X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PC)

[Mozgus]

The common assumption is that all movie tie-in games are terrible. This holds true in almost every case. Sure there was once Goldeneye for the N64, but we can't keep clinging to that example 2 generations later.

Developer Raven Software knew this, which is why in virtually every advertisement or interview video for X-Men Origins: Wolverine the game, you'll hear these guys say "It's the first movie game that doesn't suck!". Calling it the first would be a huge oversight, but they got the rest of it right. It doesn't really suck. It's just not very good either. All the reviews I've seen online seem to praise this game much more than it deserves, so I'm going to present my case. I've considered writing a traditional style review, but I just don't think that's going to be as effective. There's plenty out there, and you can take them with a grain of salt. Instead, I'm going to just list a series of meaty pro's and con's.

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Pro's:

*The Unreal Engine 3 is put to good use here. Many of the engine's effects are utilized. It ran at top speed the entire time with absolutely no slowdown. No crashes.

*Hugh Jackman provides Wolverine's voice just like in the movie. Some of the other actors may have as well.

*The few FMVs to be found were top notch in every way, except Wolverine looked nothing like Jackman, but instead more comic influenced.

*The soundtrack has its moments. A pretty good selection of electric guitar riffs and dark industrial.

*The whole thing is presented slick, from the main menu with a Wolverine hooked up in the adamantium tank subtly thrashing again, to the responsive and easy to navigate menus in-game.

*The controls, at least in terms of initial execution, are all very reliable and timely. For example, you may be in mid-combo, but you can still break it and jump or dash/dodge instantly.

*The few unique boss-fights to be found are a blast, if a little stretched thin over many minutes. You'll face Sabretooth, Gambit, Master Mold, Blob, Weapon XI. I believe that's all of them.

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Con's:

*It's a God of War clone, right down to it's core. No doubt about it. Wolverine's claws just don't have quite as much reach as Kratos' chains. From the controls, to the quick-time events, to the EXP systems. Now God of War is a great series, so what's the problem? Well there's many problems, most of which I'm detailing one at a time.

*So yes, quick-time events. This shit needs to stop. They were alright in GoW, if only because of how epic and elaborate they were. But here, they're just annoying, especially since you'll be watching each one about 40 times each before the end of the game. Quick-time events just don't belong in gaming, because they take control away from the player. How come when I climb up on a big boss in Wolverine, I have to just sit and watch Wolverine do some shit while I press a button every 10 seconds, but in a game like Shadow of the Colossus, I'm controlling every aspect of Wander's actions? Colossus is last gen. It set a new standard. Fuckin', get with it.

*The gore. It's extremely overdone to the point of being laughable. There's just so much red fountain action that I can't take the violence seriously. I feel like the game is catering to insecure teenagers, the kind who can't accept that video games are toys. It doesn't help that the blood looks like strawberry jam most of the time.

*With all the gore, Wolverine is represented here as nothing more than a savage serial killer. I can't stand it. And I'm seeing so many people saying "This is the true Wolverine!" No, asshole. It's not. Wolverine is not heartless. One of his most beloved character traits if his inner struggle between human and animal, and this game just turns him into nothing but an animal. The only people he doesn't kill are people he's benefiting from. There is just one single girl near the start he reluctantly tries to help, and fails. That's the only exception.

*The developers, many times, gloated about the vast, deep "playground" type areas they've designed. They literally said things like "We give you the entire jungle to play in." No, they didn't. This is not at all a "go anywhere, do anything" type game. It's 100% linear. So linear it hurts. The entire game is "Kill a room of enemies, go forward, kill another room, do a 1st grade level puzzle, go forward, kill a room of enemies". Randomly insert 5 boss fights, and you're done.

*And by puzzles, I'm really just talking about age-old block pushing and mechanical platform jumping. When Soul Reaver had me pushing about blocks which were used like stepping stools a decade ago, it was a fresh concept. When God of War did it, it was already annoying. Now when Wolverine does it again, I'm looking through a firearm catalog, contemplating the most effective way to kill myself.

