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The game is combat-heavy, but there are a few instances where you won’t be shredding enemies to pieces. These come in the form of platforming puzzles and the obligatory stealth section. The platforming isn’t as frustrating as it sounds as Wolverine is pretty agile and the controls are quite responsive. And even if you get stuck, a handy “feral sense” can be turned on, which allows you to see exactly where you need to go while also highlighting various usable objects in the area. These sections do help break the monotony of constant combat, but much of the game still feels repetitive. About half way through the game you will feel like you’re fighting the same enemies and doing the same things over and over again, which, depending on how much you are enjoying the combat, may or may not be a bad thing. The puzzles are also on the easier side and at times just feel “tacked on” just to add some variety.
The whole thing should take you around 12 to 14 hours to finish on the game’s Normal difficulty setting, which isn’t too shabby considering it’s ultimately a movie tie-in and not your next highly-anticipated AAA blockbuster. The difficulty level isn’t too high and the only times I actually got Wolverine killed was while missing a jump during a platforming section. There is also a Hard mode to try and collectible action figures to find, which unlock additional bonus challenges to get new costumes. Still, much like any other hack-and-slash action game, replayability largely depends on how much you enjoy the gameplay.
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine is powered by the Unreal 3 Engine and hence features the occasional pop-in and slowdown. And for some reason Wolverine’s shirt keeps flickering on and off, which is kind of weird, especially with no Jean Grey anywhere near him. With that said, the visuals are pretty solid. The environments look great and the combat animations are slick. The frame rate, although decent, could have been a lot better. The game features the best graphical representation of Wolverine’s healing ability and you will see his flesh torn and his adamantium skeleton revealed if he takes too much damage. I had him looking like a Terminator exoskeleton at one point just for kicks (not that I suck at the game, mind you). Load times are a bit disappointing and it takes a while to reload a previous checkpoint if you happen to die.
Wolverine is voiced by Hugh Jackman and apart from Liev Schreiber, who plays Victor Creed a.k.a. Sabertooth and Will I Am, none of the other actors from the movie reprise their roles here. The music is mostly forgettable, but the sound effects more than make up for it. Wolverine’s claws tearing through flesh and bone sound just as nasty as they should and listening to your enemies scream in terror as Wolverine lunges onto them with his claws bared doesn’t fail to bring a devilish smile to your face.
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Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Once again, it’s not exactly groundbreaking, but does stand apart from other poorly made movie-based games. It lacks some polish, the story is mediocre and the gameplay can get a little repetitive, but the wickedly fun combat makes it worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of the Marvel universe and love hack-and-slash games. Don’t let the “movie tie-in” tag get in the way; there’s some solid bloody fun to be had here.
(+) Combat is wickedly gory and fun
(+) Controls are very well implemented
(+) Great sound effects and decent voice acting
(-) Disjointed story and presentation
(-) Feels somewhat repetitive about halfway through
(-) Long load times on the console versions
Title: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Developer/Publisher: Raven Software/Activision
Genre: Action
Rating: 18+
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Rs 1,895), PlayStation 3 (Rs 2,499), PC (Rs 699)
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