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Wanted: Dead Is a Bad Mess of a Game
Have you ever wondered what the classic Team Ninja developed Ninja Gaiden games would have been like if they hadn’t been fun and amazing but instead had totally sucked? Wonder no more because you can play Wanted: Dead to find out!
I so desperately wanted to like Wanted: Dead. It’s an original IP from a team with a sort of kind of proven track record in an era where the industry is as sequel averse as ever. It stars a cool-looking lady. It had some wildly amazing marketing, including a number of delightfully weird videos that show off its oddball world building and art design.
That odd goofiness is the best thing about Wanted: Dead, other than the still free on Steam as of this writing downloadable arcade mini game you can get separately without buying the main product. Everything else here is just total dreck. The intense ambition of the game is completely ruined by some of the worst execution I’ve seen in a long time. The combat isn’t fun, even when it “clicks.” The graphics are simple and basic in a way that they sort of try to excuse as an homage to Xbox 360 games, but which really just seems like a budget limitation. The voice actors don’t seem to know what they’re talking about or who they’re talking to, when they aren’t saying baffling…
