X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition (Game Review)

Publisher: Activision Inc.
Developer: Raven Studios
Category: Adventure
Release Dates - 05/01/2009
Official Game Website
Also available on:
Xbox360
NDS
PS2
PS3
PSP
WII

“I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice.” – Wolverine





Raven Software is no stranger to visceral combat. After all, the development company (owned by Activision) has worked with id Software and is credited with 2005’s Quake 4 title. But it is easy to forget everything the company has achieved before. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – a game that has been released in conjunction with the national film release – is the most graphical game the company has created for the PC – hands down … it is also the most violent.

Let’s get this out of the way immediately: if you deplore excessive violence in video-games, where there is gore as well as dismemberment, stay clear of this title. Logan is wicked, vicious, mostly feral and totally the character created back in the mid-70s (he first appeared in Incredible Hulk #180 in 1974, broke out a bit in 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1 and then was revised in late 1982.

But that digresses from this game. Through a series of trips into the past, the story of James Howlett (a.k.a. Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine) is told, from the death of his love to his agreement to be part of the Weapon X project headed by William Stryker and have his skeletal structure coated with adamantium. Yes, Logan always had the claws, but they had been bone. He also had the regeneration ability and feral senses.

The game starts with a tutorial that introduces you to Logan during a Black Ops mission with Sabretooth, when things go awry. This also introduces players to the gameplay mechanics they will see for a long time in this title. And therein lays one of the downfalls of the game – the repetition. The levels are designed in a linear manner, and players will have to progress from point A to point B either by wading through silly enemies that still come at Logan – even though they have seen fellow fodder dismembered in a very vicious and brutal manner – or by solving simplistic puzzles.

Yes, there are boss battles and they jump from drawn-out affairs where the opponent regenerates to prolong the battle to tactic-based combat wherein Logan must plan attacks, take advantage of openings and generally avoid the heavy attacks of his opponents.

When it comes to Logan’s own abilities to attack, perhaps the most potent is the lunge move. This allows Wolverine to launch himself across a good distance and impale his foe. If a peon, the move is likely devastating; if a boss-type foe, it opens the door for a flurry of attacks that will impact the health bar significantly … for a time. But that's not all he can do; he can grapple opponents, button mash out combo attacks, and even use environmental elements to impale opponents.

The game itself is broken down into chapters, each with a series of sub-levels. Once unlocked, players can go back and play the level over. Of course, like most games of this nature, the idea is not only to work through the levels efficiently, but to also level up the principle character. In many ways this aspect follows the formula established in other Activision-based Marvel games. You level the character and are awarded points, which then are used to skill up Logan’s abilities. Does this give you an advantage? Not really. The enemies get tougher as you progress through the story as well and at times advancing skills feels more like keeping pace than it does getting ahead.

There are several difficulty levels in the game and this sometimes translates into smarter or tougher A.I. foes, or more of them.

The sound is very, very well done, featuring the voice of Hugh Jackman (as well as his likeness). You can hear Wolverine mumble under his breath at times, and this can be amusing at times.
What does steal the show, so to speak, are the game’s visuals. As mentioned, Wolverine looks like Jackman, but included are his remarkable regeneration powers. There will be times when bullets, and other things, will shred through Logan, revealing either holes that go all the way through or his metallic skeleton. It is quite remarkable to see the healing that takes place until you cannot even tell he was injured. You truly learn to appreciate this early in the game when, after covering all his bones in adamantium, there is a level and a half where – because of a virus meant to kill him – he loses that ability for a short time.

The animation is remarkable, and the environments are superb. There were many jaw-dropping moments when Wolverine attacked with a viciousness not seen before in a game and the results were horrific. But honestly, while some might think the violence excessive, this is a character that produces about 15-inch blades from his hands. He slices, he dices, but it is exactly what the character does.

Wolverine may not sport some of the most original gameplay elements seen in the superhero genre, but what the game does do is delve deep into the Logan’s character and really does an admirable job of making the player feel as though they are Wolverine. This is a game that is true to the character. That does translate into an M rating, but it is nice to see that Raven gave remained true to the character rather than worry about the ESRB rating.