Golden Eye (N64). Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Xbox/PC). Chicken Little: Ace in Action (Wii). These are some of the few titles that prove games based on movies don’t necessarily have to suck. Wanted: Weapons of Fate (based on the movie Wanted, which was sort of based on the comic of the same name), however, is not one of these. It’s surprising, to say the least, that a shooter based off of a movie with some truly inventive action sequences never goes beyond simple mechanics. WoF isn’t bad because it’s broken; it’s bad simply due to a lack of content and imagination.

For those that have not seen last year’s Wanted, don’t worry, the story will make about as much sense to you as anyone else who has seen it. If you have read the comic books, however, you will be treated to some fan service in the form of The Killer’s suit and set pieces taken right from the pages themselves. Having never actually read the comics, I can’t comment on how the story ties in or relates, but from a presentation standpoint, it’s clearly a mess. The majority of the cutscenes look ugly, which is odd since the game is (mostly) aesthetically pleasing. To make matters worse, scenes randomly start without any perceived purpose or explanation of what’s happening at any given moment. One section had me fighting through a castle, and then put me on a stationary turret, and then I jumped on a train without even knowing I was next to train tracks. Are you following this? Me neither.

Fortunately, the gameplay in WoF is there, and it even demonstrates some interesting twists on the genre. You do get to curve bullets, and it’s just as cool as it should be, especially when you get the perfect shot and the camera follows the bullet to your target’s skull. The other concept that I wouldn’t mind seeing again is developer Grin’s new take on interactive cutscenes. Rather than relying on button cues to trigger special events, the game turns into a slow-motion rail shooter where you must target certain bullets and enemies to progress the scene. It’s a lot more interesting than the simple “press X” structure which has been beaten to death after its “innovative” implementation in God of War. The rest, however, falls flat, never going beyond its simple pop-and-shot roots akin to Gears of War. Where is the over-the-top stuff like shooting a guy in the head and then continuously using the fresh corpse as a shield while shooting through the newly created peep-hole? The repetitive nature of the game really starts to show quickly, but fortunately it’s about at the point where the game comes to an ending.

I finished WoF in one sitting and was glad when it was finally over. There were times when the gameplay clicked, and I was able to enjoy the fast-paced nature of the title, but the majority of the time, I was bored and frustrated (I forgot to mention that you can’t look up in the game). There may be some fanfare service here for followers of the movie and the comic books, but those looking for a good game, are better off spending their $60 elsewhere.