*Wolverine's damage system is a very hyped up feature of the game. I personally don't really care for it. It just looks weird. Let something explode in your face and you're left with something more resembling a red version of Raziel. You don't so much see him regen like he does in the movie/comics, but rather his body just kind of refills in 3D. While your enemies will spray fountains of blood, Wolverine doesn't actually bleed, but instead has super shiny foot-wide immobile scabs that will stay on his body until the next opportunity for the game remove/replace them without you noticing.

You also should know that only his upper body shows damage. His lower body is protected by what appears to be indestructible alien powered blue jeans. They probably rank right up there with adamantium. His shirt on the other hand will tear into 73 pieces if Wolvie so much as sneezes. Fortunately, Wolverine not only has dozens more wife-beaters tucked in his pockets, but he also has the mutant ability to slip into a new one in the blink of an eye. He certainly takes his time though, making sure the player has plenty of opportunity to stare at Jackman's hairy, glistening back, abs, and pecks. This is perhaps the most gay-friendly video game I've ever played. So uh, good for them I guess. Suddenly, I'm thankful for the indestructible jeans.

*The story is represented horribly. Most of the time, you really have no idea why you're doing what you're doing. The game can't seem to decide if it wants to mimic the movie, or do it's own thing. It fails entirely at both. It uses flashbacks to save its ass, but it only serves to confuse the player due to how disjointed all the levels are. Very little transitioning. In fact, there's one point if I'm not mistaken, that was a flashback within a flashback. Divide by zero, if you please.

*The jungle areas are not only the most boring areas in the game, but also the most frequent. The story will plunge you into them many times during flashbacks, often in the exact same areas or extremely similar jungle sections, sometimes even having you backtrack. And every time you're in the jungle, you're going to be climbing a tower and taking out a satellite dish or some shit. You do this 3 or 4 times. It's so painfully repetitive and has no fucking grounds for story at all. The movie's jungle scene was 5 minutes or so. The game has probably 5 hours of jungle, and it tells no more plot points than the movie did. I'm not joking. At least in the laboratory levels of the game, there are audio recordings to listen to between the fights.

*All of the original enemies in the game are terrible. They have no history. No purpose. They're just henchmen basically, with such intimidating names like "Machete Champion"! ZOMG, I'm so intrigued. They are crash test dummies for Wolverine to fuck up. That's all.

*Besides those drones, you'll face sub-bosses. Wait, I mean sub-boss. As in one. A generic titan thing. The game will try to fool you by cloning him about 16 times, and put new skins on the later ones. but they're all the exact same boss. After a couple they're nothing but a chore to fight. You just lunge on them when they miss an attack, or you can just go berserk on their legs for a while until they drop. Incredibly boring.

*The unlockable costumes are not only virtually identical to each other, besides swapped palettes, but they're also flat out ugly. They look like bad cosplay. They also don't stay torn. They regenerate like skin.

*Speaking of the costumes, you won't be seeing them in any of the cutscenes. Why? Because those cutscenes, while using in-game graphics, are actually video streams. There's absolutely no reason for this. This is a horrible trend that has got to stop. There's at least 2GB of completely wasted space due to these cutscenes. I understood when the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 did this, because it wasn't actually using the higher end models and textures the Gamecube version was, but here, there is no excuse at all.

*The game is basically 2 hours of actual content, stretched out over 8 hours of pointless, repetitious grinding. Most of the game's true FMVs, bosses, and brisk pace are at the very start and very end. The middle 7 hour chunk is pretty much agony. It's only there to serve as a grind for you to strengthen Wolvie, which leads me to...

*The RPG mechanics are bullshit. They are entirely not necessary. You've got an EXP meter that levels up basically every 15 minutes. Each one gets you 2 skill points and 5HP. HP is never actually shown, as you only see a basic life meter, no numbers. Your skills are NOTHING more than raising the attack and defense/duration of your character/moves. That's it. There's nothing to buy here that amounts to a new move or anything. It's a complete waste of time. Raising your claw skill says it unlocks new movies but it did no such thing. The only new moves you will get are the ones the game spontaneous tells you about when their required use arrives in the story.

