X-Men Origins: Wolverine

First things first, I would like to say that I am a huge fan of Wolverine, both in comic form and movie form. I think what Hugh Jackman does for the character is complimentary, despite him being too tall. And even though the Wolverine origins movie was kind of crap, I can still appreciate it for being an action movie and think it accomplished what it set out to do.

Hugh Jackman is passionate about the character and has already said that the next installment, which will be set in Japan, will actually be the movie they intended to make first, but because Fox is producing and not Marvel they just couldn't do that.

With that in mind, the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game was a pleasant surprise for me. I think it helps that the game was in production long before the movie, and only became a movie tie-in later. This puts it above the other X-Men movies because it had more time and thought put into it. And this is all apparent when playing the game.

One of my favourite aspects of Wolvy Origins (W:O, even though it's reversed in the actual game title, I prefer it this way) is the regeneration. Even though Marvel Ultimate Alliance allowed for Wolverine to regenerate his health, the detail stopped there. This is where W:O excels because you actually witness the process of not only his health depleting but also his skin and muscle, all the way down to his adamantium skeleton (when you're not playing a flashback). And then you can actually stop and watch his wounds slowly close up and the skin mending itself, giving a more realistic touch to the regeneration.

Another thing that was just so... Wolverine, about this game was the carnage. This game doesn't rely on strategy so much as it does on how much you want to mess a guy up. It's full of action and hack-and-slashing moments, which is really what I would expect from a Wolverine game. I don't need a deep back story- I read the comics for that (and fanfic, in some instances). What I want is just to BE Wolverine, think the way he might think to get to my goal and kick ass while I'm doing it. That's all anyone should ever need from W:O, and that's all you get really.

This might disappoint some people, I must admit. As I said, a lot of production and development went into this game before it became a movie tie-in, but it still has some of the downfalls of the movie. Most notably about half of the storyline is based on what we see in the movie, and the other half is just whatever the writers of the game wanted to portray concerning Wolverine's background.
I think it all coalesced pretty well though, I really enjoyed the flashbacks from current time (Weapon X program) to three years before in a jungle when the whole "conspiracy" began. But you won't really learn anything new, except for a hint about Nightcrawler (which I won't specifically mention, because once I realized what was being implied I was like, "Oooh, that's interesting", in a non-ironic way.)

Combat in this game is pretty solid and will be easy for most gamers to adapt to, especially if you like fighting games. Like Street Fighter or Tekken controls, Wolverine has a light attack, a hard attack, and a grab. Pretty simple, even with the lunge attack and berserker mode thrown in there it's not difficult to string together a bunch of combos. Or do grab a guy and plunge him onto a nearby spike. It's also not a cakewalk, because you want to do the best that Wolverine can do (at what he does) so get points in order to unlock more moves and level up. Yes, you read correctly: level up.

Not only can you find mutagens in every level to increase health, but leveling up in this game lets you improve your character by unlocking different moves that will improve combos or just improve the damage existing moves can deal. A leveling system is a strange notion for action games but I'm glad Wolverine has used it well without cheapening the game experience.

I must admit that past the halfway point in the game I was getting a little bored with the fighting and wanted something more from the combat, but the sheer enjoyment of just ripping my enemies to shreds or forcing them to shoot themselves in the head kept me interested enough to see it through to the end. I mean, you can only press X, X, Y or Y,Y,Y,Y,X, etc, before you feel like you're just button mashing rather than executing awesome combos. But that's the thing with hack-and-slash action adventure games; that's the whole point.

And I really wouldn't expect more from a Wolverine game, honestly.

Wolverine isn't a graceful guy. He's flawed, has emotional baggage whether he admits it or not, and is not a people person. Well, maybe he is more than he used to be, but he's really just a lone wolf at heart. Anyone who's read the new X-Force comic series can understand and agree with that, even with the glimmer of fatherly emotion he aims towards Laura aka X-23. It's the hedgehog dilemma multiplied by thousands. And when you're put behind the steering wheel of such a character, what else could you expect? Revealing soliloquies? Quiet reflection by Alkali Lake? Of course not! This is James "Logan" Howlett we're talking about here, THE Wolverine.

I suppose what I'm trying to say here is that the Wolverine Origins game did exactly what it should have in all the right ways. I have been working on this review off and on so details are more fuzzy than they used to, but let's just go over some of the highlights of the game:

• Infinite hacking and slashing
• Leveling up to increase damage or unlock moves
• Collectibles that include figurines that unlock fight arenas, where you fight other versions of Wolverine to unlock costumes for in-game play
• Awesome representation of the regeneration in action
• Hugh Jackman and a few of the original movie cast members voicing their characters, in accordance to that is the great voice acting. Though sometimes there are cheesy lines.
• Feral senses
• Berserker mode
• Silly achievements like Hot Potato and Shotgun Epic Fail and Environmentally Friendly
• Easter Eggs from other games like the Lich King's sword from World of Warcraft, or a delicious looking cake that is most certainly NOT a lie as referenced to in the game Portal
• An "Uncaged" edition of the game that includes MORE blood and gore! 
• The ability to start a new game with the continuing character level and abilities from your first playthrough. Meaning, if you beat the game at level 30 you can start a new game with your level 30 Wolverine and all of the intact moves and mutagens you unlocked during the first play.

And that's just off the top of my head. In short, if you're looking for a fun action-adventure game that includes mindless carnage and just happens to include Wolverine and other mutants, then X-Men Origins: Wolverine is it. But don't expect a 10/10 game, at best this game could be an 8/10. Still, not a bad score for a game that's half original story and half crappy movie plotlines.