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• Wanted: Weapons of Fate

Wanted blows away E3 2008

• By Sid Shuman
• July 18, 2008 11:16 AM PST
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Wanted was one of the best shooters we saw at E3 2008. Here are quick impressions of this ultra-violent shooter based off the hit action flick.

Note the white tracer: Wesley can slingshot shots around obstacles, and it's a surprisingly slick interface.

Wanted was a surprise hit at the box office; its stylish action and cryptic storyline were praised by critics and viewers alike.

Now Warner Brothers Interactive is developing an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC game based on the film, and the results look promising. We saw an early version of Wanted running on the Xbox 360, and even in its unfinished state, the graphics and gameplay were among the best we saw at E3.

In short, you play as an assassin (Wesley Gibson, from the film) who wields almost supernatural powers with firearms, including the ability to "curve" bullets around obstacles. Though the bullet "curving" sounds a little bizarre, it has some pretty slick gameplay implications. Enemies will often hide behind objects, but Wesley can slingshot bullets around (or over, or under) that cover, causing the baddie to stumble out of cover for a lethal follow-up shot. To curve your shot, you activate an aiming mode (not unlike the grenade toss in Gears of War) that allows you to quickly align the trajectory and flight path of your shot via a simple graphic: when the line is white, you'll hit your target; when it's red, you won't. The process looked easy and quite satisfying, meaning that your enemies will have nowhere to hide in Wanted.

You can also curve bullets over (or under) obstacles to strike hiding enemies.

Wanted looked like a truly next-generation version of the stylish shooter Max Payne, and even Gears of War. Wesley can take cover, ala Gears of War, but he can also dash quickly from cover to cover via a simple button-tap system. By chaining together multiple fast cover switches, you'll not only stay out of danger but build up an energy meter that you can spend on bullet curving or a slow-motion "Assassin Time" mode. The developers at Grin specifically mentioned they were inspired by the skateboard combos in the Tony Hawk games, and rapidly dashed from cover to cover while building up speed and power. Wesley can also push many types of cover: we watched as he hid behind an airplane drink cart and pushed it towards his enemies. Wesley is also a melee master, and can perform one-hit kill attacks with his knife (even reaching over or around cover to stab a hiding target), or grab enemies and use them as human shields. The gameplay in Wanted doesn't necessarily look revolutionary, but the advances seem to be very polished and we think they'll add satisfying new wrinkles to the visceral combat.

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