*On top of skills, you've got mutagens, which again, are nothing more than additional enhancements to your damage being taken and given. Nothing resembling a new move here or anything that the developers would actually have to code a visual effect for in the game. There are a couple that increase the rate which you gain EXP and reflexes.

*So reflexes, even more bullshit. Basically, the more you fight a type of enemy, the more damage your attacks will do to them from then on. That's it. Another layer of damage increase. Lazy fucks.

*As you can imagine by the last few mentionables, this game is easy. Pussy easy. It's pretty much impossible for enemies to kill you in this game unless you stand still for a good 60 seconds and do nothing. When is the game not easy? Read the next point:

*Cheap deaths a plenty. I can't tell you how many times I did a lunge, only to watch Wolverine jump to his doom off a cliff. Yeah that's right, even if there's a surface 20 feet below you on a mountain, you will die. It doesn't matter that there's a scene in the game where Wolvie falls from the fucking atmosphere face first into the earth, and is fine. If you try that shit, you're done. Oh, and Wolvie is also extremely vulnerable to water. If you so much as touch water, you instantly die without explanation. You just get a "load from checkpoint" menu. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the developer being too lazy to program in a swimming mechanic. I mean it's not like "Wolverine" for the NES in 1991 offered a swimming mechanic. Oh wait, yes it did.

So you finish the game, now what? Well, nothing apparently. I could have swore I heard about a training room type mode, but I sure don't have it. A Hard Mode unlocked, but if the devs had actually play-tested their own game, they would have realized it was toddler easy, and that hard mode should have been unlocked from the start. Maybe beating hard unlocks the training room. I don't know and at this point, I don't care.

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After all this, I suggest you guys do no more than rent or borrow this game. Don't pay more than $10 for it. Want a good X-Men game? Try last-gen's X-Men Legends 2. I'm currently very much enjoying that. It's a far superior experience.

[Ack]

A couple of questions: first, what are the alternate costumes? I saw the original Wolverine(which I'd rather play as than anything else), but what else is there? Is the yellow and brown in as well, or am I getting generic X-Men movie black suit and crap like that?

As far as gore, I think it comes down to the differing viewpoints, and I'd like to take a moment to bring up the 1980s Wolverine, if only because, before his storyline was really fleshed out, one of the prevailing thoughts seems to be him as a mindless berserker. Would you say that's basically the theme to the game?

Also, it seems like repetition is the name of the game. As in the enemies, the locales, and the moves are all just repeated over and over again. Do I have that right? You mentioned the music was ok at points, but does it really stand out, or is it the same repetitive bit as everything else?

And if I feel rather meh towards Wolverine, should I even bother(I think he's horrendously overused and overhyped)?

[Mozgus]

A couple of questions: first, what are the alternate costumes? I saw the original Wolverine(which I'd rather play as than anything else), but what else is there? Is the yellow and brown in as well, or am I getting generic X-Men movie black suit and crap like that?

Yeah, there's the yellow/blue, the yellow/brown, and then X-Force, which is just grey/black and his eyes are constantly glowing red like they do in berserk mode. Again, just color swaps.

As far as gore, I think it comes down to the differing viewpoints, and I'd like to take a moment to bring up the 1980s Wolverine, if only because, before his storyline was really fleshed out, one of the prevailing thoughts seems to be him as a mindless berserker. Would you say that's basically the theme to the game?

And that would be fine if the game wasn't trying to flesh out his storyline like the movie. Basically, I found there to be no real comic book influences on this game that weren't in the movie. Yes there's the sentinel factory, and yes Mystique shows up, but outside of that, it's pulls nothing else out.

Also, it seems like repetition is the name of the game. As in the enemies, the locales, and the moves are all just repeated over and over again. Do I have that right? You mentioned the music was ok at points, but does it really stand out, or is it the same repetitive bit as everything else?

