Wanted: Dead Reviews
Wanted: Dead is an alleged slasher-shooter that only ever manages to slash my interest and shoot its respect for me as a player in the head. Save your bullets and play something else.
I enjoyed some features of the game. Like the way it looks, chopping the opposition to separate parts and grooving to some ramen and music. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep me playing. I couldn’t get over the protagonist’s voice and some of the cliché and borderline cringe cutscene dialogue.
Wanted: Dead is the love child of the creators of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and you will definitely see the influence as you make your way through the story. You play detective Hanna Stone, the leader of Hong Kong’s Zombie Unit. This team is comprised of a group of misfits looking for a second chance and they are trying to uncover a corporate conspiracy. The story may not win any awards but we personally had a ton of fun with Wanted: Dead.
Wanted: Dead's challenging settings, unique approach to battle, and visual presentation will attract some interest, but they certainly won't be adequate to hold most players' interest for very long. Its gameplay mechanism and core plot shortcomings made it difficult to enjoy as a whole. If you, however, like hack and slash, decapitating enemies, and are willing to die often to do it, then Wanted: Dead is the game for you.
With the right execution, Wanted Dead could have found a ready-made audience for its old-fashioned approach. But what the developers of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood and particularly Evil West did so well, Soleil has done very badly. A game built so totally on combat simply cannot afford to have combat which is implemented in such a tiresome, frustrating way. Wanted Dead is a confusing, disappointing miss which will likely fall far below the quality of forthcoming action games in 2023.
If you are up for a challenge Wanted: Dead can be a fun experience, but for those who don’t like dying or having to learn perfect timing, it can be rather frustrating. The game’s shift in graphics between mini-games, gameplay, and cutscenes can be a bit much for those looking for a uniform experience. Soleil Ltd. tries to make Wanted: Dead the experience that Ninja Gaiden was, but misses the mark. Combat can be fun if you don’t get frustrated at a challenge, otherwise, if you are looking to just experience the story, Neko-chan mode is the way to go.
Wanted: Dead is a sneaky love letter to the PS2 & OG Xbox era of gaming. It's tough as nails, charming, and addictive as hell. What more could you ask for?
Wanted: Dead is a fun, but challenging adventure. It brings together brutal swordsmanship and deadly third person shooting in one uniquely packaged experience. The combat is easy to understand and it does feel great, and its difficulty is definitely the drawcard here. Unfortunately, the combat can feel a little too simple at times and the level design can seem slightly same-y. The story feels tacked on, and most of the voice acting is B movie levels of terrible. Overall, Wanted: Dead is quite entertaining and will give you a good few hours of challenging gameplay.
I went into Wanted: Dead expecting to be an overpowered badass that ripped and tore through the opposition. It delivered for a fleeting moment, but quickly deteriorated...
Wanted Dead is a game that strives to please gamers of old. While I appreciate that, I think the biggest issue is that the gameplay loop is not polished enough. Something just feels off and overly clunky as well. Maybe I am just stupid and don’t understand the combat system, but I’ve had a healthy share of action titles in my years of gaming. I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly.
Wanted: Dead is an okay hybrid game and despite it giving me vibes from my time with Devil's Third, this is a way better experience overall and would-be players should check all the videos before making that final decision.
Wanted: Dead is a game filled with good ideas but none of them feel as good as it should. The game definitely can be in the "So bad is good" pile (and it kinda is), but also feels like a more polished Devil's Third, a sequel could solve a lot of problems but ultimately is kind of a PS2/Xbox game released in 2023.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you’re not put off by its grave challenge that all too often feels unfair and its general rough-around-the-edges nature, you might have a good time with Wanted: Dead. Most, though, are likely to become disheartened and infuriated by it. It tries to do something new with the genre and we applaud it for that, but the execution isn’t quite there. We love its characters and its quirkiness, and even its mechanics, but they’re in a game that at the moment only sporadically feels fun to play. Hopefully Soleil can make some post-launch changes that point it further in the right direction.
Wanted: Dead is a great action game, it has flashy visuals, violent combat full of blood and dismemberment, and mostly it has a great interesting if unusual story, carried by interesting characters, external influences and sinister plot. The world is built in a cool, refreshing way and the moment-to-moment gameplay is engaging though sometimes simple. It promises something unique, and it delivers something not only unique but recommendable to fans of futuristic worlds and action games.
For all intents and purposes, Wanted: Dead ironically captures all the worse aspects of a seventh-generation action game. The generic story capable of putting an insomniac to sleep is accompanied by awful voice acting, bad editing and flashy but shallow combat. The finishers look cool as hell but that isn’t enough to save the game from being a dud. Wanted: Dead is a hard pill to swallow even for the most hardcore jank lover.
Wanted: Dead has glimpses of greatness but is held back by mediocre systems and design choices that keep it from flourishing. Brief flashes of brilliance can’t help but be overshadowed by combat that feels repetitive, and voice actors that sound bored despite the surrounding chaos. Its difficulty, combat style, and visceral style will bring it some attention, but it more than likely won't be enough to keep most players enthralled for long.
On paper, Wanted: Dead has everything you could possibly want from an action game, but it’s mired in poor execution, ropey presentation, and more than a few unusual design choices. Wanted? We’re not so sure.
Evaluating Wanted: Dead means coming to terms with the past of the action genre. We repeat: we had a lot of fun during the most agitated moments, fighting against some of the most peculiar bosses, or noticing the constant references to pop, cyberpunk and the history of video games of the 2000s. Unfortunately, however, the weight of technical inaccuracies and the inconsistency of the plot, the slowness of the interludes between an explosion of violence and the next, are evidently out of tune notes and condition the charm of an experience that in any case is able to entertain the most irrediculable fans of the action.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Wanted: Dead is a Slasher/Shooter hybrid from the creators of Ninja Gaiden. You take control of Hannah Stone, a badass cop from the 'Zombie Unit'. Armed with a katana and a number of firearms, Stone hacks and shoots anything that stands in your way.
Review in Dutch | Read full review