crossed by one 'client' however, she sets out on a path to collect her fee and exact revenge along the way...which sounds exactly like the sort of thing you'd expect to come out of Hong Kong cinema. Judging from our very brief introduction to the WET experience, the game is shaping up to be a particularly fast and (dare we say it) 'fluid' affair, with Rubi mixing her shooting skills with gravity-defying acrobatics and swordplay.

Running along walls with her sword fully drawn, or performing knee slides and backward somersaults with her dual pistols firing away all seems to be everyday occurrences for Rubi, as seen in Sierra's announcement trailer for the game. Despite the obvious but simplistic comparisons between Rubi and Lara Croft (let's face it, there aren't too many female protagonists kicking about), WET's femme fatale is more akin to The Bride from Tarantino's Kill Bill series. A deadly mercenary come assassin with a penchant for a sharp blade and a pistol or two, Rubi is far rawer than the restrained personality of Eidos' iconic tomb raider.

The demo itself also showed her capabilities in action, set in a large oriental-themed room in Hong Kong (said to be one of the more open maps in the game). Blood red walls with carved screens and waves of enemies, it didn't take long for Rubi to get to work, with her dual pistols doing their job. A2M are obviously going for a very cinematic experience with WET, with a heavily dynamic auto-camera rarely staying still for a second, rotating around the character as she aims at her next target before pulling the trigger. Carrying around a sword doesn't make this the third-person equivalent to Ubisoft's Red Steel on Wii however. A2M describes the ability to perform sword kills as 'difficult to set up', so it's not as straightforward as just pulling it out with a simple button press - though they can be triggered at any point once Rubi gets close enough to her target.

One of the main features to the WET experience expands upon its nod to over the top combat, with Rubi capable of split-targeting two separate individuals at a time. Players will be able to lock onto both objects and enemies, for instance shooting away a grenade whilst at the same time taking down a grunt, all with the flick of a thumbstick. A2M are focusing a lot on the control system for game, with individual button presses for acrobatics, jumps, and knee slides - which suggests that gameplay will emphasise the character's movement as she combos together moves and attacks. Environmental interaction will also be added, enabling players to barricade doors with tables and other objects, delaying enemies just long enough to organise a counterattack against them.

A2M have already confirmed that WET will not be featuring any multiplayer mode, though an Arcade gametype is in the works based around the idea of combo kills. Like a lot of the game, there's very little information outside of the offices of A2M and Sierra Entertainment available at the moment, but more will no doubt become apparent come the New Year.