Wanted: Weapons of Fate Review
20 April 2009 | By Richard Walker
Wanted? If you’ve got nothing else, I suppose
Timur Bekmambetov’s movie adaptation of the Wanted comic books was one of the most OTT Hollywood action flicks we’ve seen in a long time, with ridiculous car chases, impossible bullet bending and Angelina Jolie’s naked butt. As hit movies go, it was an unexpectedly decent adaptation of the cult graphic novel. If only the same could be said of the movie to game transition. Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a fairly run-of-the-mill cover shooter reminiscent of Digital Extremes’ Dark Sector, albeit without the pointy glaive chucking. Expanding upon the comic and movie universe – as is de rigueur for movie to game adaptations these days – WoF follows Wesley Gibson a mere five hours after the conclusion of the movie as well as placing you in the shoes as his father, Cross during flashback sequences. Preceding knowledge of either the film or the comic books is assumed in Weapons of Fate, so if you’ve not yet been exposed to either and want to avoid being subjected to a whole raft of spoilers, you might want to steer clear of the game until you’ve had the chance to do so.
Wanted is a cover shooter with a slight twist in that you can chain together cover to cover moves in quick succession to outwit your enemies. The interface always displays where the nearest area of cover is and moving to it is always followed by a suitably athletic and graceful roll or slide. Dashing between cover is satisfyingly smooth with the core shooting as tight and responsive as you could possibly want and as you accumulate adrenaline dots during the course of the game, you’ll unlock the ability to slow time as you move between cover, enabling you to pop several targets in relative safety.
Once you’ve made your way through the game’s four tutorials peppered through the opening stages of the game, you’ll eventually gain access to the full range of moves at Gibson’s disposal including that gimmicky bullet curving trickery from the film. By the time you’ve accrued the maximum four adrenaline dots that can be earned by executing kills (how else?), you’ll be an unstoppable force, able to constantly curve bullets in succession. That is if you’re not scuppered by the temperamental targeting that occasionally forces you into curving a bullet into thin air. Otherwise, lining up a bending bullet is a snap, requiring you to hold R1 while you line up your shot with the analogue stick. Your intended target will turn red when obstructed and white when open for a direct hit, which can be an easy way to draw a bead on an enemy with no effort whatsoever. Strip away this added fluff though and you’ll expose a pretty average action title that relies entirely upon these novelty features, which succeed in raising Wanted to a cut above the usual hackneyed movie-related fodder. But only just.
While the game’s core mechanic of chaining between cover is undoubtedly fluid, actually sidling along while you’re pressed against a wall is painfully sluggish by comparison. Also at odds with the fast pace of the movie is the glacial subdue and flank tactic encouraged in the game’s early tutorials, where you’re instructed to creep behind the leader of a SWAT team who cements himself behind an indestructible riot shield. This requires you to blind fire towards the enemy sending the edges of the screen into a blurry white haze, denoting that your foe is temporarily subdued. You must then edge your way to their flank and dole out a flurry of lead-tinged headshots to take care of him quickly. You’ll immediately discover that this is the dullest possible way to deal with shielded hostiles, and once you’ve unlocked the bullet curving ability, you’ll never need or resort to it again anyway, so it’s rendered an utterly pointless mechanic by the time you’ve reached the second mission.
Developer GRIN has put a real emphasis on trying to make the player feel like a proficient killer and in this department they’ve excelled themselves. Dispatching the waves of dull, identikit foes is easy given the limitless ammunition scattered everywhere and the acrobatic moves you can pull off on a whim are inarguably stylish. The trouble is, even in spite of Wesley’s move set you’ll still feel stifled by the claustrophobic, linear level design and limited gameplay. You can’t help but consider that a more Max Payne or Stranglehold-style approach would have tied in closer with the movie’s own brand of excessive gunplay where Gibson seldom resorts to cowering behind a low wall as shrapnel pings by his ear holes. There’s simply none of the effervescent whizz-bang of the film, where cars flip over buses and bullets fly with reckless abandon. Instead, the only genuine stylistic addition is the unpredictable bullet-cam, which follows the bullet from the barrel of your gun all the way to your victim’s cranium at totally random intervals. This is the only part of Weapons of Fate that doesn’t get old.
Visually, Wanted is reasonably slick with decent enough in-game likenesses that almost resemble their real-life counterparts. During the pre-rendered cut sequences however, things fare less well with likenesses suffering somewhat - especially Terence Stamp, who just looks plain wrong. Nevertheless, there’s very little to find fault with in the game’s overall presentation. The lighting and textures all look perfectly decent and once you play as Wesley in full Killer garb, it’s impossible not to feel at least a little cool.
Despite its many flaws, Weapons of Fate still somehow succeeds in holding your attention for the duration of its nine missions, although at a paltry five hours or so, it’s all over before its even had a chance to build up a head of steam, which is a real shame. There are a few small visual flourishes and welcome twists on what is fast becoming an overcrowded genre, but there’s no escaping the glaring reality that Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a by-the-numbers third-person shooter garnished with a few unique gameplay features that only just succeed in transcending the gimmick label. Still given the source material, Weapons of Fate could have been so much more than the sum of its decidedly average parts instead of a game that fails to successfully capture the movie’s insane, vicarious thrills. Given the devices the developer has shoehorned into the game, you’d have at least expected to find something clever or innovative to do with them beyond drilling a bullet-shaped hole into the heads of waves of samey bad guys, but these moments never come.
