Wanted (video game)
Encyclopedia
Wanted: Weapons of Fate is a video game developed by GRIN
and published by Universal Studios
and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive based on the film of the same name. It was released for Microsoft Windows
, PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
.
The story begins with Wesley having a recurring bad dream that ends the same way: with a mysterious killer that murders Wesley's mother. He wakes to find that his apartment has been breached by a squadron of SWAT-like soldiers. They ransack Wesley's apartment and finally come upon a picture of his mother, Allyse. Breaking it, they find a decoded kill order in its frame. After hunting down these intruders, Wesley confronts Araña (Spanish for "Spider"), an assassin sent by the Barcelona Fraternity.
Pekwarsky (the Fraternity's master bullet-maker) arrives, manages to drive Araña off, and notifies Wesley that he's the #1 target on the Fraternity's black list. He also tells him that it will dispatch its minions to the recently ravaged Chicago Fraternity in order to collect the Loom of Fate.
Wesley uses this tip make a return visit to the wreckage of the Chicago chapter house, the place he destroyed in the movie. Inside, he confronts the Russian, who notices that Fox's body is gone, and kills him. On his arm, he notices a binary code and severs it for further inspection. Pekwarsky tells him that the Russian was one of the Guardians sent to collect the Loom. Three of these are sent from various Fraternities and their codes reveal the place where they intend to move the Loom. He also informs Wesley that he is meeting a buyer by the name of Brummel who ordered a crate of bullets with Wesley's name on it.
Wesley tags along and kills Brummel, taking his piece of the code as well. However, Wesley notices that Pekwarsky is holding something back - Pekwarsky's really after the kill order that was taken at the beginning of the game. Wesley then gains the Killer suit and the Nightshade pistol. Along the way, Wesley kills Araña and takes her code as well. He then descends into the crypt and finds his father's mummified body. He takes the Fire Eater guns placed in his hands and promises him that he'll take care of the Immortal.
Throughout the game, there are several flashbacks to reveal Cross' story from the beginning as told by Pekwarsky. He first has to guard Allyse, who has recently given birth to Wesley. However, he fails as the Immortal shoots her and he barely escapes with the baby intact. Later, on a mission to kill a member of the Fraternity given to him by Sloan, Cross engages the Immortal on an airliner, only to escape in a red Dodge Viper. After he returns to the Fraternity, he confronts Sloan for giving him a false kill order and framing him as a rogue assassin. Before the two can quarrel, the Paris Fraternity invades the Chicago Fraternity looking for Cross. During the fight, he discovers a kill order for Sloan and realizes his treachery. However, Sloan turns Cross' comrades against him and Cross is forced to flee after the Immortal. In a duel with him, Cross manages to fire a bullet straight into the Immortal's gun which explodes, severely damaging the Frenchman's face.
Back in the present, Wesley heads to confront the Immortal. However, just before they have a final duel, the Immortal reveals a twist; it was Cross who killed Allyse, with the two lovers mutually agreeing that following the Code was the only way it could end. The Immortal was merely sent to kill Wesley, who was considered an abomination by the Code.
After defeating the Frenchman, Wesley has a philosophical dialogue with the Immortal. The latter says that even though Wesley's parents were fanatics, they put their faith in the Loom, and that no great human endeavour was ever achieved without faith. Wesley has had enough, and fires the bullet with Wesley's name on it at the Immortal. Endings vary depending whether the PC or the console version of the game is played. On the console, it ends with Wesley killing the Immortal while on the PC, it ends with the bullet missing the Immortal's head and Wesley urinating in his face.
The player controls Wesley, while in flashback sequences, player controls Cross, Wesley's father. His father's curve bullet name is Sharpnel, an explosive bullet. The player also can use another character that can be unlocked by defeating bosses: the SWAT leader, the Russian, Brummel and The Original Arana/Spider.
Thomas Kretschmann
is reprising his role as Cross from the movie, and Wesley's costume is based on that of the comic book. Terrence Stamp also reprises his role as Pekwarsky.
gave the game a rating of 7.3/10, with GameSpot
scoring it a 6/10 and Gametrailers
also giving the game 7.3/10. More negative reviews came from X-Play
on G4
giving it a rating of 2/5. Xbox Magazine gave Wanted a 7.5 calling it an adrenaline rush and loved the curving bullets, although the game was short and easy. The game currently holds a score of 63/100 at the ratings aggregation site, Metacritic
. Hyper
s Yuri Spaceface commends the game for not "simply ape the action of the movie/comic [and] the assassin skills are nicely done". However, he criticises it for being "flashy and loud, but ultimately really quite shallow". Entertainment Weekly
gave the game a B grade stating that it met the same thrill expectations as the film.
The game sold 130,000 units through all platforms as of July 2009.
. In addition, the track "The Little Things", performed by Elfman, was remixed by British music outfit Unkle
to be used as the game's title song. The Wanted: Weapons of Fate - The Little Things (UNKLE Variation) [Soundtrack from the Video Game] - Single was sold as a digital download as of the 31st of March, 2009 .
GRIN (company)
GRIN was a video game developer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded by Bo and Ulf Andersson in 1997, GRIN has worked on numerous titles for the PC, consoles and arcade.-History:...
and published by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive based on the film of the same name. It was released for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
.
Plot
Set about five hours after the events of the film, Wesley Gibson continues his transformation into a full-fledged assassin and heir to a legacy of a secret fraternity of assassins. He continues his quest with a new mission to seek out the French chapter of the Fraternity, hunt down the Immortal, and finally discover the truth about his family.The story begins with Wesley having a recurring bad dream that ends the same way: with a mysterious killer that murders Wesley's mother. He wakes to find that his apartment has been breached by a squadron of SWAT-like soldiers. They ransack Wesley's apartment and finally come upon a picture of his mother, Allyse. Breaking it, they find a decoded kill order in its frame. After hunting down these intruders, Wesley confronts Araña (Spanish for "Spider"), an assassin sent by the Barcelona Fraternity.
