We all know the history record of licensed movie games….In short, they suck. There have been very few exceptions to that rule. Then, along comes X-Men Origins: Wolverine published by Activision, and coded by the folks at Raven. Is this just another typical lazy movie license rush job, or maybe something a little bit more substantial? Click here to read the official GHR review and find out if this game is razor sharp, or butterknife dull.

Overall: 8.2
Presentation: 8
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 7.5
Replay Value: 7.75

First, I have to say, that I’ve never been interested in the X-Men flicks. To me, it would have been far better if those were high end animated features. Unfortunately, animated features don’t do all that well in America unless its got Disney, or Pixar attached, so I know why they did those movies that way. But really– who are you going to get to play the roles of the X-Men? As fine as Halle Berry is, she ain’t built like Storm. Hugh Jackman doesn’t look like Wolverine either-no matter how much they flush out that reverse mullet. The only actor that could do Wolverine any justice as far as I’m concerned is Clint Eastwood-and I don’t mean Grand Torino Clint, either. I’m thinking more along the lines of Pale Rider Clint.

But, this is a game review, not a movie critique. To that end, having the likeness of Jackman as Wolverine is the worst thing about this game. It’s a solid title, that pretty much rips off God of War at every turn-but that’s okay…X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a decent bite.

A good chunk of the game is done through flashback. Sure, its been done before, but these flashback levels do a good enough job of introducing you to Wolverine’s move sets, and abilities. The game follows the movie, so I’ll leave names and places out of the game review at the risk of spoilers. One of Wolverine’s abilities that you’re introduced to early on via flashback-and one that I think is just as useful and unique as Spidey’s Web Line attack from Web of Shadows-is the lunge. With it, you can target enemies from great distances away, making this attack ideal for dealing with enemies sniping from a distance. The targeting is done by pressing L1, and the lunge is done by pressing R1. Not only does this move work great with dealing with enemies that use ranged weapons like assault rifles and rocket launchers, the lunge is a great way to deal with off-screen enemies. You can combo off the lunge too.

The lunge also sets the opponent up for quick disposal. You can repeatedly impale them from a mount position, set them up for a flashy impalement finisher, or a lunge throw, in which Wolverine flings the hapless grunt victim to any number of gruesome deaths. Impalement on tree branches, ground spikes, fork lifts, or simply tossing them from a high ledge and listening to their death scream is quite satisfying. Oh, and another thing-this game has an M-rating for a reason. This one ain’t for the kids, regardless of the PG-13 rating of the movie its based on.

Combat is a simple affair. This is a button masher after all, and just about every press of the square and triangle buttons will yield a combo of some sort. Some enemies will weaken, and you’ll finish them off Ninja Gaiden 2 style, leaving assorted soldiers limbless and headless. You start the game with the only combo you’ll ever actually need-square, square, triangle. If that sounds familiar to you, it should-it’s the only combo you needed in the God of War series. Wolverine fights like Kratos, climbs vines and scalable surfaces like Kratos, he parries melee attacks, and deflects projectiles like Kratos . He even solves lame puzzles like Kratos by grabbing large stone blocks or vehicles, and moving them into position-just like the ‘Ol Ghost of Sparda himself. Pretty much the only thing Wolverine does that Kratos doesn’t is the lunge. I guess if you’re going to rip a game, rip one of the most entertaining series out there, right?

Where they don’t jock GoW is the area of the quick time event. Aside from having to press the circle button repeatedly to do something, there are no QTEs, and I’m thankful for it. You actually have to fight large enemies to take them down-not finish them off with a cheap kill.

Graphically, the game is impressive. As Wolverine takes battle damage, his body turns into Ragu sauce, showing off his adamantium laced bone structure. Sometimes, he looks more akin to a Terminator-especially with half the skin blasted off his skull. A brief respite from the carnage will allow his healing factor to kick in, and the affect is in real time. You can also boost Wolvie’s active and passive abilities by picking up mutagens strewn across the levels. You can keep up to three activated simultaneously, and affect his ability to earn combat points, and how quickly his healing factor kicks in. As you eviscerate enemies, you’ll earn combat points which you can use to unlock a number of combos, increase damage and length of special attacks, etc.

Boss battles are fun in this game too. One in particular-fighting the Sentinel-is especially fun. The game does a good job in showcasing why Wolverine is “the best there is at what he does.” It’s a blast to use Wolverine to break down a 30 story tall Sentinel robot on the ground, and continue the battle to an impressive conclusion in the air.

All things are not good with this game however. Most glaringly, there are some game breaking glitches. On several occasions I’ve been caught in walls (environmental traps) and not been able to get out of them. I was forced to re-load from a previous save point. That wasn’t a big deal, as the save points are fairly spaced, but something like that should have been caught and addressed during testing. That is just being lazy. Another thing I didn’t like were the puzzles. A lot of them seemed thrown in just “because” and really have no place in a game like this. I thought a lot of the puzzle elements in GoW were unnecessary, but at least they were placed well. Wolverine’s puzzles show a great lack of planning, and don’t make a whole lot of sense given the flow of the game.

So, in the end I think Wolverine is a solid game. Yes, it copies GoW heavily, and NG2 to a lesser extent, has very little originality going for it, and has glitches-oh, and Hugh Jackman’s likeness (though you can unlock Wolverines yellow and black, and tan and black classic costumes). At the end of the day though, it’s a decent title, and should at least be rented. If you’ve got the scratch, stimulate the economy and pick it up used. However with AAA action titles like Prototype and InFamous coming out in weeks, don’t even think about paying full price. Save your “Day-One-Confirmed” action game budget for those, but X-Men Origins: Wolverine will entertain.

Tags: Reviews