Wet

Fronted by a raven haired femme fatale and dressed in a seventies movie filter, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is another excuse for artistry in the guise of the Grindhouse formula. And you’d be right - although this effort wholly lacks the subtle intelligence of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, and instead plumps for the more excessive, directionless tastes of Robert Rodriguez.

Wet’s closest gaming cousin would be Stranglehold, the John Woo inspired gun-fest of 2007. Like that game, it features twin handguns, plenty of bullet time and a cast of Hong Kong gangsters.

The difference here is that main character Rubi is far more acrobatic than Chow Yun Fat. With bar swinging, wall running, and building leaping, it’s a bit like Tomb Raider without the puzzles.

It’s rough around the edges for the most part. The art direction is trying far too hard to imitate than innovate, and the environments are stiff, lacking destructible elements. The characters are boxy and the graphics are only saved from looking out-dated by the occasional nice sequence.

Still, for the most part the acrobatic slaughter is fun, and although what should be ultra-cool humour tends to be embarrassingly over-baked, it still engaging in its own silly way.

It delivers action and nothing else. After an hour it’s disappointingly repetitive - but there’s still something to be said for bullet time bullet-blitzes being fun in short bursts.

It doesn’t deliver anything particularly new and doesn’t try particularly hard to do so, but if you need a mindless action fix then this is it.

Six out of Ten
Out Now
Format: XBOX 360
Price: £34.99
Contact: www.bethsoft.com