It's hard to play WET and refrain from drawing comparisons to John Woo's Stranglehold when the basic premise is essentially carbon-copied from Midways flawed but firmly enjoyable wire-fu blaster. The similarities between the two titles end here, as this latest entry to the stunt shooter pack fails to deliver the explosive, stunt-filled bullet orgy we were promised during development. At least the soundtrack is brilliant...

That this latest effort from French developer Artificial Mind and Movement was supposedly shelved then reinstated in July 2008 suggests it incurred some kind of development hell, which would go some way to explaining how ropey the whole thing looks and feels. However, you can't help feel that after years of development, the studio should have addressed many of the games inherent flaws, such as the erratic camera and the utterly insipid lead character Rubi, voiced here by Dollhouse actress Eliza Dushku.

Things do start off with promise however, with the retro grindhouse visuals and scratchy camera effect overlaid to create a grunge vibe that really does catch the eye at first. Although after a while it gets a bit tired and seems to exist only to paper over mucky visuals that have aged poorly following years of production, much more than the flashy rendered screenshots would have you believe. The plot is confusing, starting with gun-for-hire Rubi battling gangsters to reclaim a stolen heart her client needs for a vital transplant. What follows is a series of double-crossings, globetrotting adventures and a quest for revenge. It should be the stuff of big-budget action blockbusters, but in reality it winds up blurry and convoluted, rendering it hard to care about the incredibly anti-climatic conclusion.

Rubi herself is an uninspiring and incredibly unlikeable lead, dropping an endless tirade of unnecessary expletives, relishing in the suffering of her victims and giving off embarrassing levels of 'bad girl' attitude that makes her character verge precariously on the edge of parody. With no back story or real fleshing out of her character, you never really get under her skin to discover what has driven her down the cold-hearted, blood stained path of the mercenary. Then again you may find it hard to care because after all, who wants to get to know a woman who enjoys stabbing men in the privates just because she can? Definitely not a girl you would take home to meet mother that's for sure.

The enemies themselves are the definition of cookie-cutter; Chinese goons in suits, spouting embarrassingly offensive one liners such as: "I'll give you my secret sauce!". With only three enemy variations throughout the whole game, don't expect the experience to differ much for the short duration. Rubi has to acrobatically blast her way through goon in suit with pistols, goon in suit with samurai sword and goon in suit with mini-gun. Well this is not entirely true, as the enemies are re-skinned depending on the location, with London swapping suits for fisherman outfits as you battle through a grey and poorly textured fish cannery. Exotic stuff.

Pulling off acrobatic gunplay typically involves leaping around tight corridors or larger arenas with several enemy spawn points that must be blocked before proceeding. Pressing A makes Rubi jump and by shooting while in mid-air, you will enter slow-motion mode which lets you dual target two enemies at once using your pistols, shotguns, SMGs or explosive crossbows. This is fine in theory but the range of moves is entirely limited and barely makes use of the environment. Part of Stranglehold's genius was how easy it was to create fluid combo kills by sliding belly-first on trolleys, ramping down banisters and seeking out new trick lines as if it was some demented game of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Here you are limited to jumping, sliding on your knees, sliding down ladders, jumping off enemies heads for leverage or spinning round poles.

Even in slow-motion, killing enemies is a real piece of work, with some foes taking a full ten shots to the chest before going down on 'normal' difficulty setting, leaving head shots as the only sure thing. However, the unhelpful aiming reticule makes this harder still coupled with an equally confused camera that seems to get stuck when you leap backwards into a wall while shooting, swinging above Rubi's head instead of giving you a clear view of your advancing attackers. As a result your combo chain will deplete all too quickly.

The higher your combo, the more style points you earn, acting as currency that can be cashed-in for new abilities and weapon upgrades at the mid and end-level store. None of these purchases alter the game drastically; even new sword combos or death-defying stunts are luxuries your points cannot afford, leaving you with uninspiring upgrades such as bigger ammo clips, rate of fire and increased health bars. The scope to implement a deep and tactical combat system similar to Devil May Cry is massive here, but instead Rubi can execute generic swings by hammering X or rising slashes by using B to knee-slide first then attack. These are hardly anything to write home about and are less than effective when fighting groups of enemies unloading clip after clip into you without let-up.

There is one significant moment early on in the campaign that seems as if it may redeem things somewhat and this involves a short cut scene where an enemy rushes Rubi with his sword only to get shot point blank in the head, with the resulting blood spray splattering all over her face. Understandably peeved by the mess, she gets angry and enters rage mode causing the visuals to shift to a block colour style which is similar to Suda 51's Killer 7, with a neat red, black and white cel-shaded art style. The soundtrack ramps up and you have to fight your way to an end point, battling an increased volume of goons who shatter and dissolve when killed.

It looks wonderful, but unfortunately, once you've seen the preceding goon-rushing, face-shooting, blood-spraying, rage-getting cut scene play for the fifth time throughout the campaign, all impact is well and truly buried. Re-using elements in games is not uncommon, but that the developer couldn't even bother coming up with increasingly gory and messy reasons for Rubi to get angry and all covered in blood speaks volumes about the deflated feeling you get from playing the game. The same goes for the arena areas that are almost always guaranteed to involve fighting a pack of goons that endlessly respawn from doorways, led by a mini-gun toting leader. You can set your watch by it.

Another neat idea that fails to deliver are the challenge missions that will pop up every time Rubi gets a new weapon, tasking you with running around her Texas junkyard hideout, passing through checkpoints while shooting at targets. All well and good, but without an in-HUD map or objective pointer, finding your next gate can be a real pain, which is not helped by the naff camera. Static viewpoints are an issue at times in the challenge areas and within the main campaign. These usually come into play when you tackle platforming sections that try to mimic Prince of Persia, but wind up as several poorly signposted trial-and-error sections, with one too many leaps of faith.

It is clear that the developer has tried to give WET a Quentin Tarantino aesthetic quality, closely resembling the director's Grindhouse instalment Death Proof in terms of the grainy retro visuals and the superb soundtrack. The tunes on offer here are spot on, with a trashy punk and soul vibe that could be right at home in any of his movies, but instead feel wasted here. Visually this tries to capture the same vibe but instead falls very flat. When a stage that sees Rubi freefalling through the debris of an exploded airliner at tens of thousands of feet while shooting it out with plummeting goons feels as boring as it does here, you can't help but feel that the game will never pull it back before the end credits roll all too quickly. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't, as even the final boss battle winds up being a long and incredibly dull quick time event cut scene.

WET promised so much but after years of development has delivered very little. The visceral, no-holds barred blend of gunplay and stunts that were hinted at initially have failed to materialise here. For little more than the price of a burger meal you can do one better and buy Stranglehold instead. While not perfect, it at least provides a brief, but thrilling experience that lets you pull off some truly insane stunts that WET fails to establish. That said, if you do want a few hours of mindless, over the top gunplay, wait for the price to drop a bit before buying this.

Reviewed by Dave Cook for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).