Wet

Guns 'n Swords 'n Rock 'n Roll. Worth: $15
based on 360 demo

Kill, lanky Tarantino babe, Kill!

If you had Quentin Tarantino run Tomb Raider, BloodRayne, and Stranglehold through a blender you'd wind up with Wet. QT's influence does the same thing for mindless killing games that Tim Gunn's influence does for fashion: makes it fun, accessible, and stylish.

The camera does a fantastic job of following the main character, Rubi, as she soars, slides, and sails around the screen dealing out a non-stop barrage of dual-wielded death. If anyone in the crowd of goons survives long enough for her to get close, she can instantly switch to her sword for turbo-charged butchery.

And then Rubi gets _really_ pissed off.

When this happens the game switches to a very hip, Frank Miller-esque red-white-and-black graphic style, with all the same gut-blasting moves as before, just super-posterized. It's a bold and refreshing art direction decision that works really well.

The third game mode could be called "Highway To Hell." Rubi rides on top of cars, shoots bad guys, and leaps from car to car just in time to avoid a bridge, a pile-up, or an all-purpose explosion. So with all this amazing alliteration, why isn't this game Worth more? Because it's all frosting and no cake.

Wet offers an experience so constantly off-the-hook that I'm absolutely sure I'll get sick of it after a couple of hours, just like I did with Stranglehold. A good game has good pace. The only pace Wet has is Full Kill Ahead.