Review by Guest Reviewer: Matt “Shibby” Szybiak
The Info Bit
Genre: Slash ‘em up. Snikt!
Players: 1 Offline
Format Played: XB360
Available on: PC, PS3
Rating: BBFC 18
I debated for a week or so deciding whether or not to buy this, especially as it was tied to a movie with elements of which particularly annoyed me. However I ended up making the purchase as I had been continually playing the demo and thought I might as well give it a try.
Wolverine is no masterpiece when it comes to games and will not be hailed as being groundbreaking in any way. However it is rather fun to play, even though with it’s somewhat repetitive nature. Slashing and tearing people apart with Wolverines razor sharp Adamantium claws just doesn’t get old as quickly as you might think.
The story is expanded from the film and it is not a complete slave to the film either which is a nice touch making the game more on it’s own terms. Another point is the fact that the game is has BBFC 18 certificate, making it a more violent than the movie which had a lower certificate or a mere 12A. Some may feel the violence is gratuitous, but I feel it really shows the character of Wolverine well, as in many of the comics he seen to be violent and with his razor sharp claws can do a lot of damage.
It all seems a lot more real, rather than previous lower rated games. With Wolverine’s claws of death slicing off limbs, decapitating enemies and sometimes even slicing them clean in two. It fits the game and brings it to a level of maturity that some of this characters comic book adventures have been at for some time.
At times the game is a little achievement happy, but there are some you will have to work for giving the game some replay-ability. You will probably want to show friends some of the quick kills and how strong your character has become. There is a simply level up system, as when you start you are slightly more vulnerable. As you grow in levels you will become increasing more difficult to kill and can upgrade aspects such as attack damage, health, rage and rage attacks unlocked throughout the game.
Now I know this may be a sore point for some, we know that Wolverine is pretty much un-killable, but this would never work in a game. I think this has been done pretty well, you get a long regular health bar, when this is depleted you go down to a circle showing a heart when this is depleted you die. The idea from what I ahve read is that this circle is Logan’s vital organs being exposed to damage and therefore more lethal. The healing factor kicks in if you don’t get damaged for a short time and works well and as you grow in levels and upgrade Wolverine he does get harder to kill. There are also mutagens that can modify your healing factor, rage, experience gained from each kill and variety of others that can be utilised.
The story is average, nothing special but it expands on the source material, the fighting though repetitive takes some time to get really stale. The bosses and sub-bosses are generally simple, the best or at least most epic boss fight being a fight with a Sentinel.
There are some glitches, probably due to it being rushed out to coincide with the film, but they are mainly minor. They are things like floating enemy bodies’ occasional weird camera actions that normally sort themselves out pretty much instantly. The only main glitch that annoyed me was when fighting the Sentinel I destroyed the feet but could not destroy the final hand, I need the Sentinel to grab as it had earlier but it just didn’t seem to want to play ball so I restarted and made sure to destroy the hands first. This was the biggest most annoying problem I experienced while playing.
Another minor grip is there are some jumping puzzles that can be a little annoying and other puzzles that sometimes are a nice little break from the slaughter but at times can be a little irritating. Enemies occasionally just seem to stand still waiting to be engaged, but I didn’t expect amazing AI especially from many of the peons you face. There role is to be there, attack Wolverine and then be killed by Wolverine and so as cannon fodder they serve their purpose well.
I played the game quite a bit after completing the initial story, would say there is about 8-10 hours roughly long first play through. I replayed to get most of the left over achievements and still found it enjoyable.
The quick kills in the game can especially be entertaining and you will be doing them on many a foe, not just because as they say are “quick” but also to see the different ways Wolverine can quickly in a variety of ways dispatch each enemy.
I’d compared Wolverine to games like Stranglehold or God of War in some ways, though some may prefer the story of these others, they are of a similar nature.
I’d say it’s defiantly worth getting if you’re a fan of Wolverine; it is not only a pretty good movie based title but also the best Wolverine game there has ever been. It works well and is enjoyable despite being repetitive. The graphics are pretty good and the real time healing of Wolverine is cool to watch. There are some of the cast from the film, Hugh Jackman being the main one, but is still good to see some real collaboration between the two. When it comes down to it X-Men Origins Wolverine is really just big dumb fun, not over complicated plot or gameplay just pure carnage and enjoyment.
Stars out of Five: 3
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