Well there's this jarring metal guitar riff that plays every time you level up, or acquire a mutagen, complete with Wolverine squatting and screaming like he's shitting a pine cone, but otherwise the music mostly falls into the background. I'd listen to a rip if I found one and give the music a 2nd chance, but I wasn't able to figure out this game's archival method. I couldn't do a rip. Maybe someone at GamingForce Audio will soon. I'll bet the console versions are easier to rip from.

And if I feel rather meh towards Wolverine, should I even bother(I think he's horrendously overused and overhyped)?

Don't bother then. I'm not really the biggest Wolverine fan either, mostly because of how invulnerable he is. That's always been my main problem with Superman as well.

[nickfil]

*It's a God of War clone, right down to it's core. No doubt about it. Wolverine's claws just don't have quite as much reach as Kratos' chains. From the controls, to the quick-time events, to the EXP systems. Now God of War is a great series, so what's the problem? Well there's many problems, most of which I'm detailing one at a time.

funny- most of the problems that you have with wolverine were things i feared i would have problems with when playing god of war. I ended up avoiding the series entirely. Is it worth playing?

After all this, I suggest you guys do no more than rent or borrow this game. Don't pay more than $10 for it. Want a good X-Men game? Try last-gen's X-Men Legends 2. I'm currently very much enjoying that. It's a far superior experience.

yeah- thats i what i was planing on doing. And x-men legends 1 and 2 are probably my favorite comic games thus far. Really fantastic. Anyone who hasn't played them should.

[Mozgus]

funny- most of the problems that you have with wolverine were things i feared i would have problems with when playing god of war. I ended up avoiding the series entirely. Is it worth playing?

Definitely play through the god of wars. They arent the greatest games ever, but they are a genuine experience you wont forget. Not much replay, but they are polished to a BLINDING shine. Unlike Wolverine here, the God of War is the best at what he does, no doubt.

[nickfil]

funny- most of the problems that you have with wolverine were things i feared i would have problems with when playing god of war. I ended up avoiding the series entirely. Is it worth playing?

Definitely play through the god of wars. They arent the greatest games ever, but they are a genuine experience you wont forget. Not much replay, but they are polished to a BLINDING shine. Unlike Wolverine here, the God of War is the best at what he does, no doubt.

huh. I'll have to check it out. I think that some of the reason i wrote it off was there was SOOOO much hype around how great it was. It just looked like a brawler to me. no big. I think enough time has passed that i could finally check it out with a clear head.

[Mozgus]

funny- most of the problems that you have with wolverine were things i feared i would have problems with when playing god of war. I ended up avoiding the series entirely. Is it worth playing?

Definitely play through the god of wars. They arent the greatest games ever, but they are a genuine experience you wont forget. Not much replay, but they are polished to a BLINDING shine. Unlike Wolverine here, the God of War is the best at what he does, no doubt.

huh. I'll have to check it out. I think that some of the reason i wrote it off was there was SOOOO much hype around how great it was. It just looked like a brawler to me. no big. I think enough time has passed that i could finally check it out with a clear head.

I just cant stress enough how all the elements come together in GoW. All the animations blend together perfectly. The graphics push the machine to its absolute limits. The soundtrack is perfectly synced. The move list is huge, balanced, and the weapons are all unique and serve individual purposes. While Kratos is just a dumb brute, the story is still as good as it can be, given it's just crossing over a bunch of greek mythology.

[Niode]

I first played GoW thinking, here we go, yet another DMC rip off. I was pleasantly surprised by it though, and the soundtrack is epic as fuck. It's worth playing for that alone.

[BloodyBandage]

Great review but honestly "It's a God of War clone, right down to it's core." isn't such a bad thing if done in a new twist. There is only so many ways to reinvent the wheel before messing with it too much. It probably won't live up to the greatness of GoldenEye (99% games can't) but I loved the movie and the comics so I plan on purchasing it.

[mitchsnell]

Hello everyone..
I want to download this game or i would like to purchase this game after reading your review..
It's simply awesome thanks for sharing..