Last summer’s Wanted — the movie starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy in a fraternity of assassins — was all about impact: bullets in heads, bodies through glass, a keyboard in the face. So we should’ve guessed that a demo of the upcoming Wanted game would hit us with a wallop. No mere licensed-game hackjob, this shooter is aiming for some intriguing twists on the action formula.

One of those twists, naturally, is bending bullets — the film’s (and the assassins’) trademark. They were in full effect in the first level we saw, set aboard a crowded passenger jet. Wanted: Weapons of Fate picks up immediately after the end of the movie, but in this flashback mission, you’re playing as Cross, who’s there to eliminate the head of a rival fraternity. The scenario starts slow-and-stealthy, as you sneak around looking for your target. Eventually, however, a major gun battle ensues; lethal gas has killed all the innocent passengers, and — definite Mature rating here — their bodies are strewn around the plane. In the tense firefight with rival assassins, you can use these corpses as human shields to defend yourself. Offensively, curving your bullets (using the right thumbstick to adjust their angle) lets you shoot around walls, carts, and other obstacles to nail your opponents.

Careful curving knocked luggage onto enemies, burst fire extinguishers, and blew out exit doors, causing adversaries and bodies to be sucked out of the cabin. And with two pistols, you can aim your bullets so they collide explosively next to a hapless enemy. But in Wanted, players have a whole other weapon entirely: cover. The game uses cover as an “offensive mechanic”: by moving from cover spot to cover spot — chaining cover, essentially — you both gain speed and build up Assassin Time, a sort of bullet-time mode. Keep chaining cover, and your foes will perceive you as being back in your original spot — giving you the drop on them as you pick up speed and then launch into Assassin Time, where they’re easy, slow-moving targets.

This cover system and bullet-curving seem like they’ll add some interesting tactics, but we’re glad the developers are staying true to the movie in other ways. As a sort of Wanted 1.5, the game will continue the saga of main character Wesley (he’s the other playable “hero”), giving more details about his mom and offering plenty of plot surprises, notes executive producer Pete Wanat. And while what we saw was pretty violent already — including close-up kills with big blood spurts — Wanat says the devs still have to do a “gore pass” on the game to make it as brain-bustingly graphic as the movie. Spatter on, guys.