X-Men Origins: Wolverine Game Review - Xbox 360

OUR RATING:

7.6

VERY GOOD

TANGIBLES:

Gameplay:		7
Visuals:		8
Audio:		7
Value:		8
Quality:		8

Why you should buy it: You want to make sure you unlock all 50 achievements

Why you should rent it: It's short and can be completed in a few days

UNIQUE RATING:

7.6

SUGGESTION:

Rent It

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Written by: Andrew Giese | Tags: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Xbox 360

May 18,2009 - Finally us fans get to sink our claws into Wolverine’s powerful and vengeance-fueled character as we discover how he came to be what he is. The plot of Raven Software’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine is closely tied to the happenings of the similarly named film. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber reprise their roles of Wolverine and Sabretooth respectively, adding star power as well as lending some credibility to the title. In a genre where repetition is almost inevitable, Raven has done an adequate job of keeping gameplay fresh and satisfying.

Raven’s experience in developing Marvel Ultimate Alliance is almost immediately identifiable, given the 3rd person camera view, button-mashing beat ‘em up gameplay, action figure collecting, and leveling up. At times it felt like we were playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance minus the other mutants. Don’t think for a minute that Raven pulled any punches in outfitting Wolverine’s move set, though. Wolverine will begin with a basic skill set of claw swipes and throwing, but as he levels up he’ll soon be able to perform counter-attacks, gruesome and awe-inspiring quick kills and finishers, and projectile deflections among other moves. Besides this standard fare of claw slashes and baddie-tossing, Wolverine has a few unique skills on hand.

Logan has a long-range attack of sorts, where he locks onto enemies from a distance and then lunges with his claws extended. This attack will not only be used profusely to quickly engage gun-wielding enemies, but is also implemented as a means to traverse large gaps in the environments to arrive at the next checkpoint. He can also enter a Feral Sense state where hidden power-ups, traversable scenery, and environmental objects like floor spikes that can be used to impale enemies are highlighted various colors.

As Wolverine can’t pick up objects on the floor to throw them or wield any weapon to our chagrin, at least he has Rage Moves. As he kills enemies and destroys objects around him, Logan will collect Rage orbs that fill up his Rage Meter. After he’s collected enough, he can perform one of four special attacks that deal devastating damage to enemies for a period of time.

Wolverine’s health will begin to regenerate after he hasn’t taken damage for a short while. This allows players to constantly be in the midst of the fray. But you may just want to sit there and take bullets if only to see Wolverine’s body become a ragged mass of flesh with his adamantium skeleton visibly showing itself underneath, then watch as the wounds seal themselves up during regeneration.

While the game clocks in around the typical 8 hours we’ve become used to, it’s seems impossible for it to not become repetitive. It is, after all, a one person beat ‘em up. Raven acknowledges this fact and does all in their power to spice things up while remaining true to the movie. The constant plotline switching from Operation Firestorm to the future keeps the story fresh. Additionally, you’ll encounter heavy enemies and mini-bosses throughout the levels before boss battles in which you’ll need to switch up your tactics. Many will counter your lunge attack in a variety of ways while invisible shotgun wielding soldiers will catch you by surprise, and still others will fire rockets at you or impale you on their pointed weapons. Most of all that becomes moot, though, when you consider the fact that nearly all enemies can be uninterruptedly quick-killed where other enemies not only can’t stop you from performing the two or three second kill, but can’t inflict damage on Wolverine either.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is no Scorsese film, so don’t expect an epic soundtrack. Still, Wolverine manages to deliver ample action-movie music to keep you focused on cutting off limbs. The dialogue is generally clear, well-spoken and believable. Some plot dialogue is delivered via Worklogs found around the levels, and these are harder to hear or understand either because enemies will sometimes attack you after you’ve activated one, or because you turned it on right after a fight and the action music hadn't faded yet.

The graphics are animated very well. The variety of manners that enemies die in is constantly satisfying, and somehow the gory quick kills never get old. The cutscenes are always filled with Wolverine doing what he does best; sticking claws through faces and other generally badass moves of that ilk. However, some bugs in the environment need to be addressed. Bodies will sometimes float above the ground, stick to the ceiling, and at one point Wolverine fell through a level and kept falling until a ground-pound move allowed the game to realize that we were in an off-limits zone and killed us.

Overall, Raven Software did a very good job of sticking close to the movie plot while simultaneously delivering a rewarding experience. Still, gameplay became boring and repetitive fairly often and some minor issues with the camera and graphics were encountered. Despite this, we can safely chalk up X-Men Origins: Wolverine as one more in a new breed of movie-to-video games that don’t suck.

James Howlett a.k.a. Logan a.k.a. Wolverine first appeared in an issue of the Incredible Hulk in 1974. While his comic-book presence has only been around for 35 years, his character is over 100 years old yet is still in his prime thanks to his mutant abilities.