Review: Wanted: Weapons Of Fate (PS3)

You take the role of Wesley Gibson, previously a white-collar office worker and now an assassin with a remarkable skill set. Installed in the unenviable position as the number one target for the fraternity, Wesley is trying to make sense of his situation. His parents were not the simple people that he was led to believe, with his dreams focusing on the death of his mother.

The intent is clearly to find out more about his origins and what events lead up to the death of both of his parents. Wesley is already the focus of the French chapter of The Fraternity, who have kindly decided to visit his neighbourhood to pay their respects, whilst collecting the Loom of Fate. Thus begins a nine-chapter adventure which criss-crosses time, allowing you to play as Wesley and his father (Cross) as you seek revenge, protect Allyse and uncover the secrets of the Fraternity.

Arguably there is more storyline present in Weapons of Fate than in the original film, with some of the characters reprising their roles and actors providing the voiceovers. Despite such efforts the presentation is inconsistent, with some cut sequences being well rendered (mainly dialogue scenes) and others relying on the in game engine. It is these latter efforts that highlight the poor textures and variable quality; Gamestyle has certainly witnessed better efforts on systems with less grunt than the PlayStation 3. The soundtrack is however a highlight.

The developers have taken the current vogue for cover systems and welded it into the world of Weapons of Fate. You can move between assigned spots with ease, working your way through the environments and picking off opponents. As you kill, adrenaline is gathered and this can be used to unleash those infamous curving shots, or to slow down time, allowing you to gather multiple kills. The gunplay is fun and offers a dash of variety, as to how you overcome enemies on your linear route. Close combat in comparison is devalued to button bashing when facing a knife assassin. Even worse are the quick time events that force you to fire at certain spots and kill an opponent all during a limited time frame.

The environments are also disappointing, you spend all of your time either trying to break into a building, or trying to escape once all hell has broken loose. What was a tranquil office block soon becomes ablaze, or a passenger jet is flipped as it plummets to the ground. Reusing these locations is symptomatic of the cutting of corners evident throughout the title and the lack of inspirational ideas.

The boss encounters revolve around the same principle of using cover and picking off lesser opponents as they appear. Then once your adrenaline has been built up, unleashing the special shots on the boss. This is repeated during each boss encounter, each time to a dwlindling effect. The combat tries to capture the essence of the film and the bravado of Max Payne. What it forgets is that Max did not rely solely on cover and did actually have a personality. Onscreen Wesley comes across like a spoilt child, full of tiresome throwaway comments and not a master assassin. The action only comes in short bursts and these fail to lift the pedestrian pacing.

A main criticism of Weapons Of Fate is that the one and only mode is the story option. There is no online play or challenges and the sole offering is short, lacking the flair to warrant such a limited selection. This makes Weapons Of Fate extremely difficult to recommend as a purchase. The unlockable extras take the form of concept art, comic sleeves, developer pictures and quotes, or a handful of videos. It is not a rich treasure trove of nuggets awaiting your discovery, rather smacking of desperation. Why couldn’t the developer make more use of the film materials here?

Wanted: Weapons of Fate with more care and attention would have made for a decent video game. Certainly the source material lends itself well to the gaming perspective. The implementation of that material is poor and a wasted opportunity.

Rating: 4 / 10

Words by Jason Julier