X-Men: The Official Game : Games : Web Wombat

Better late than never! That’s all I can really say about this review. Should have put my head down and got this one out before the blockbuster movie was released.

If only I could say the same thing about Activision and Z-Axis. It seems to me that X-Men: The Official Game may have been slightly rushed to make it out before the movie launch because it sure wasn’t up to the standards of previous X-Men titles such as the addictive X-Men Legends franchise. All that aside, X-Men does eventually turn out to be a fairly decent game.

X-Men: The Official Game is an official (in case you missed the title) prequel to the new movie X3: The Last Stand and thus bridges between the events from the previous movie X2: X-Men United. With this in mind, you are privvy to learn the little things along the way which are not explained in the new movie, first and foremost being - where the freak did Nightcrawler dissapear to?

Which of course brings us to my next point, the characters. You can play as the deadly Wolverine, the chilling Iceman, or the highly-acrobatic Nightcrawler - each impressively voiced by their motion picture actor counterparts Hugh Jackman, Shawn Ashmore and Alan Cumming. Not mentioned though, is the fact that perenial chrome dome, Patrick Stewart, also does an equally impressive job in voicing Professor X.

Now the game itself...Hmmm. My first impression was that it wasn't to shabby at all, although, in fairness, I was only looking at the games menu. I get distracted by shiny objects, don't judge me - your not my real Dad! Anyway, back to my point, if you like menus or are an enthusiast of all things graphical user interfaces this is the game for you.

But, more importantly, the game itself. You start by tracking through some fairly simple, if not a tad mundane, training levels as all three characters. Once completed you are thrown into the main storyline as Nightcrawler - but then are given the option as playing as either Wolverine or Iceman for other sections. Whoever you do choose, you are stuck with them for the duration of the chapter which may be up to four levels depending on which character you chose. Once finished, the rest of the other characters levels are to be completed in the chapter in order to move on.

Boss fights are scattered around the levels and are quite “pleasing”, for lack of a better word; they are fun but not fun-fun (you know what I mean). In all, there are 28 missions on offer here to which you can waste away your life.

Each playable character is totally unique in how they operate and the environment in each level is tailored to their individual skills – such as open, outdoor environments perfect for Iceman. Wolverine obliterates enemies and objects using his adamantium claws and crushing brute force. He also has a fury mode that gives him even more power and some particularly brutal moves. As Nightcrawler, scale walls, swing from rafters, and teleport through environments to surprise your enemies. Shoot ice bursts and create hailstorms as you soar through the air on a pathway of ice as lightning-fast Iceman. It all sounds pretty cool, but that’s almost everything your characters have to offer in the way of X-Entertainment.

Wolverine and Nightcrawler both have a few easily repeatable combos, none of which are - for the most part - that enjoyable. Playing as Wolverine you could virtually defeat most, if not all, enemies by just button bashing the same button (but how can you not love ripping people apart with "those claws"). At least when it comes to Nightcrawler, the initial fun stems from the 'no less than cool to look at' teleporting into combat with a flurry of quick fisticuffs and kicks. I should also mention that the enemy AI is downright mindless with the same one-two-three hit combo regardless of enemy; it should have been a whole lot more difficult. Sadly, like a song from the Rouge Traders - it’s all just a bit repetitive and provides just about no challenge for anyone.

Oh! I nearly forgot! The hidden collectable items that all these type of games have. In X-Men they unlock costumes and Danger Room missions. But let me warn you, I wouldn’t really call them "hidden items" as much as "blatantly obvious items that even Stevie Wonder could find if he was in a dark room full of hidden items marked Hidden Items Here written in brail", with the exception of Iceman’s levels - thanks to some nasty time limits.

The soundtrack isn’t exactly outstanding either. However, it didn’t make my ears bleed - which I always take as a good sign. The only noticeable problem seemed to be that the sound would abruptly shut off and start up again just as randomly.

Although X-Men’s graphics don’t offer anything that we all haven’t already seen, it’s still pretty snazzy for a current generation game. The simple character models and animations are nicely detailed, as are the several - slightly monotonous - environments. There’s limited special effects and but a few nice visual touches. One of the major let downs is that far too many enemies look the same. Mix it up people!!

The cutscenes are still-frame shots of comic book versions of the movie characters. It’s somewhat strange, especially as various actions happen while others don’t, for example, some characters will awkwardly walk across the screen while others speak to each other without their mouths moving whatsoever. It’s understandable why they went for this look but I’m not convinced that they pulled it off as effectively as they would have liked. At other times the cutscenes go into a full blown comic book style - but move around the comic book page and switch images so fast that it only serves in making you more frustrated.

Overall, X-Men: The Official Game is best recommend as a hire. If you are a passionate X-Men fan you will probably find this more enjoyable than the average gamer as it contains a lot of the same production elements from the movie franchise, with various villains like Sabretooth, Multiple Man, and Pyro, to locations like Alkali Lake and the Dark Cerebro machine.

Another plus, is that it has its own original narrative written by Chris Claremont and Zak Penn (the guys behind the film as well as numerous other comic-book/film adaptions) and adapted from an original comic. X-Men fans aside, this game is simply incredibly repetitive and also extremely easy to complete with very little practice; I was able to 100% the game in no time at all.

So how would you summarise? I just can’t resist myself, I have to say it… while X-Men: The Official Game is alright, it definitely ain't as “Marvel-lous!” as it could have been.

Game: X-Men: The Official Game
System: PS2
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Z-Axis
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 60%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

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