Top game moment:
Wanted is a cover shooter with a slight twist in that you can chain together cover to cover moves in quick succession to outwit your enemies. The interface always displays where the nearest area of cover is and moving to it is always followed by a suitably athletic and graceful roll or slide. Dashing between cover is satisfyingly smooth with the core shooting as tight and responsive as you could possibly want and as you accumulate adrenaline dots during the course of the game, you’ll unlock the ability to slow time as you move between cover, enabling you to pop several targets in relative safety.
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| Sneak up behind an enemy and you can use him as a human shield. | This shot looks quite dramatic, but you’ll never see the game from this perspective. |
Once you’ve made your way through the game’s four tutorials peppered through the opening stages of the game, you’ll eventually gain access to the full range of moves at Gibson’s disposal including that gimmicky bullet curving trickery from the film. By the time you’ve accrued the maximum four adrenaline dots that can be earned by executing kills (how else?), you’ll be an unstoppable force, able to constantly curve bullets in succession. That is if you’re not scuppered by the temperamental targeting that occasionally forces you into curving a bullet into thin air. Otherwise, lining up a bending bullet is a snap, requiring you to hold R1 while you line up your shot with the analogue stick. Your intended target will turn red when obstructed and white when open for a direct hit, which can be an easy way to draw a bead on an enemy with no effort whatsoever. Strip away this added fluff though and you’ll expose a pretty average action title that relies entirely upon these novelty features, which succeed in raising Wanted to a cut above the usual hackneyed movie-related fodder. But only just.
While the game’s core mechanic of chaining between cover is undoubtedly fluid, actually sidling along while you’re pressed against a wall is painfully sluggish by comparison. Also at odds with the fast pace of the movie is the glacial subdue and flank tactic encouraged in the game’s early tutorials, where you’re instructed to creep behind the leader of a SWAT team who cements himself behind an indestructible riot shield. This requires you to blind fire towards the enemy sending the edges of the screen into a blurry white haze, denoting that your foe is temporarily subdued. You must then edge your way to their flank and dole out a flurry of lead-tinged headshots to take care of him quickly. You’ll immediately discover that this is the dullest possible way to deal with shielded hostiles, and once you’ve unlocked the bullet curving ability, you’ll never need or resort to it again anyway, so it’s rendered an utterly pointless mechanic by the time you’ve reached the second mission.
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| The Killer outfit in all its glory. Dual wielding machine guns is as good as it gets in Weapons of Fate. | This sequence playing as Cross plays out almost entirely as one long QTE. |
Developer GRIN has put a real emphasis on trying to make the player feel like a proficient killer and in this department they’ve excelled themselves. Dispatching the waves of dull, identikit foes is easy given the limitless ammunition scattered everywhere and the acrobatic moves you can pull off on a whim are inarguably stylish. The trouble is, even in spite of Wesley’s move set you’ll still feel stifled by the claustrophobic, linear level design and limited gameplay. You can’t help but consider that a more Max Payne or Stranglehold-style approach would have tied in closer with the movie’s own brand of excessive gunplay where Gibson seldom resorts to cowering behind a low wall as shrapnel pings by his ear holes. There’s simply none of the effervescent whizz-bang of the film, where cars flip over buses and bullets fly with reckless abandon. Instead, the only genuine stylistic addition is the unpredictable bullet-cam, which follows the bullet from the barrel of your gun all the way to your victim’s cranium at totally random intervals. This is the only part of Weapons of Fate that doesn’t get old.
Visually, Wanted is reasonably slick with decent enough in-game likenesses that almost resemble their real-life counterparts. During the pre-rendered cut sequences however, things fare less well with likenesses suffering somewhat - especially Terence Stamp, who just looks plain wrong. Nevertheless, there’s very little to find fault with in the game’s overall presentation. The lighting and textures all look perfectly decent and once you play as Wesley in full Killer garb, it’s impossible not to feel at least a little cool.
 |
 |
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| Getting up close for a brutal melee kill is sometimes the fastest way to take out an annoying bad guy who refuses to move. | Curving bullets is ludicrously simple, but occasionally the aiming can be slightly erratic. |
Despite its many flaws, Weapons of Fate still somehow succeeds in holding your attention for the duration of its nine missions, although at a paltry five hours or so, it’s all over before its even had a chance to build up a head of steam, which is a real shame. There are a few small visual flourishes and welcome twists on what is fast becoming an overcrowded genre, but there’s no escaping the glaring reality that Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a by-the-numbers third-person shooter garnished with a few unique gameplay features that only just succeed in transcending the gimmick label. Still given the source material, Weapons of Fate could have been so much more than the sum of its decidedly average parts instead of a game that fails to successfully capture the movie’s insane, vicarious thrills. Given the devices the developer has shoehorned into the game, you’d have at least expected to find something clever or innovative to do with them beyond drilling a bullet-shaped hole into the heads of waves of samey bad guys, but these moments never come.
Top game moment:
WANTED: WEAPONS OF FATE VERDICT
Shamefully brief and offering almost no replay value beyond gathering collectible scraps of paper to unlock perfunctory character skins and concept art, Wanted represents terrible value for money. You’ll undoubtedly enjoy playing thorough once, but only the truly dedicated will feel compelled to return for seconds. It’s a pleasant enough way to spend four or five hours of your life, but when there are so many superior alternatives out there, it becomes hard to lend Wanted a hearty recommendation. With the aforementioned Dark Sector and even Gears of War floating around at a bargain price, you’d be better off saving your money. If however you’ve exhausted all the alternatives and are still desperate for some lightweight shooty fun, then Wanted might just fit the bill.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Donning The Killer outfit for the first time. It does look unashamedly cool.
