X-Men Origins: Wolverine

   Games based on movies are almost always terrible, it's a proven fact, proven by science! From the begining of X-men Origins: Wolverine's development though Raven has been telling us that they were going to make a great Wolverine game despite it being a movie based game. I'm happy to say that they certainly weren't lying, X-men Origins is a good game, it does however have a few technical issues and a problem with repetition which prevent it from becoming great.

   First off the game looks pretty nice. The model of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine that you'll be staring at for the rest of the game does look well constructed and generally animates in a fluid way. Other actors from the movie declined to lend their likenesses to the game, it seems that the only possible exceptions are Liev Schriber and Will i am. That's okay however because the characters who aren't Wolverine generally don't look that great so it's hard to recognise anyone other than Hugh Jackman anyway.

   You'll visit a number of varied locals during your time with the game, including an icy forest, an underground sentinel factory, an african jungle and a casino in Las Vegas. It's certainly enough variation to keep your interest and the levels do differ slightly in their various obsticles and puzzles that you need to solve. The environments do all at least look good, but it would've been neat to see some more interactivity with them, for instance when I go crazy on a door with Wolverine's claws I expect that door to cave in. It's maybe a bit demanding, but it's hard to shake the feeling that you path is being guided the whole time.

   The combat is what will draw most people to X-men Origins: Wolverine and those people certainly won't be disappointed. Somebody took quite a lot of time to make it really feel like you're controlling Wolverine and not just a guy who happens to have a bunch of knives on his hands. Part of what makes it great is the lunge move, which allows you to lock onto an enemy and jump at them to instantly close the distance and grab them, it's very satisfying and keeps combat moving at a fluid pace. Attacks really feel like they have some power behind them and Wolverine will chop off limbs and slice people in half without blinking. That is to say that this game gets really gory, Wolverine himself can get shot down to his ribcage and enemies can be sliced apart in multiple different ways.

   Wolverine will lever up over the course of the game and aquire skill points that you can spend on upgrading Wolverine's atributes such as his claw attack and health. You will also find things call mutagens along the way, these can be equipped to Wolverine to give him certain attack or defensive attributes. All of this helps you build your own play style and custom Wolverine, it does however have the side effect of making the game much much easier.

   The sound is pretty good for the most part, Hugh Jackman sounds like he's very much into playing Wolverine as always. Other actors are generally fine aswell but a lot of them come across as very hammy, but this generally just adds to the comic book feel and won't bother too many people. The music ranges from pretty good to kinda dull, the music from the movie seemed but that might just be a matter of personal taste.

   Though it shouldn't be what you play the game for the story is still a little bit lacking. It's all kind of fragmented and pieced together as part of Wolverine remembering things as he's fighting some kind of army in the future. It doesn't make much sense but it does pretty much just follow the plot of the movie, adding in a few characters such as Mystique and Bolvar Trask. It also adds in a battle with a giant sentinel which is great and one of the best moments I've had in gaming, it's a pity such a scene wasn't in the movie.

    This game's main problem is that it gets old fairly quick. Chopping up dudes at the start is incredibly satisfying but it will start to get old over the course of the game's 8-10 hour campaign. The killing gets a little boring after you've brutally sliced in half your 2000th dude (what a coincidence, you get an achivement for that) and you'll find yourself not really wanting to play much more. There are a few unlockable costumes which are fun and you have to defeat the Wolverine in question before you can use him and these battles can be pretty intense. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of cutscenes are pre-rendered and so Wolverine will be constantly switching costumes on you, it may not sound like a big deal but it makes the novelty wear off pretty quick.

    The game's other main problem is that it's glitchy and it shows the signs of being a rough game that should've had just a little more polish before being released. Sometimes enemies will float in thin air, the camera can go totally crazy on you, after all the blood and gore you've waded through suddenly an enemy won't bleed. It's never enough to truly get in the way of your enjoyment of the game but it is there nonetheless.

   So the game's easy and short but it's a lot of fun during that time. I'd reccommend it to fans of Wolverine or even just action games in general. Those not willing to throw $60 at a game that'll only last them a weekend should beware though, I'd definitely advise renting it at least. X-men Origins: Wolverine may be a rare case of the game being better than the movie it's based on and no Wolverine or X-men fan should really miss out on it.