In the mid-2000s action-slashers, like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Ninja Blade, cut a crimson wave across the action genre. Sadly, that wave that has all but washed out in the years since. However, Japanese studio Soleil are looking to change with Wanted: Dead.

Made by a selection of ex-developers from the Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive series, Wanted: Dead is 50% love letter, 25% tribute and 25% time machine.

The game is one of those ‘what if?’ titles. One that could easily have hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in the day – which is a bit of a double-edged blade as its good and bad in equal measures.

A Story

The games story is a mess but mess in that very Japanese way. It bounces all over the place and you never know what, where or who you’re going to see, talk to or cut down minute to minute.

The core tale is about a week, just 7 days, in life of the Zombie Unit. The Zombie Unit are an elite Hong Kong police squad on a mission to uncover a major corporate conspiracy.

You play the badass Lt. Hannah Stone, a hardboiled cop and the leader of the Unit. You compadrés are a gang of misfits; from Herzog the creepy sex pest, to Cortez who is deaf.

It’s one of the most original teams I have seen in gaming for some time, plus each member is from a different country like Stone being Danish for example. It adds an extra layer to things though oddly, you never really get to bond with the group the way you may hope.

A Mission

Your job is simple in Wanted: Dead. Plough through endless mercenaries, gang members and private military contractors to get to the bottom of the cyberpunk-fuelled tale. And to its credit it does feel like a mid-90s Manga movie you would likely catch on late-night BBC 2.

Gameplay is old-school, having a real vibe of Suda 51 about it. One where you battle rooms full of bad guys, blending sword and gun based combat together for some epic action.

But don’t mistake Wanted: Dead is an easy title. This game will put you on your bum quicker than you can reload the last checkpoint. Wanted: Dead is rock solid at times, with a spider tank posing a ridiculous challenge quite early on in the game.

Wanted: Dead knows it’s tough, though. And if you keep seeing ‘game over’ you’ll be asked if you want to step it down to easy mode.

Wanted: Dead or Mechanical

Combat is limited at first but level-up your skills and you’ll get stronger, faster, and deadlier. Soon you’ll be pulling off some of the games 50 finisher moves with extreme ease. However, it will eventually make you feel like you have slashed and blasted them all before. This isn’t helped here by limited pool of bad guys to battle in Wanted: Dead.

Overall though it’s quite a short game in some respect but the game does take a break from the blood shed for a few odd side-activities; like taking part in a ramen eating competition or belting out a few classics at the karaoke.

These are fun and like the rest of the game challenging, but these mini-games just mirror the weirdness of the game to a tee.

Visually the game is a real mixed bag. For example, one minute an oddly dragged out in-game cutscene is filled with dead eyed models or Stone being covered in blood from the last mission, only to jump to full blown animé and live-action cutscenes the next.

Audio doesn’t fare much better, although there is a real mix of voices on show. And the overall level of acting can be dreadful at times.

Born to Be Weird

But I think this all plays into what Soleil are wanting from Wanted: Dead. To ultimately be a fun, but also a really weird, game. It’s an interesting title that throws a lot of ideas at the wall, with some sticking better than others and if you’re a fan of the likes of Suda 51 or SWERY games, you’ll get what it’s aiming for right away.

Though some will struggle not only with its oddness, but also its high skill bar right out the traps, but stick at it and you’ll discover a title that is set to be a real cult classic.