Wanted: Dead | PS4 Review

Hype is a dish best served cold, or maybe that's revenge ... I forget which. Cool or not HOI's "Wanted: Dead" comes at us katana first with a buttload of hype to boot. Advertised as a badass martial arts style brawler with unique sword & gun mechanics the game sets out to make a name in the genre. 

Through a female lieutenant sporting arm prosthetics named Hannah Stone we find a convoluted plot regarding mercenaries for hire, and a corporation that seems to be funding, and fueling wars across the globe. A Japanese cybernetics corporation named Dauer Synthetics at the helm. Both Dauer Synthetics, and war criminal Hannah Stone clash in this alternative historical hot take on real life warfare and espionage not out of mutual rivalry, but instead as a deal made behind closed doors. Hannah along with a ragtag group of partners go in guns a blazing, and sword a swingin'. Fulfilling their end of the bargain while looking into the recent break in at Dauer's corporate headquarters. 

Wanted: Dead, starts off heavy handed with what appears to be fictional wartime propaganda shown through news clips displayed on an old tube style television. Dropping hints at AI robotic advancements and a global conflict set in an alternate historical timeline. Fast forward a bit, and we find Hannah Stone behind lock and key in a maximum security prison making a deal with some anonymous person of interest. It seems Hannah is given an out, and that out requires her to go on a mercenary based mission to find out what's going on at Dauer, and remedy the threat.

With a katana in one hand, and a pistol in the other Hannah joins her gun toting comrades of diverse backgrounds as they take out targets and collect vital info. While Hannah does have company on her side she will be the hired hand that's dealing death more so than any of them. The assisting mercenary team is there mainly as a distraction, and to provide cover fire while Hannah goes in to finish what was started. One comrade in particular also acts as a free revival when in a pinch. Action, as such, comes in sectional waves of grunts, and greater enemy threats that can be taken on singlehandedly by the game's own personal Bojo Badass, Hannah Stone. The militarized units of varying armaments that wield both guns, and blades make up the main threat for her. There's even larger than life bosses in the form of overpowered individuals with superhuman skills as well as mechs, and other mechanical monstrosities armed to the core for battle. 

At her disposal Hannah is packing heat in the form of melee sword & gun based combo strings as well as a customizable gun for gun only combat, and grenades for dishing out mob clearing blasts should all else fail. These tools of the trade are easily swapped between by mere buttons' pressing, and can be utilized in tandem with a dynamic finisher system wherein dismemberment and fatalities are the reward for a fight well fought. Additionally cover is offered for covered fire scenarios, and stealth approach. Giving way to sliding options, sidestepping, and shooting without being in a more exposed and vulnerable state. 

While most fights are mob style events with cover options for gun battles, and stealth play you'll find that each gated area brings with it it's own grunt style enemies, and more proficient killers. That, and more armored individuals that will make the clearing objective all that more difficult. If the difficulty settings weren't enough (Normal, Hard, Japanese Hard) the required mastery of skills, and equipment as well as the approach one takes will definitely test your mettle. 

When starting off into the action you'll find that Hannah is given a limited stock of stim packs for health refills as well as a limited stock of ammo and grenades. Should she lose all health, and fall down from a fatal blow one of the supporting characters will give her a one time revive. After that if Hannah falls it's up to her remaining stim packs to spare her fate, and if that should fail it's a GAME OVER. Leaving you to continue from the last automatic checkpoint. This, of course, makes gameplay efficiency crucial for beating the game, and seeing it through to it's end. Training, for that reason, is an option at the main menu. Training is a five stage gauntlet from which you learn combat, and movement basics all the way to the application in simulated scenarios against holographic AI enemies. Mastering all five will better help you understand the approach.

In addition to the weaponry, and stocked items the game also features a trio of skill trees that cater to offense, defense, and utilities. These branching skills will enhance combat by adding to the base move set and attack options as well as allow for the buffing of defenses with more armor or parrying opportunities. With utilities things like ammo, gun proficiency, and grenades are also buffed and enhanced. These skill trees all require skill points which are earned through finishers, and fights. 

Gunplay, which is part and partial to combat along side sword play, comes complete with it's own set of options. You can customize your bigger guns by changing out earned and unlocked parts. These parts include a sight, magazine, barrel, and stock. You'll even find weapon skins. Oddly enough the developer has also thrown limited use weapons like the chainsaw into the mix for good measure. Playing into the serious circumstances regarding the game's plot like a comedic nod to "Lollipop Chainsaw", or other games of the sort. Regardless of arsenal on hand you can swap things up by picking up drop guns from killed enemies. In total you carry three guns. A handgun to accompany sword play as well as a primary and secondary gun for the pure gunplay.

Extras ...

Outside of the game, and it's cutscene inclusive story lies a Collections, Memories, and Mini Games option. Collections harbor all of the secret documents, profiles, figures, music, and art that can be found during a playthrough. Memories, on the other hand, capture and collect each cinematic cutscene for viewing later. Lastly are the Mini Games of which there are five. Including score based challenges in the form of things like the competitive score based shooting range. Each mini game coming complete with their own distinct modes, and leaderboards.

The Verdict ...

As hyped as "Wanted: Dead" was I can't help, but feel it fell way short of being as great as the trailers made it seem. The combat feels stiff, and wholly leans on players' masterful inputs to make it look as fast, fancy, and fluid as the trailers have shown. Mob fights, in particular, feel like a "Wait Your Turn" kind of ordeal in which the only real challenge lies with the surprise attacks like the grenade suicides that dismembered enemies will pull off as a last "F... You!!!". Other than that once you learn how to interrupt choreographed attacks with the pistol, and guard with the katana before applying the final finisher it's mostly smooth sailing. Leaving the gun only gunplay to be a lot less desired, and functional. In fact gunplay comes off as crudely applied and realized even with it's balance focused customization options. Making the preferred approach be the pistol and katana combo. 

In the way of presentation the visuals seem oddly PS2 era by design. This, in itself, was very surprising given what I had seen in the trailers. In fact everything from the enemy design to the stage layouts look like they came from the PS2 era of gaming. With a light up-rez for new-gen consoles. While playing I actually thought to myself, "This looks and feels like a free-to-play MMO". Needless to say I was disappointed by this glaring issue. I expected better. Sadly, in hindsight, this game fails on delivering what it eludes to and doubly fails on bringing to the player a combat system that is as seamless, and applicable as it was made out to be. I cannot, in good faith, bring myself to recommend "Wanted: Dead". It's an example of a game being hyped up without living up to that hype.

Visit my YouTube channel for some gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgmhFXGpGVw