Hot Play

Prepare to get Wet

WET

PS3, Xbox 360

All long legs and leather, Rubi is a fixer. Beautiful, graceful and brutal, if you’ve got a big problem and a bigger stack of money, she’s your man.

Her forte is ruthless, off-the-book (or “wet”) jobs: theft, bribery, frame-ups, protection or assassination. So when she agrees to find and bring home a rich man’s wayward son, it looks like a day in the park. But the gig leads to double-crosses and deception, quickly spinning out of control and leaving Rubi on the run, hunting down the men who betrayed her, and leaving her own trail of bodies and blood. Lots of blood.

But how does Rubi — voiced by the smouldering Eliza Dushku (TV’s Dollhouse) — thrive in this underworld? Mad skills. Surrounded by goons, she might run up a wall, push off, twist 360 degrees in the air while shooting with both hands, land in a knee slide, and leap to her feet while slashing with her sword. WET, as you’ve by now realized, is a super-stylized third-person action and shooting game, with over-the-top gunplay, sword fighting and acrobatics. And using your Matrix-meets-parkour abilities is crucial — fighting with style earns you even flashier moves and heftier weapons.

WET’s ironic mix of humour and violence, creativity and cliché is inspired by ’70s “grindhouse” movies with a heavy dose of Hong Kong action cinema. Even the graphics have a retro look, with faded colours and a grainy filter. In fact, just throw in a few lingering shots of Rubi’s bare feet and it’s basically Quentin Tarantino’s next movie.

Release date: September 8

Darkest of Days

PC, Xbox 360

Mess with history in this first-person shooter, as time-travelling agents return to historic calamites from Rome to the U.S. Civil War to WW II, rescuing key people who go on to improve the present day. And time paradox-shmaradox, haven’t you always wanted to see how well Roman centurions or Nazis stand up to a laser rifle?

Release date: September 8

Scribblenauts

DS

To complete missions in this innovative puzzle game you “summon” real world objects by simply writing them on the screen, then use them for gameplay. Recognizing 10,000 nouns, it challenges you to reach your goal in different and whimsical ways, whether it takes a ladder, a chainsaw, a penguin or a tub of hummus.

Release date: September 15