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Wanted: Dead Review – We don't need this old school

 

Wanted: Dead from ex-developers Ninja Gaiden looks and plays exactly like the action movies of the PS3/X360 era. Do modern gamers need such a game? We answer in the review from a popular online games Friv2Online provider.

At first glance, Wanted: Dead is doing well: the developers are Team Ninja veterans who previously worked on Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, it stars Stefanie Joosten, who played Quiet in Metal Gear Solid V, the gameplay is a combination of slasher and third-person shooter. But in reality, everything is not as smooth as we would like - for a number of reasons.

Take at least the script. It seems that the plot is not boring, albeit banal: a mercenary serving a life sentence for crimes leads the local "Suicide Squad" as a chance for redemption. However, the plot is presented with hackneyed moves and predictable turns, and one wants to yawn from the morality on the topic “have pity on the androids”.

The narrative in Wanted: Dead is torn, and the characters give out phrases at random. Some of the protagonist's partners are memorable (especially the story of the heroine Joosten), others are annoying or do not evoke emotions at all. Dramatic events can be interrupted by inappropriate scenes, such as going to karaoke or gatherings in a cafe. You can guess that these episodes are a tribute to classic Japanese action games, but here they look just ridiculous, and there is little humor in them.

In addition, the character models are not of high quality, as is the facial animation. On the other hand, it is noticeable that the movements of the characters were captured from real actors: the combat choreography was performed at a decent level, and there are quite a lot of beautiful finishing moves, including contextual ones.

Okay, the story didn't work out, so maybe the gameplay is worth it to buy the game? Well, perhaps only if you are very nostalgic for the action movies of the late 2000s and early 10s that have already become classics. Wanted: Dead alternates melee and shooting, but both components are not at the level you expect from a modern project.

For example, most combos can be learned at the training stage, so you should not count on progress during the adventure. A firearm is too inefficient: aiming is inconvenient, enemies absorb bullets, and there are always not enough cartridges. The game motivates you not to sit in cover, while the opponents hit very noticeably, and a dash to the opponent can cost you half of your health bar. Add to this the checkpoints that are not clear according to what logic, and get ready to replay some segments dozens of times.

However, it cannot be said that the combat is very bad: it reveals itself as you level up and learn passive skills that make life easier, and the game periodically throws up interesting challenges when you have to spin around, parry attacks, use powerful abilities and "ultimate". Sometimes it is breathtaking and causes a feeling of nostalgia, but it cannot be said that such situations occur all the time.

Speaking of nostalgia, Wanted: Dead is really reminiscent of the average action games of yesteryear. And this is even good: the game is linear, it does not force you to grind, capture towers, dive into secondary quests and get used to hundreds of different mechanics.

It performs exactly one task - to entertain for more than ten hours, while you race along the plot rails and cut opponents into small pieces, spilling hundreds of liters of blood. You can't deny the showiness of the skirmishes to the project: the battles are fierce, and the finishing moves are very spectacular and varied.

Bugs and “lame” optimization are added to the problems of the project listed above. Even on a powerful PC, stuttering occurs, and object collision errors are common here. As well as the stuttering sound in conjunction with the pale voice acting of the characters.

Wanted: Dead has a certain charm. This is an old-school action movie with beautiful kills and a good retro style in places. At the same time, the game is poorly assembled, full of bugs and is not able to please with an interesting combat, with rare exceptions. It is unlikely that this project will become an underestimated masterpiece, like Binary Domain, and if you are not eager to immerse yourself in the era of games at the turn of the zero and tenths, it is better to pass by.