Premium content is optional, and is in the form of credits. These credits can be used to activate premium features on your account, which will let you know before you attempt a hit whether or not you'll succeed. In addition, credits can be used to bribe others to take the fall for you, allowing you to forgo hiding. Later on when failed assassinations can result in 23+ hours of hiding away, paying someone to take the fall for you is a huge, huge boon.

Killing targets not only levels you up, but it also earns you cash, which is used to purchase recovery items, weapons, ammo, armor, and equipment, and even start your own Fraternity a la the one in the movie. Of course, no explanation as to why there are suddenly hundreds of Fraternities instead of one … but it's a nice touch. Owning a Fraternity adds more elements to the game, as you can dole out hits on other players, hire NPC staff to run shops and recovery rooms, and generally get more to do.

As I said earlier, though, none of the gameplay elements are very innovative or new; where "Wanted" does set itself apart is its use of the license. On top of the everyday actions you can perform, there's also a story mode, which shows you more of the tale told in the film. Unfortunately, the portions of the story are placed far apart in terms of difficulty, so it will take quite some time to level up enough in order to continue it after the first two chapters.

Playing the game, it seems like even though it's made to promote "Wanted" the movie, it's people who have already seen and liked the movie that will enjoy this the most. For those unfamiliar with the world, the infrequent story missions will do little to make you want to run out and buy it, and you'll be more likely to grow bored of this quicker. For those who liked the movie, though, the small references throughout – from the story mode to the film's unique bullets – make playing it a nice distraction for a couple of afternoons.

Review by Brendon Lindsey
March 18th, 2009