Hugh
Jackman's dancing was useful for the mo-capping
F*#ken
yeah!
All the hype I'm hearing at the moment is about X-Men
Origins: Wolverine. Unless you have been living under an
iPhone for the
past few years I'm sure you would have at least heard of the X-Men
brand.
Well I must say I'm just a little peeved off. Yeah
sure Wolverine is cool and all but Gambit is the s*#t.
The man that can make just about anything explode
into flames and is found usually hanging out at the card tables in a
casino.
I made that last bit up, but none the less Gambit
is far more awesome than Wolverine in my view. But then Gambit doesn't
have his own movie, and he doesn't have his own game. So I'm stuck with
Wolverine. But as it happens, this game is not half bad.
Discover: a
wise Chinese man that lived next to a cousin of a friend of mine once
said "A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives
flowers."
Ponder
that while I delve into this review.
X-Men
Origins: Wolverine
(the game) is "inspired" by the Twentieth Century Fox feature
film, and I must say Raven Software have done
a great job in bringing the action of the big screen to the cake-sized
console.
Hugh
Jackman does the voice overs for the Wolverine character and
it
makes the game all the more authentic and brings an extra level of
intrigue and wonderment to the narration.
Opening
scene? I was surprised by the level of blood and gore (it was
awesome!). Wolverine is trying to escape from some military outfit,
however they
aren't dealing with any average Joe, as Wolvie stabs a guy in the head
(through a wall) then lifts a dude in the air and
skewers him over and over again and impales another enemy on an exposed
pipe.
All of which carries over into your in-game action
which puts you in the perfect frame of mind for slicing and dicing and
possibly break dancing.
Gameplay
is much the same throughout the game. You run around different
levels ripping your foes to
pieces and I mean that literally.
There are animated cut scenes that
come into play mid-way through combat, sort of like fatalities, that
are quite cool. Just say a foe is almost dead, by
hitting the triangle button you can trigger a finishing move, which in
most cases results in the loss of a limb or head, complete with gouts
and spurts of blood.
X-Men
Origins isn't really a kids game. Bob the Builder is.
The amount of blood and dismemberment is great of you ask me. It adds
a grittiness to the gaming
experience and gives adult gamers something visceral to get stuck into,
but if you're 10 year's old you may find it disturbing.
There are plenty of combos to master in the his
game, as well as some handy aerial maneuvers, most of which require
semi-complex
button mashing.
There's also a rage meter, which fills up as you
dispatch foes or smash objects like crates. Man I love crates!
Once the rage meter is full, you hold R2 and then
hit the circle button
and it makes your claws glow red, which does more damage and
regenerates Wolverine's health faster. Ultimately you don't really need
it
because Wolvie is already pretty strong, but it's nice to activate
every now and then for some mega-stabs.
Your primal sense works by pushing up on the D-pad
and this helps you find your objectives, and it helps
reveals cloaked enemies should they try to grope you.
Now, there are two story lines that are
acted out in tandem, which can be
confusing. Until you beat the game that is. But they do work well
together
and help flesh out Wolverine's past and present.
Playing through the game, it seems as though you
never stop moving, never stop slashing or lunging or jumping,
which makes you feel
like a huge hero. Wolverine is constantly shrugging off enemy
bullets as if they were
a mere mosquitoes: he is a machine and at times you feel as though he
is
unstoppable.
But
Wolvie isn't unstoppable. There are two health bars that monitor
Wolvie's health. Basically the first bar represents Wolverine's
exterior. If you can dash behind some cover when it has been drained
down, it will begin to
refill.
However, if that bar is completely drained, it
means
Wolverine
has taken enough damage to expose his vital organs. Now, a second meter
with a heart on it will begin to take damage. If that one is exhausted,
Wolvie's dead. Like a doornail.
But even when the going gets
tough, Wolverine is so powerful and resistant to stabbings and
shootings and rocket attacks that you never really have to
look at
your health. Plus you regenerate pretty quick once you have upgraded
your character - but more on the upgrades later.
Having said that, Wolverine does look kinda cool
after he has taken a bout of punishment and riddled with bullet holes,
exposing his rib cage and organs. Ewww!
As
far as depth goes (for a movie to game
conversion) this
is not a bad attempt, but
there isn't much in terms of mini games and puzzles to add spice and
variety to the non-stop genocide.
It's a lot of
button mashing, blood and guts, thwickety thwack, which can become
tiresome after a couple of hours and isn't
exactly ground-breaking gameplay.
However the combat does look and feel great to
begin with, when
you're slicing foes to pieces and splitting them in half (you can cut
them through their torso).
There's a number of
gruesome adamantium-charged
moves, including slicing off limbs, swift decapitations, and stabbing
heads directly into the ground after a frenzied airborne attacks. If
you're a pacifist you may find the visuals disturbing.
You can also use your claws to climb up icy cliffs
and also to comb your hair.
But when you're lunging onto a mini-bosses
back over and
over again to only cause minor damage and when you're lunging
onto bosses that can't counter, the experience becomes
somewhat repetitive and feels as though it's lacking in
challenge.
There are also boss re-hashes and backtracking in
some levels, which don't help the matter.
When
you have to fight four mid-bosses at once while being
gunned
down by a helicopter, that is a thorough challenge and blocking rockets
and then sending them back at your foes can also be rewarding.
There are other redeeming features, such
as three classic Wolverine costumes. By finding figurines
hidden
throughout the levels (or going to our cheats
page!), you'll unlock the classic yellow and blue,
yellow and brown, and X-Force costumes.
What's cool about this feature is that
after you find the figures, you have to go to a fight arena
and face off against Wolverine in whatever costume you're trying to
unlock. So the moral of the story is, don't cheat you weaksauce potato.
Throughout the game you are rewarded with
experience points that you gain by
defeating foes and finding fallen comrades' dog-tags.
These points
are used to upgrade your claws, damage, health and special moves, which
added enough interest to keep me playing through until the bitter end
(and also fight for the new costumes).
In
addition to the stat building system you can find 'Mutagens'. These
interchangeable,
never-ending power-ups can boost your damage levels, your health, and
can even increase your experience gain. Furthermore, Mutagens come in
several levels, allowing you to upgrade to more powerful versions.
These Mutagens can be found throughout the levels
- some are hidden and others are more obvious - and
you can have up to three different powers activated by the end of the
game.
Graphically
this game is quite good. There's a really dark and dingy theme
throughout the science
lab levels and then bright and vibrant visuals are seen through the
African levels for example, giving the game a good deal of variety.
Wolverine moves very smoothly with a fluidity that
makes him look like he came out of the movie, and being locked in
combat is very grisly but also very intense.
In all, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a
blood-soaked and ultra-violent quest that translates well into the
digital medium.
This game will be definitely worth a look
for X-Men fans because it expands on the story of the film and even
haters will probably rejoice in the bloodshed
of this highly charged title. And as the prophecy foretells, a
hairy
man shall make us all double over in painful laughter. The end.
