Wanted: Weapons of Fate Windows, X360, PS3 game

When the final bullet was fired at the end of the Universal Pictures movie Wanted, were you thinking, "I wish I could continue the adventure on my own"? If so, then Wanted: Weapons of Fate was made for you. Continuing the story of the movie, Wanted follows Wesley as he attempts to uncover the truth about his mother, a journey that allows gamers to take control of Wesley's daddy, Cross, in several flashback levels. Being a videogame based off a film (which in turn is based off a comic book), the expectations for Wanted are pretty low. But Wanted's producer is Pete Wanat, the man responsible for gaming's few good movie-to-game adaptations: The Chronicles of Riddick, Scarface and The Thing. Is Wanted up to those standards? No.

A third-person cover-to-cover shooter, Wanted has a slick style worthy of the film, but lasts about as long. This isn't Gears of War or a similar cover shooter that moves slowly from point to point. Wanted moves quickly with a cover system that emphasizes chaining from one piece of cover to the next with an interface that shows your available cover options. You can quickly slide behind a crate, then leap over it to a wall, then dive from there to the safety of another crate. The cover button is highly responsive and, without question, this is the one thing Wanted does that is truly excellent. The rest... not so much. Whether you're playing as Wesley or Cross, you're going to run through the same motions across every linear level. The enemies change only in superficial ways and your strategy stays pretty much the same from start to finish. Get to cover, use your bullet-curving abilities to kill enemies, continue forward. And yes, you do have the gift to bend bullets just like in the movie/comic book. It's a nifty system, actually. Hold down a shoulder button and the arc of your bullet is projected on screen. You can adjust this with the thumbstick, increasing and decreasing the angle and altering your firing position. The line turns white when the path is clear to the target, red if there is an obstruction. At first, you'll probably spend half a minute getting the shot perfect, but once you get the hang of curved bullets, you'll be able to set up a clean line in a second or two.