Pekwarsky (the Fraternity's master bullet-maker) arrives, manages to drive Araña off, and notifies Wesley that he's the #1 target on the Fraternity's black list. He also tells him that it will dispatch its minions to the recently ravaged Chicago Fraternity in order to collect the Loom of Fate.
Wesley uses this tip make a return visit to the wreckage of the Chicago chapter house, the place he destroyed in the movie. Inside, he confronts the Russian, who notices that Fox's body is gone, and kills him. On his arm, he notices a binary code and severs it for further inspection. Pekwarsky tells him that the Russian was one of the Guardians sent to collect the Loom. Three of these are sent from various Fraternities and their codes reveal the place where they intend to move the Loom. He also informs Wesley that he is meeting a buyer by the name of Brummel who ordered a crate of bullets with Wesley's name on it.
Wesley tags along and kills Brummel, taking his piece of the code as well. However, Wesley notices that Pekwarsky is holding something back - Pekwarsky's really after the kill order that was taken at the beginning of the game. Wesley then gains the Killer suit and the Nightshade pistol. Along the way, Wesley kills Araña and takes her code as well. He then descends into the crypt and finds his father's mummified body. He takes the Fire Eater guns placed in his hands and promises him that he'll take care of the Immortal.
Throughout the game, there are several flashbacks to reveal Cross' story from the beginning as told by Pekwarsky. He first has to guard Allyse, who has recently given birth to Wesley. However, he fails as the Immortal shoots her and he barely escapes with the baby intact. Later, on a mission to kill a member of the Fraternity given to him by Sloan, Cross engages the Immortal on an airliner, only to escape in a red Dodge Viper. After he returns to the Fraternity, he confronts Sloan for giving him a false kill order and framing him as a rogue assassin. Before the two can quarrel, the Paris Fraternity invades the Chicago Fraternity looking for Cross. During the fight, he discovers a kill order for Sloan and realizes his treachery. However, Sloan turns Cross' comrades against him and Cross is forced to flee after the Immortal. In a duel with him, Cross manages to fire a bullet straight into the Immortal's gun which explodes, severely damaging the Frenchman's face.
Back in the present, Wesley heads to confront the Immortal. However, just before they have a final duel, the Immortal reveals a twist; it was Cross who killed Allyse, with the two lovers mutually agreeing that following the Code was the only way it could end. The Immortal was merely sent to kill Wesley, who was considered an abomination by the Code.
After defeating the Frenchman, Wesley has a philosophical dialogue with the Immortal. The latter says that even though Wesley's parents were fanatics, they put their faith in the Loom, and that no great human endeavour was ever achieved without faith. Wesley has had enough, and fires the bullet with Wesley's name on it at the Immortal. Endings vary depending whether the PC or the console version of the game is played. On the console, it ends with Wesley killing the Immortal while on the PC, it ends with the bullet missing the Immortal's head and Wesley urinating in his face.
Gameplay
Gameplay is a standard third person cover shooter with the only bells or whistles is the ability use adrenaline to slow down time and curve bullets. Some levels contain a QTE sequences with on-rail shooter elements.The player controls Wesley, while in flashback sequences, player controls Cross, Wesley's father. His father's curve bullet name is Sharpnel, an explosive bullet. The player also can use another character that can be unlocked by defeating bosses: the SWAT leader, the Russian, Brummel and The Original Arana/Spider.
Development
It was announced that a demo will be released on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network on March 5. In America, the game will be released on the 24th March and in the UK it will be 3 April. The demo was recently released. The demo features the level Fear Of Flying. The demo features the player as Cross as he is on an airplane 30,000 Ft above the ground trying to escape. It also includes some tutorials to help the player in the game. In the demo's tutorial, players learn how to bullet-curve, basic combat & enhanced quick time movement (bullet time). The demo features a clip of 'The Immortal' who is the antagonist in Wanted: Weapons Of Fate.Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
is reprising his role as Cross from the movie, and Wesley's costume is based on that of the comic book. Terrence Stamp also reprises his role as Pekwarsky.
Reception
Wanted: Weapons of Fate received a mixed reception from critics. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game a rating of 7.3/10, with GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
scoring it a 6/10 and Gametrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
also giving the game 7.3/10. More negative reviews came from X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
on G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
giving it a rating of 2/5. Xbox Magazine gave Wanted a 7.5 calling it an adrenaline rush and loved the curving bullets, although the game was short and easy. The game currently holds a score of 63/100 at the ratings aggregation site, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Hyper
Hyper (magazine)
Hyper is a multi-platform Australian video game magazine. Australia's longest running gaming magazine, it has been in publication since 1993, and was released the same month as the better known UK magazine Edge...
s Yuri Spaceface commends the game for not "simply ape the action of the movie/comic [and] the assassin skills are nicely done". However, he criticises it for being "flashy and loud, but ultimately really quite shallow". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the game a B grade stating that it met the same thrill expectations as the film.
The game sold 130,000 units through all platforms as of July 2009.
Music
Weapons of Fate uses expanded and looped musical cues from the Wanted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Danny ElfmanDanny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
. In addition, the track "The Little Things", performed by Elfman, was remixed by British music outfit Unkle
UNKLE
Unkle are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.-First incarnation :Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined...
to be used as the game's title song. The Wanted: Weapons of Fate - The Little Things (UNKLE Variation) [Soundtrack from the Video Game] - Single was sold as a digital download as of the 31st of March, 2009 .