Upon seeing the movie version of Wanted adapted from the cult graphic novel, it was immediately obvious that it would make for perfect videogame fodder. However, with gamers no strangers to sloppily converted, half-baked movie related fare; it’s always difficult to approach yet another example without some degree of cynicism. Is Weapons of Fate doomed to join the swelling ranks of turgid movie to game translations or will it buck the trend? It’s a question we feel obligated to ask of every movie to game conversion.
Early indications from our hands-on time with the game suggest that Wanted: Weapons of Fate could well prove an interesting prospect, despite the perfunctory gameplay gimmicks that have been shoehorned into an otherwise conventional framework. Wanted: Weapons of Fate currently looks like another in a slew of Gears of War imitators, with the control system almost entirely lifted wholesale from Epic’s popular action shooter. There does however appear to be enough neat little touches and refinements evident to lift it above the usual cover shooter facsimiles. Firstly, there’s a reliable cover system with on-screen icons that indicate what direction you’ll head in as you move from cover to cover. So far, so derivative you may scoff, but WOF’s cover mechanic manages to keep the action fast and fluid as the simplistic controls enable you to replicate the movie’s slick, bombastic exploits with aplomb.
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| Full Killer gear is undeniably cool and comes straight out of the comic book. Sweet | Weapons of Fate's action looks effortlessly slick, even if the graphics don't quite look up to scratch |
Although the game has enjoyed the input of the graphic novel’s author Mark Millar, the game retains the look of Timur Bekmambetov’s film although the slightly iffy character likenesses and hazy visuals threaten to dispel the atmosphere at times. Nevertheless the core mechanics of the game are sound and the game’s modest innovations are worthy of mention. Chaining moves from cover to cover (‘Quick Chain’) in quick succession is easy and in turn fills your adrenalin meter, which then allows you to briefly slow time and perform uber cool Max Payne style bullet ballets. It’s more than apparent that the dev team at GRIN Barcelona have made every effort to ensure that the style and OTT anarchy of the game’s source material arrives intact when the finished product ships this March.
Certain portions of the narrative adopt the form of an interactive cut scene in a clever twist on the relatively passive QTE. During these sequences, your movements are pre-defined, but you’re free to aim wherever you like, although you need to hit prompts that appear as small targets in order to progress. Melee moves are also suitably swift and efficient as befits a highly skilled assassin, and you can even reach over cover to stab any hapless goon on the opposite side with your knife.
Gunplay is much as you’d expect from a cover based third person shooter, with left trigger providing your aim and right trigger firing your weapon. B activates your knife wielding melee attacks while A acts as your sprint and cover and X is your reload button. Y appears to grant you an extra option when moving from cover, which should prove handy when you want to efficiently evade difficult situations. All this and we still haven’t got to the bullet bending yet.
Wanted wouldn’t be Wanted without the highly improbable ability to bend bullets around objects and as such Weapons of Fate doesn’t disappoint. Bending bullets is almost too easy and allows you to dispatch concealed enemies with very little effort. While aiming your weapon, simply holding the right bumper brings up a line that projects the trajectory of your bullet. The enemy you’re aiming at shows up as a red silhouette and subsequently tweaking the left analog stick to bend the bullet’s path causes the silhouette to turn white, indicating an accurate hit. All that’s left to do is pull the trigger and enjoy the results as your bendy bullet heads off on its fatal collision course. An exceptionally well-aimed bendy bullet initiates a cinematic bullet-cam that follows the projectile from the barrel of your gun to the splattered cranium of your unfortunate victim.
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| WoF adheres to the old exploding barrel cliche, so if you shoot one it'll go up in a ball of flames | That bullet bending in all its glory. In reality it's a gimmick that could ultimately grate. We'll see |
As movie tie-ins go, Weapons of Fate is shaping up to be one that avoids the usual pitfalls of merely regurgitating the movie’s story, instead building upon the mythology of the comic book and the film. If you’ve seen the film, chances are you may be genuinely compelled to see what else the game brings to the overall narrative and on this showing there are certainly a lot of strands to Weapon of Fate’s story. Flashback stages have you playing as Wesley Gibson’s father, delving further into his and your own relationship with The Fraternity. Both father and son are fully fledged assassins, each sporting the moniker of The Killer, with their outlandish abilities reflecting their status as ultimate killing machines. Wearing an impossibly cool black jumpsuit get-up is just the icing on the cake.
Clearly GRIN have a love for the source material, which is more than evident in Weapons of Fate. All of the elements appear to be in place for WoF to be not only a decent movie-related game but also a solid action game in its own right. Even the movie’s dark sense of humour makes the transition and bizarre bonuses like extra character skins including Gibson’s obnoxious boss round out the package. All you need to decide now is which difficulty level you’ll play – Pussy, Assassin or The Killer. Erm...maybe we’ll pass on that first one. We certainly ain’t no pussy.
