X-Men Origins: Wolverine will give you new insight into how much damage indestructible, razor-sharp claws can do to a human body. This is a game that revels in gore, with decapitations, eviscerations, and mutilations drenching the screen in blood. It may be derivative, a cakewalk, and at times buggy, but the sheer visceral impact of the over-the-top violence in X-Men Origins is enough to make it a fun action game, as well as one of the better movie tie-ins released recently.
It
helps that the violence in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is backed up by decent
gameplay, and though it doesn't bring anything new to the third-person action
genre, it's still solid and satisfying at most times. You play as the titular
Marvel mutant, with the game's muddled storyline mimicking and expanding on
events in the movie of the same name. Along the way, you take Wolverine through
the jungles of Africa, the hidden Weapon X base at Alkali Lake, the interior
(and exterior) of a massive casino, and more. You have to take on groups of
increasingly aggressive and dangerous enemies, solve not-too-taxing
environmental puzzles, as well as go up against several guest boss villains
from the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, the game doesn't do a great job of
introducing these nefarious individuals--such as the Blob and Gambit--and often
throws them in with little explanation of why Wolverine needs to beat on them
in the first place.
Your
weapons of choice for dispatching these villains are Wolverine's claws, and
even though the game's jumping timeline means that you'll be playing as both
pre- and post-adamantium Logan, the claws retain their indestructible ability
to slice through practically anything throughout the game. You have light and
heavy attacks that you can string together to perform various combos, and also
an extremely useful lunge that lets you launch Wolverine at enemies from a
distance. These combos are easy to pull off if you've got a gamepad, but as
you'd expect, they're a bit trickier when playing with a keyboard and mouse.
Nevertheless, the keyboard control scheme is quite intuitive and is definitely
manageable with a little practice. As Wolverine gains levels, new combos open
up, as well as four different fury attacks, which are supermoves that require
you to build up your rage meter before unleashing. These four attacks can be
upgraded as Wolverine gains experience, giving the game a very basic
character-customization element.
Although
spamming the same combos can prove useful early in the game, you won't be able
to get away with mindless mashing for too long. The game does a good job of
forcing you to change your tactics, sending at you a wide variety of enemy
types that require different attacks and combos to dispatch. For example,
though the lunge may work on low-level enemies, tougher foes and midlevel bosses
will simply swat you out of the air. With a bit of practice, all of Wolverine's
moves can be chained seamlessly, making you feel extremely powerful as the
mutant unleashes his rage on groups of enemies.
Among
the game's highlights are a number of particularly gruesome ways that you can
dispatch your foes. Some are situational; throw enemies near any conveniently
located floor or wall spike and you'll automatically impale them. Some are part
of normal attacks, which can result in arms, legs, and heads flying in any
direction. The best ones are Wolverine's various flashy finishing moves. The
angry mutant can stab an opponent in the side of the head with one set of claws
before decapitating them with the other; rip off someone's arm and beat him to
death with it; literally tear someone in half; use the spinning blades of a
helicopter to transform an enemy's head into bloody chunks; and much more. It's
certainly the most blood-soaked superhero game in years, and one that younger
Wolverine fans should avoid. However, adult fans of the character will probably
find this a guilty pleasure, in turns laughing and wincing at the blood-soaked
display in front of them.
Your
enemies will try to give as good as they get, and Wolverine will have to face
off against a good variety of human, mutant, and robotic foes. Most pack heavy
firepower or super abilities, but Wolverine has his rapid healing to fall back
on. His health bar will automatically refill after a few seconds of not taking
damage. In fact, Wolverine's health recovers quite quickly, which makes the
game fairly easy to breeze through on normal difficulty. It's rare to feel too
threatened by the odds stacked up against you, and chances are that the only
time you'll die in the game is when you fall off of a high ledge or into water.
That's right: Wolverine can survive bullets, swords, flames, explosions, and
lasers, but fall into one of the game's few predetermined no-go zones and it's
instant death.
This
is particularly jarring during the game's final boss fight, in which falling
off means having to restart the battle from the last checkpoint. Wolverine's
other boss fights are mostly anticlimactic, with some of the bosses even
freezing up on occasion. In one instance, a boss character simply stopped
moving, whereas in another it failed to reappear after being thrown offscreen.
These occurrences were rare but quite annoying when they happened, and to its
credit, the game does have two standout showdowns, the first with the Blob, and
the second a fight with a gigantic Sentinel. But though the latter is a fun
multistage battle that culminates in a spectacular finishing blow from the
near-invincible mutant, it's probably not quite the epic face-off that fans of
the X-Men series have been hoping for.
X-Men
Origins: Wolverine is easy; you'll likely finish its five chapters in fewer
than 10 hours. There's no multiplayer here, and most of the replay value is in
finding hidden alternate costumes throughout the levels, as well as an
unlockable hard difficulty. There are only a few extra costumes (such as
Wolverine's classic brown spandex), but once unlocked, they can be used while
you play through levels to replace the boring "faded jeans and white
shirt" look that serves as Wolverine's default.
The
game's environments--particularly its indoor ones--are plain-looking; the
various corridors and laboratories lacking real distinctiveness. Characters
fare a little better, sporting good animations if lacking a little in the
detail and sharpness departments. The model of Wolverine himself is the
standout and features an interesting structure that shows off real-time damage.
Get hit, and the damaged areas will show the exposed muscle underneath. Keep on
getting pummeled and you'll even see the character's skeletal structure
exposed, to be gradually replaced by muscle and skin as Wolverine heals. This
sounds better than it looks--most of the time, this real-time damage lacks
clear definition, looking more like random red splotches on Wolverine's clothes
than serious injuries. Performance was rock steady, with a mostly solid 60 FPS
even at high resolutions (and the game supports resolutions up to 1920x1200).
As for sound, the highlight again is Wolverine, with movie star Hugh Jackman
lending his voice to the character. However, other environmental effects are
inconsistent. Most of the time, the various slashing, gunshots, and explosions
in the game sound appropriately meaty, but there are some occasions when
onscreen actions seem to lack the accompanying sound altogether.
Although
X-Men Origins: Wolverine does sport some clear technical deficiencies, it's
never enough to fully distract you from what it is at its core: a solid if
unspectacular game that, for once, takes those metal claws of Wolverine
seriously. This is a game that's at its best when it's brutal, and though it
lacks any real depth, it's fun while it lasts.
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