Slashes through movie game stereotypes

by Jim Gatfield

Fun factor: Fun

Worth to: Rent

Will make it harder for all the surly reviewers and so-called game industry experts to stereotypically belittle movie games, because Wolverine is actually a pretty good action sloberknocker

Releasing as a tie-in to the summer blockbuster of the same name, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an above-average attempt at using a movie license to give fans an entertaining way to continue the Wolverine love long after the movie credits have finished rolling.


Finally a mature Wolverine…

Presenting a slightly different version of the movie’s “origin” story, told in a number of interspersed flashbacks, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a stylish action game in the same sort of vein as God of War and Devil May Cry, but with much less time for finesse, and much more time for the bloody removal of limbs. Yes, this game is rated mature, and it does a good job of earning that rating with the sheer intensity of the combat and the brutal nature of the finishing moves at the player’s disposal.



However, it is that very over-the-top violence that seems to fit the character perfectly well. Developer Raven Software is finally giving players a chance to finally see what would happen if Wolverine’s claws came into contact with the flesh of a living breathing human, without picky Comics Codes and PG-13 ratings holding them back. Stop and picture what that would look like, and no more explanation of the violence is needed.

Solid delivery on most fronts

The graphics are decent, although nothing to be considered standout in today’s era of amazing HD visuals. That being said, the player model is animated well, bears a good resemblance to Hugh Jackman, and features real-time regeneration to represent Wolverine’s less violent superpower. Environments are fairly distinct from each other, enemies look good, and the ever-present blood pops out from the screen very effectively. Once in a while, when the action gets especially out of control, there seems to be a bit of a drop in frame rate, but never anything that is too problematic.

Beyond the presentation, gameplay is a very solid affair, with you standard combos, aerial attacks, environmental kills, and a particularly useful lunge attack that really should be in more games just for the heck of it. As you progress through the game, there is a simplified leveling system that allows you to increase your character stats as well as your moveset. It does need to be stated, that the gameplay is pretty well established in the first couple of hours, so if that doesn’t appeal to you, the rest of the game will likely seem repetitive.



The enemy variety is fairly extensive, with a steady upgrading of both new enemy types and difficulty of existing ones. However, due to the nature of Wolverine’s abilities, they never provide too much of a difficulty on the normal setting, since your health always replenishes. The boss fights are entertaining for the most part, having a sort of old-school feeling of learning the bosses’ weaknesses and then using your arsenal of death to exploit that. The types of bosses include many you would expect if you have seen the film, as well as some surprises due to the game’s version of the story. A few key boss fights are particularly entertaining, such as the fight with the Blob, exhibiting some nice creativity amidst the unwavering violence.

An actually good movie game?

In terms of the actual story, the movie should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the game. There are some deviations that make the game’s story different, but nothing major enough to completely separate the two. Having experienced both versions of the story, I will say that the game’s use of flashbacks to tell the story slightly out of order seemed to work better than the completely chronological nature of the film’s plot. It isn’t often when you can say that about a movie game.

The game is surprisingly long, coming in at around 8 hours. In terms of replay value, there are three extra challenges that can be opened up, consisting of fights with different versions of Wolverine that unlock new costumes upon completion. There is an extra hard difficulty that becomes available after beating the game, and if you managed to preorder the game from Gamestop, there is a series of rooms in the “Weapon X Arena” that allow further mayhem in a enemy ladder challenge (kinda like Horde Mode in Gears): an environmental kill room, a dismemberment room, and an enemy test room where you can create your own single wave challenges. These extras provide some good replayability, and will likely be available to those who acquired the game elsewhere as DLC down the road.



As what can be described as a casual Wolverine fan, in that he was my favorite superhero as a kid, but I’m only just beginning to get involved in the comics, I can say that I really enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I was just looking for an action-packed way to spend the weekend after seeing the movie, and this served the purpose well.

Summary

As far as movie games go, this is one of the best, even surpassing the film in some ways. Granted, for some players, the combat may get repetitive, and the story isn’t going to change the way you look at video games. X-Men Origins: Wolverine doesn’t change the industry or adds anything dramatically new to the action-genre, but if you are a fan of the source material and are ready to let loose with your favorite adamantium-laden bad-ass, then this is the game for you.