X-Men Origins: Wolverine Hands-on

Posted by Chris Plante on 02/06 at 05:07 PM

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is disarmingly violent. After watching NPC’s crudely decapitated, de-limbed, and disemboweled, any thoughtful, intelligent criticism or comment was pushed aside for me to mumble an “Uh, woa,” or a “Did they just, wow, they did that.” If you have any concerns that Wolverine’s latest videogame foray, brought to us by Raven Software and Amaze Entertainment by way of publisher Activision, lacks the visceral viscera that makes Wolverine one of the most brutal, animalistic superheroes, worry not. This is the most violent Wolverine game yet.

And while I’m at it, how about another hyperbolic generalization: this may be the best movie-game yet, too.

To call X-Men Origins: Wolverine a movie-game, though, is to misunderstand it. X-Men Origins: Wolverine borrows from plenty of sources beyond the film that shares its name—God of War, Uncharted and LOST to name a few.

How could I name drop everyone’s favorite mystery island, without eventually explaining myself. To tell our hero’s tale, Origins uses a narrative device similar to LOST’s flashbacks and flashforwards. You open the game on a tropical island setting, which acts a constant for Wolverine’s back story as you pop from different times and places; tropical stages are palate cleansers between the various levels spent battling helicopters, super villains and a 200 foot tall Sentinel.

More details after the jump…

Oh yeah, you fight a Sentinel. No we didn’t see it, nor did we score any gritty details, but if it’s half as awesome as what we saw, expect your fanboy glands to secrete pure joy.

The gameplay plays like a fusion of Uncharted and God of War. That’s meant as a flattering comparison, as Wolverine borrows generously, but, for the most part, nails what made those two titles great. The attacks—light, strong and grab along with additional abilities—feel like God of War, but without the need to remember intricate combos or button presses.

Thanks to an easy lunge maneuver where you lock on an enemy with right button, and hurl yourself at them with left button, you can leap across 30 or 40 feet in a split second, flaying your enemy up on arrival.

If a bullet or a machete interferes with the slaughter, Wolverine’s down, but not out. Our hero can be injured—torn away flesh and gaping wound—but with time the skin, muscle and bone regenerates. The regeneration’s an impressive effect and a visual way to express the self-healing mechanic popularized by the Call of Duty series.

To break things up, you have Uncharted-esque platforming moments and your “feral senses.” These senses strip away an environment’s colors and highlight interactive set pieces a glowing green; a blue wisp of light emanates from Wolverine, aiming in the direction of your next goal. With the help of these senses, you navigate the lush jungle, and, presumably, some tricky mechanical compounds (read: Sentinel, we hope).

But in the end, this is a movie game, so there must be a downside, yes? Well, maybe. The game contains a bulk of the movie’s events and characters, but takes things a step further with 30% more content not from the film. The folks at Raven claim they were developing this Wolverine title before the film, so we’re curious to see how their take on the beastly tough guy meshes with a big studio’s likely more kosher image.

The devs don’t seem too concerned. The over the top violence and fan service (you can unlock additional Wolverine costumes like the popular yellow and blue outfit from the cartoon) may not make this the best X-Men Origins: Wolverine: The Movie: The Game. However, I doubt that was ever Raven’s goal.

What it does look like is the best Wolverine game, and that is what fans have been waiting for.