Sitting down to review this game, I'm inclined to just stamp it with some kind of "Generic TPS" brand and move on; allowing you to make your own judgment based on whether or not you're entirely sick of this genre yet, but that wouldn't be responsible of me and it would fail to entertain, so instead, I'm going to tell you exactly why Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a complete waste of everyone's time and money.


At least he looks cool while he's doing boring shit.

Immediately of note is the fact that this game features a cover-system, as if a shooter can exist with out one in the post-Gears universe, and what's surprising is that it's actually well implemented. The transitions from cover to cover, and your ability to move extremely quickly between then, lend the stop-and-pop a healthy dose of speed not found in Gears of War and other like-minded games of the genre. However, it falters without a run button, making your movement to further points of cover feel sluggish and often times let the enemy take a couple free shots.

Of course, if you're not ducking for cover, you're shooting people, and Wanted pulls this off well enough. You've got your standard blind-fire and pop-and-shoot mechanics, but Wanted tries to make it's stake using "bullet curving", which is essentially an auto-lock instant kill move for most enemies. Once you've locked on to an enemy, you need to maneuver a curving line around environmental objects so that there's a clear trajectory to your target; it's a great way to keep the game moving when you get stuck with one of those enemies who doesn't seem to want to show his face. One curved bullet and they're history. The trick with bullet curving is that you need to build up adrenaline, portrayed using red bullets in the right-hand corner, by killing people in order to use it. Thankfully, GRIN noticed the only decent thing about Wanted was the bullet curving and made building your adrenaline extremely quick and easy.


This is cool, but it's not enough.

So, if Wanted does all this stuff fairly well, why am I so down on it? Because we've already fucking done this before! And not just half a dozen times, but in every other action game released since Gears of War brought these mechanics to the forefront back in 2006! It's gotten to the point where we're flooded with third person shooters, and only the very best are worth a look. It's like the mascot based platformers of the 16-bit era, you could throw a rock and hit one with decent mechanics, but who still gives a shit? Why are you going to bend over and pick up a penny when there's a dollar laying right beside it?

However, the most appalling trait Wanted is saddled with is its price point. At full price, there's no way in hell you should even think of buying it. If you were a huge fan of the comics and the movie, it would still be impossible to recommend. Even as an $9 week long rental, Wanted feels like a rip-off. At just under 4 hours in length, it feels more akin to the XBLA/PSN release of Watchmen: The End is Nigh than a full retail game, and it begs the question as to whether that should have been the case.