Wet is a mish-mash of other games and ideas. It's very much like John Woo's Stranglehold with the acrobatic shooting mechanics. There's platforming sections much like Prince of Persia. There's film grain and the overall grindhouse style as well as the music is very much like House of the Dead: Overkill. The film grain is a nice touch and can be turned off if you wish. Although people may find it masquerades some of the graphical limitations of the game. The rockabilly soundtrack is great and complements the action.
You play as Rubi Malone, a mercenary equipped with dual-wielding pistols and a Katana sword. Her missions mean she gets caught up between rival drug lords and ends up taking matters into her own hands.
The controls are as follows: A jumps, B slides, X slashes with sword, LT wall runs, RT shoots. Points are gained every time you dispatch an enemy, but the more stylish the kill, the better the reward.
When Rubi is performing any acrobatic move (jump, slide, wall run), shooting will automatically trigger bullet-time. With time slowed down, not only is it easy to aim and take out your enemies, Rubi will automatically target and shoot another enemy using her other hand. You have no limit on how often you trigger bullet-time, so all the combat is performed this way.
Rubi starts off with dual pistols which have infinite ammo. As you progress through the game, more guns become available but you need to find ammunition for these. There are SMG's, shotguns and explosive crossbows. The sword is handy in close combat, and so is useful when you have landed next to an enemy after an acrobatic manoeuvre, or have been taken by surprise as you round the corner.
You do need to mix up your moves in order to increase your style points. Certain moves can be chained such as jumping and sliding. Killing multiple enemies in quick succession raises a combo. You can earn additional points for pulling of head or crotch shots. Style points can regain Rubi's health and are used at the end of each level to unlock new abilities (jump off enemies, dodge, shoot from ledges or zip lines etc) and increase gun performance (upgraded to carry more ammo, fire faster and do more damage).
As you navigate the levels, you will be expected to pull off Prince of Persia style platforming. Some sections can be a bit clunky so you may die more from falling that from being shot. It is great when you are expected to do both platforming and shooting at the same time, such as jumping between poles or wall running over gaps. If you aren't sure which way to go at any point, you can hold the left trigger, and this will highlight areas that Rubi can grab or run onto.
There are essentially three additional game-play styles that increase the variety of the run and gun platforming. These are Arena, Rage, and Set-pieces.
In Arena sequences, there's a large room with multiple spawn-points that you must attack with your sword. Once done, you must clear the room full of enemies, including the stronger mini-gunner who acts as a boss. The arenas are laid out in a way that encourages acrobatic shooting, so there are plenty of ramps to leap from and poles to swing from.
There are moments where a cut-scene plays out and Rubi shoots an enemy at point-blank range which will result in her face being splattered by blood. These are the Rage sequences. The graphical style changes to only use red, back and white. These sections place an emphasis on speed and provide a great opportunity to rack up a large combo-multiplier.
There are some set-pieces such as jumping along moving cars or falling from a plane whilst gunning down enemies. These sections add more variety to the game-play but can often feel quite awkward. They will often utilise quick-time events (QTEs) which also feature during the cut-scenes so you always need to be prepared. The QTE's are very simple and you have a fair bit of time to press one button. Failing them will result in death for Rubi, but success will often mean Rubi will be the one dealing death or performing an acrobatic escape. In terms of the death sequences, it's usually quite a brutal scene that plays out, so failing them can be quite entertaining.
For those that love to collect things, there are five musical monkey toys somewhere in the levels. They aren't usually too far out of the way and there's an audible cue when you are close.
Wet is a fairly short game, only offering several hours. There are plenty of difficulty modes if you want to go back through the game, and the challenge mode allows you to replay specific levels for the best scores.
Wet has plenty of action and pulls it off with style; those that enjoyed Stranglehold will feel right at home. There's a few frustrating moments along the way, and you could argue that the game does get a bit repetitive due to the fairly limited move-set and no restriction on the bullet-time.