Now that the game has arrived, it hasn't done much to change my mind about the comic to movie (to game) transition, and I was kind of hoping to see a few more nods to the comic since I figured that would be a little easier to fit in than in the film. However, the game stays really true to the source material of the film, and while we do get the Killer suit to pop up and play a fairly large role, that's about it as far as nods to the comic go.

The game picks up just a short while after the movie has ended, and while we don't get too much of an idea as to what Wesley's been up to, the action starts off with a bang, as the French quarter of The Fraternity has now officially taken an interest in not only Wesley, but with the remnants of the Loom of Fate as well. Wesley, still not partial to being shot at, takes it upon himself to keep this new sect of The Fraternity from achieving their goals, while at the same time getting a little more background info on his parents. The game presents two sections of Wesley's life, one from the current time and one from around the time of his birth, where the player will take on the role of Cross, Wesley's dad. Really though, I thought the plot reveals here were mostly weak, and I didn't think the story of the game added much to the overall mythology established in the movie. It certainly didn't build up or change anything character wise, which I think is definitely a wasted opportunity.

I will say that a lot of the mechanics used in the game work really well, and I think as a third person action game Wanted decent enough job. There's a heavy use of cover in the game, and while something like Gears makes use of cover pretty often, in Wanted the stages are designed so that you move in and out of cover constantly, often trying your best to ease your way forward along a section to get closer to an enemy, allowing you to either perform a one button melee kill, or at least get within firing range to make accurate shots. It's a pretty cool system, and while I think it adds to the game being too easy for the most part, I'd like to see Grin or someone else try and make use of it again, and just continue to refine it.

Along with cover comes the Adrenaline system, which could have been a typical bullet time knockoff, but instead works as a way of powering up Wesley's abilities to curve bullets and make slowdown cover transitions. The bullet curve is really just a more precise grenade throw, so when you have the option available (which is often) you hold down the RB and adjust the trajectory that is designated by a curved line on screen. If there is a target available, it'll automatically lock on to whatever is near your line of sight, and if that lock on turns from red to white, you know you'll score a hit. With most enemies, this is a one hit kill, and on occasion the camera will stop the action and follow the bullet to display some over-the-top blood splatter or head explosion. I'm not sure if there's an option to turn it off, but it does become a bit old to watch after a while, but thankfully it doesn't do it for every kill. Later on you'll run into enemies that won't die from the Bullet Curve hit, but it will knock them out of cover, allowing you to pop off enough shots to take them down while they stagger about. Also, you can use up a bit more of your adrenaline meter to pop Wesley out of cover in slow motion, nearly freezing everything as you take shots at whatever. This is the generic version of bullet time I was expecting from the system, but I'm not surprised it's tossed in there (and it does prove to be useful on a couple bosses).

Even though the Bullet Curve mechanic is cool, and works well, it's really hardly necessary to overcome most enemies in the game, simply because the AI is really, really dumb. You can start the game on Normal, but to unlock the Hard (The Killer) difficulty, you have to finish the game, and on default the enemies are pretty mindless. Since the bullet curve is obviously a big draw to the game, most of the enemies seem to be designed with the sense that they need to stay behind cover. And while they do move around on occasion, they'll never use cover in the same way Wesley does, even though they could. They'll get behind a box or car or whatever, and they'll stay there, either waiting for you to bullet curve them to death, get right next to them and slit their throat, or they'll pop out from cover to fire a shot in the same spot over and over, allowing you to easily take them down. Basically, after the initial cool factor of the bullet curve and cover system wears off, you're left with a really tepid action game that's playable, sure, but not all that fun. This is especially evident when you hit the last stage in the game, which is a pretty grueling grind up a series of floors that seem like one repeating encounter after another.

Also, what's with the lack of weapons in this game? Wesley starts off with pistols, eventually gets a machine gun with exploding bullets, and that's about it. There are sniper sections in the game, but you can only use the sniper rifle when the games wants you to, it's never something you can switch back and forth from. The enemies have more variety in their weapons than you ever do, and they only ever drop ammo, never the actual guns. You get to see shotguns and grenades in play, but you'll never get to use either. I suppose using a shotgun isn't normally the tool of an assassin, but having these huge destructive encounters with multitudes of enemies doesn't scream stealth either.

Also, the unlockables for finishing the game had the potential to be cool, but since none of the extra characters you can replay as have any impact on how the story plays out, and they all play in an identical fashion to Wesley, they really have no impact other than being a simple re-skin. There are codes that are easily found online at this point, which have far more entertaining unlockables (one hit kills, unlimited ammo, close combat mode, etc), so you might want to seek those out once you finish the main game, if you decide to pick it up.

In the end though, Wanted is a competent shooter, but just barely. The ideas behind the cover system and the bullet curve are certainly solid, but the rest of the game just doesn't hold up that well. With some more interesting and challenging enemies, a few more guns to change up the style of play, and a plot that actually had some impact on the main character, I could see this easily being a better title than it is. Worth checking out as a rental, but four hours of play with just a little replay value doesn't equal something I would pick up for $60.

Click Here to purchase Wanted: Weapons of Fate from Amazon.com