Post by The Chupster on May 4, 2009 12:18:25 GMT -5
Okay, right off the bat, I've gotta say that this is one of the best movie adaptation/tie-in video games I've ever played.
I'm not saying that because it's excellent technically or because it has a lot of original ideas, because frankly, neither one would be true. This game is a hack & slash pretty much the whole way through with a little bit of puzzle play, and there are games that are much better in execution and cleaner in style, and that have much better level design. (Conan and Viking: Battle for Asgard immediately spring to mind.)
But being a movie tie-in, naturally, expectations are exceedingly low. However, Wolverine manages to pull everything together in a way that touches on a lot of the plot points of the movie, yet doesn't try to follow it word for word (or scene for scene), and in the process, destroy any real semblance of fun you might have.
Yes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that rarest of a mediocre breed: it's actually good enough that, even without the movie tie-in, it would be worth playing.
So let's deconstruct this a bit!
Graphics: To say that the graphics are good would be a major lie. They're such a mixed bag that you have no idea what to think. The game has some visual glitches here and there, but the best graphics in the game are, sadly enough, on the title screen, which features a prone Wolverine who grunts and shifts as you select different items.
Once you hit the gameplay, you won't notice it looking bad at first. The levels are very, very pretty- just not very well designed- enemies look okay, and Wolvie himself looks the best of the bunch, naturally. But as you hit the cutscenes, which are rendered using the in-game assets (with an accompanying blurring effect), you'll notice that a lot of the textures- often including the blood on Logan's skin- are blocky and ugly. (Which is probably exactly WHY they use the light blurring effect- make it look more realistic in motion, but also cover up those mediocre textures.)
This is pretty sad, because the best model in the game is naturally Wolverine himself, who looks a good bit like Hugh Jackman. Matter of fact, if his face wasn't so featureless- if they'd actually have spent a little more of their time on textures- it would probably look dead-on like him.
Visual effects are neat, but nothing spectacular. Wolverine takes visual damage during fights, sometimes down to the adamantium skeleton, and this will heal back when you're not taking damage, which looks pretty neat, but not very realistic- you're not going to see Wolverine with his guts hanging out or anything. Additionally, his clothes tend to regenerate as well, especially if you're wearing one of the unlockable costumes in the game. The only times that this doesn't happen is when he's topless (and the pants still regenerate), and when he's wearing his white wifebeater, which actually loses chunks according to his wounds- a VERY nice touch that should've been added to the rest of the outfits.
Wolverine has a 'feral sense' that you can activate, which shrouds everything in a dreamy, windy, wispy kind of effect that's pretty neat, with anything important nearby appearing in solid colors- red for explosives, yellow for breakable objects, green for items you can interact with, etc. This is done pretty well, and is great in lieu of an actual map- if you get lost (which can happen, even with this being a 'corridor' style game), you hit feral sense and a blue cone will tell you where to go, sort of a la Donnie Darko.
But this game IS built on unoptimized Unreal Engine tech, and it shows. Cutscenes sometimes stutter like a virgin on a Playboy prom date. Occasionally bits will blink out, and sometimes after changing levels (say, jumping down to the floor), you'll find yourself either hovering a foot above the ground or sunk about a foot in. This tends to clear itself up eventually- usually with another set of jumps- but it's distracting, especially when enemies are nearby.
Sound: The game isn't going to win any awards, but the sound is serviceable. The sound is decent, but it's nothing to write home about: it just gets the job done and done well.
Voiceovers are actually done really well. Hugh Jackman lends his voice to Wolverine and does it as well as anyone could. The script, while convoluted, is more action-oriented than the movie and has a lot of extra material in there, so you don't get Mr. Jackman spouting lines from the flick- you get all new material and a ton of it. I'm not sure if any of the other stars from the movie add their voices or not, but if it's not them, it's people that sound close enough, so there you go.
I haven't really noticed any music, now that I think of it, so either there isn't any, or it's mixed in so subtly that I haven't noticed it.
Controls: Again, another mixed bag. Controls are responsive- almost TOO responsive. Sometimes you'll find yourself running back & forth up against an item that you meant to go around because Wolverine stops on a dime and heads backwards on a goddamn dime.
Fighting- which let's face it, is 99% of this game- controls as well as any other brawler out there. You can wade into a group of enemies and be slashing and throwing them all over the place in no time flat thanks to an intuitive (and let's face it, often-used) control scheme. This does lead to some repetition- I mean, it's a brawler for God's sake- but the storyline will keep you going. especially if you haven't bothered to see the movie.
Gameplay: As mentioned, the game is a hack & slasher, but there is an experience point system where you level up, earning new abilities and points to buy new skills, as well as finding collectible 'mutagens' (thanks, TMNT) that can be tossed in one of three unlockable slots to grant you some bonuses. There are also some 'playable' cutscenes, not unlike what you find in God of War, but most of the cutscenes you just get to watch Wolverine killing the shit out of people, which is awesome.
THIS GAME IS GORY. There is a LOT of blood. Aside from Wolverine getting stripped of his own meat, there seem to be a million and one ways to kill folks, and activating a 'finishing' move (of which there are several and usable with different attacks) sets off a slow-motion ass-whoopin'. I've seen simple decapitations, I've seen guys get fisted in the chest with some claws, I've seen legs lopped off and more, and that's without even counting the environmental attacks where Wolvie tosses guys into wall spikes, electrical generators and slams them down on spikes. It's awesome.
