Games worth discovering

A new hack and slash shooter! | First Impressions - Wanted: Dead

6K View2023-02-15

Wanted: Dead a new action-packed game that blends the fast-paced gameplay of a hack and slash game with the excitement of a third-person shooter.

You play as Lieutenant Hannah Stone, a hardboiled Hong Kong cop, leader of the police squad named Zombie Unit. Your mission is to uncover a corporate conspiracy in a cyberpunk world full of cybernetic mercenaries, gangs, and private militaries.

Wanted: Dead has all the hallmarks of eastern / asian influences with its anime-inspired, over the top, whimsical, and wacky feel to it. Still, it's gruesome and gritty when it comes to the combat and violence.

The game starts us off with a short --- mostly boring --- plot exposition of sorts by way of spliced and remixed TV news reports to showcase the world's history leading up to our setting, then straightaway switching to the main group of characters doing their normal thing. After that, we jump straight to the gameplay with a quick and informative tutorial to get you up to speed.

The story is unfortunately nothing special, just a generic cyberpunk setup that really doesn’t captivate you or keep you invested — Mainly a poor excuse to continue killing baddies. Thankfully, it immediately, and always gives way to the gameplay which is the main focus. Cutscenes are few and far between and the story is forgettable and ignorable. This game is best played to have fun killing enemies, not to experience a gripping story.

So far, the gameplay is more interesting than the story. At its core, it is a third person cover shooter but with a very agile character who can do athletic maneuvers, one that can easily close the distance with enemies and allow you to blend in some hack and slash combat action. You have three other teammates beside you fighting, but they’re mostly background flavor without any interaction or command system and do not really impact the gameplay in a meaningful way.

As a third person cover shooter, Wanted: Dead is lame and uninspired — guns have almost no punch to them and sound like toys. However, combined with the hack and slash element, the gameplay gets to work.

Despite being janky and clunky, you can do pretty amazing combos with the melee combat, as well as allowing players to seamlessly switch between swordplay and gunplay to take down enemies in a variety of ways, as Lt. Stone moves fast anyway to easily close the distance between the enemies. Guns have scarce ammo than other usual shooters, to also encourage the use of melee combat. Which is nice because the game is at its best when you are mostly using swordplay to kill enemies.

Using the katana for melee combat allows for dismemberments which are always a welcome feature. The pistol is used effectively; just as frequently as your primary weapon, but it mostly functions as a melee attack and can’t be aimed manually.

When you stun an enemy, you can do a takedown, which is basically a stylish way to kill your enemy while in a locked animation with them. These takedowns are cool and satisfying, but some are a little bit too long winded and can otherwise break the flow of momentum of combat.

Progression wise, there is a typical skill tree unlock system to offer some form of progression to the player with three main categories; Offense, Defense, and Utility. There you can unlock abilities, like an extended dodge maneuver, or a bullet-time system. It’s not the most complex system but it does its job of keeping the player engaged, looking forward to the next unlock to try.

The graphics on the other hand are a bit aged and look like something that came out of the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, but slightly remastered for today’s standards with a decent lighting system. Which isn't always a bad thing, but disappointed me with my expectations of an AAA game.

For much of my initial experience, Wanted: Dead is a video game that is somewhere between fun and boring. The game's hack-n-slash melee combat and third-person shooter gameplay provide players with a diverse range of combat options. I found it fun at times, but ultimately falls short overall with its janky melee combat, uninspired third person shooter gameplay, and a forgettable premise.

Mentioned games