The old-school action game Wanted: Dead is now out, and to be fair, it seems some reviewers wish it had never managed to escape the developers’ captivity. This Ninja Gaiden style is intentionally a bit retrograde, so it’s worth keeping that in mind here, but yeah, early reviews and impressions aren’t exactly brilliant for this Xbox title.
Here’s a look at what critics are saying about Wanted: Dead so far:
“A derelict game design hangover, dressed in rebellious aesthetics and powered by cyberpunk Pat Benatar. The relentless gameplay and repetitive, unchanging action will leave some horrified, but the cast beaming with reprobates, minigames silly, mystifying dialogue and unabashed commitment to the bit culminates in one of the most mystifying and hypnotic releases in a long time.Conclusion: Wanted: Dead is a fucking train wreck, and you better have your ticket revoked.”
CWM (7/10)
“At the end of the day, wanted dead It probably won’t appeal to most people, but thanks to its undeniable charm and over-the-top approach to gameplay, Soleil’s latest is likely to garner a cult following and, at the very least, it’s guaranteed to be checked out by interested people. .”
“Wanted: Dead is an intentionally messy throwback, which some people will love while others will lament. All the AA joke of a PlayStation 3 action game wrapped up in a modern 2023 gaming arc.”
“Wanted: Dead is a frustrating action game at its worst, but with its inexplicable presentation, nonsensical narratives, and confusing character dialogue, it’s hard to completely dismiss. There’s undeniable fun to be had here in such a bad game.” -good styling, and that might be enough for the game to achieve cult status at some point. But for now, you’ll have to go through some of the most fun combat in full-price games to get the fun out of it. experience. Wanted: Dead is a truly fascinating mess.”
“Wanted: Dead feels like a callback to the worst games of the Xbox/PS2 era. The game has a distinct lack of polish when it comes to its enemy design and, combined with the horrible voice acting and A confusing story that is only explained by additional material, it feels like the ultimate case of wasted potential that could have turned into something better if the developers had given it a little more thought.”
“Wanted: Dead is an incredibly underwhelming action effort that showcases some decent ideas but fails to execute any of them properly. The idea of merging hack and slash combat with shooter mechanics has a lot of potential here, and the setting cyberpunk is initially intriguing, however in practice it’s all very clunky, clunky, frustrating and riddled with performance issues, there are a lot of weird side activities to try and lighten the mood between battles, but in the end it just isn’t enough. With a very weak narrative, poor voice acting, lousy action, and lackluster level design, this is a game best avoided.”
IGN (4/10)
“As someone who considers themselves an action game enthusiast, Wanted: Dead let me down on almost every front. Their fight can be fun for a few hours, but I finally realized it was just a shallow pool of water to splash around in. The fights never evolved in an interesting or meaningful way, the minimal variety of enemies never challenged me to change tactics, and worst of all, I always felt weak even at max. skill tree. a distinct lack of personality and charm, frequent crashes, and all of this amounts to one of the first big disappointments of 2023.”
The Xbox version of Wanted: Dead is currently at a not-so-good level 54 on Metacritic at the time of writing, with the PS5 version at 55 and the PC version in 60. Those of you looking for an old-school gag may find something to like here, but truth be told, you’ll probably have to make some bad gameplay decisions to get there.
Were you expecting this one? Let us know your thoughts on these impressions below.
related games
Ben is a fan of action, racing, and direct fire in every video game he can get his hands on. When he’s not playing, Ben spends his time listening to too many Guns N’ Roses, watching football, and probably eating somewhere.