Wanted: Weapons of Fate
Once I was clueless and pathetic, just like you. Sitting in front of my TV playing videogames, getting fat. I was a loser. With this intro Wanted: Weapons of Fate sets the tone for what’s waiting for you. An adrenaline-pumping shooter with a small dose of comedy and a stereotypical nerd as assassin. Too bad we have to go through this without a virtual Angelina Jolie…
The story plays after the happenings in the Hollywood movie Wanted. To not spoil anything I can only say the game is about Wesley Gibson, the nerdy assassin. You’ll get more info on his past, the Fraternity and his parents. And this is where things go wrong as people who know nothing about the series or haven’t seen the movie will open their eyes wide when they see rats with explosives on their back running around, see an ancient loom go up in flames and constantly hear talks about a Fraternity.
The game has two pilars: the quickly changing of hideouts, ‘Killing is like dancing. When the music starts, you gotta move’ and the bending of bullets, ‘Putting a bullet in someone’s head is easy. The hard part is blowing their brains without them even knowing that you’re there.’ The first is necessary and luckily well worked out. Once you’re in hiding you can determine your next one with the analog stick and is rewarded by “confusing” your enemy, allowing you to make a sick and most of all bloody melee attack.
Just as in the movie it’s possible to have bullets make a certain curve. This is excellently done and the controls feel very intuitive. With the shoulder button you activate the bullet curve technique and with the analog stick you can change the curve of your shot. A colored line shows the trajectory and whether or not you’ll hit someone. After firing your shot the camera sometimes follows the bullet and through a beautiful slow motion scene you get to see what the impact it has on the skull of your opponent.
The game has three difficulty degrees with suiting names: Pussy, Assassin and Killer. The third one of unlockable later on but the game isn’t worth going through twice. For the collectors amongst us there are a couple of images and concept art to be found but few people will put any effort in that. I’ve managed to finish the game without any problem at any time which shows an extremely low difficulty degree. The enemies are incredibly predictable and have an IQ that reaches the level of a penguin. On top of that the hostiles that look the same also behave identical. There’s the “kamikaze-ninja” that run straight at you, the “Matrix enemies” that manage to evade all your bullets and the standard “whack-a-mole” empty heads.
The game is incredibly, even outrageously short, as after a small four hours the ending credits already appear on the screen. No multiplayer, no replay value, a very standard-scripted shooter and as such this game certainly isn’t worth its money. Or at least not the suggested retail price of 50 euros!
Graphically the game looks pretty standard. The characters are quite well worked out and also the surroundings are ok but unfortunately things repeat quickly due to the pretty boring and linear level design. And that in only four hours… There’s also little liberty in movement which makes it seem like you’re walking on rails.
Wanted: Weapons of Fate is again a movie game that doesn’t succeed to take away the prejudice. The story is difficult/hardly understandable for people who don’t know the background, the game is way too easy, and four hours is definitely too short. Next to this the game doesn’t offer multiplayer which could have been an interesting option. The bullet curving is fun for a couple of hours (irony) but quickly bores. Wanted: Weapons of Fate is best left laying on store shelves until it ends up in the bargain bin for 15 euros.
6.0