Wet

“Rubi is not a sex object,” declares Bethesda’s Pete Hines, explaining why you won’t see Tomb Raider–ish costume changes in the publisher’s new third-person shooter. Which is fine with us; we’ve just watched her kick massive amounts of ass, and hearing that “Wet” stands for “wetworks” is almost a relief.

The game’s tough-as-nails protagonist embodies outlandish action that’s straight out of Seventies cinema — meaning, in this case, some amazing acrobatics. In our demo, we watched Rubi fire a pistol while diving, knee-sliding, wall-running, and back-flipping off a wall. Unlimited use of slowmotion will prove superhandy given your ability to fire two guns at once while hurtling through the air: one autolocks onto a target while you aim the other manually. You can even double-gun while using your legs to slide down a ladder!

In other games, these abilities might be gimmicky, but with Wet, they seem to fit right in with the stylized presentation. Our demo had the mercenary heroine chasing a group of thugs with a mysterious case she needed; rockabilly music blared as she pursued them through various parts of San Francisco, and at one point an Intermission screen popped up, complete with fake ads and a burning-film effect. In a couple of spots, Rubi entered arenas — closed-in areas in each level (like a basketball court or Chinatown backalleys) where enemies pour in and she has to beat ’em down while sealing the entrances. These portions really let you cut loose, chaining together Rubi’s various moves for points. We also saw one of the game’s seven or eight Rage sequences; in this one, the screen went blood-red as you shot or slashed Rubi’s silhouetted foes to shattery bits.

Enticing diversions like these could really help mix up the action over Wet’s eight to 10 hours of gameplay. On the whole, we were pretty intrigued; this game with the lurid name looks sexy in ways we didn’t expect. In fact, we won’t be at all disappointed if it turns out to be affectionately known as Maxine Payne.