This extends to the cutscenes as well, and make no mistake, I'm not joking. The cutscenes contain more extreme violence than I think I've ever seen in any game that isn't labeled "gore porn." (I'm looking at you, Conan/Viking/MadWorld.
)
Additionally the plot is well-written and hits on the plot points of the movie- some modified to make it more game-accessible- but the game goes way, WAY beyond that, with tons more additional material, and a few extra characters for the geeks out there, even if most of them are only 'present' as a voice and/or during cutscenes. (You do get to fight Wendigo though, even if they're so, SO totally not the ones from the comics.)
Overall: Even for all of its glitches (which aren't horrible- I mean, at worst the game freezes, and that doesn't happen very often) and weaknesses, this is one of those games where the character and the story carry what is basically a very repetitive game into enjoyable territory. I mean, it's good. It's triple good if you like Wolverine and have either seen the movie or enjoy the comics. After escaping the Weapon X facility and tumbling once more into a flashback, I was actually excited to start the next level, and this was after hours of gameplay. This one isn't short, and it's very, very well done, even if it doesn't come off that way.
There's room for improvement, but it's damned fun to play. And the alternate costumes that you can unlock throughout the game are fun to play with as well, even if they regenerate, which is just weird-looking.
Overall, give it a rental at least- if you like the hack & slash genre of gaming and/or Wolverine as a character, you'll almost definitely find something to enjoy in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
I'm not saying that because it's excellent technically or because it has a lot of original ideas, because frankly, neither one would be true. This game is a hack & slash pretty much the whole way through with a little bit of puzzle play, and there are games that are much better in execution and cleaner in style, and that have much better level design. (Conan and Viking: Battle for Asgard immediately spring to mind.)
But being a movie tie-in, naturally, expectations are exceedingly low. However, Wolverine manages to pull everything together in a way that touches on a lot of the plot points of the movie, yet doesn't try to follow it word for word (or scene for scene), and in the process, destroy any real semblance of fun you might have.
Yes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that rarest of a mediocre breed: it's actually good enough that, even without the movie tie-in, it would be worth playing.
So let's deconstruct this a bit!
Graphics: To say that the graphics are good would be a major lie. They're such a mixed bag that you have no idea what to think. The game has some visual glitches here and there, but the best graphics in the game are, sadly enough, on the title screen, which features a prone Wolverine who grunts and shifts as you select different items.
Once you hit the gameplay, you won't notice it looking bad at first. The levels are very, very pretty- just not very well designed- enemies look okay, and Wolvie himself looks the best of the bunch, naturally. But as you hit the cutscenes, which are rendered using the in-game assets (with an accompanying blurring effect), you'll notice that a lot of the textures- often including the blood on Logan's skin- are blocky and ugly. (Which is probably exactly WHY they use the light blurring effect- make it look more realistic in motion, but also cover up those mediocre textures.)
This is pretty sad, because the best model in the game is naturally Wolverine himself, who looks a good bit like Hugh Jackman. Matter of fact, if his face wasn't so featureless- if they'd actually have spent a little more of their time on textures- it would probably look dead-on like him.
Visual effects are neat, but nothing spectacular. Wolverine takes visual damage during fights, sometimes down to the adamantium skeleton, and this will heal back when you're not taking damage, which looks pretty neat, but not very realistic- you're not going to see Wolverine with his guts hanging out or anything. Additionally, his clothes tend to regenerate as well, especially if you're wearing one of the unlockable costumes in the game. The only times that this doesn't happen is when he's topless (and the pants still regenerate), and when he's wearing his white wifebeater, which actually loses chunks according to his wounds- a VERY nice touch that should've been added to the rest of the outfits.
Wolverine has a 'feral sense' that you can activate, which shrouds everything in a dreamy, windy, wispy kind of effect that's pretty neat, with anything important nearby appearing in solid colors- red for explosives, yellow for breakable objects, green for items you can interact with, etc. This is done pretty well, and is great in lieu of an actual map- if you get lost (which can happen, even with this being a 'corridor' style game), you hit feral sense and a blue cone will tell you where to go, sort of a la Donnie Darko.
But this game IS built on unoptimized Unreal Engine tech, and it shows. Cutscenes sometimes stutter like a virgin on a Playboy prom date. Occasionally bits will blink out, and sometimes after changing levels (say, jumping down to the floor), you'll find yourself either hovering a foot above the ground or sunk about a foot in. This tends to clear itself up eventually- usually with another set of jumps- but it's distracting, especially when enemies are nearby.
Sound: The game isn't going to win any awards, but the sound is serviceable. The sound is decent, but it's nothing to write home about: it just gets the job done and done well.
Voiceovers are actually done really well. Hugh Jackman lends his voice to Wolverine and does it as well as anyone could. The script, while convoluted, is more action-oriented than the movie and has a lot of extra material in there, so you don't get Mr. Jackman spouting lines from the flick- you get all new material and a ton of it. I'm not sure if any of the other stars from the movie add their voices or not, but if it's not them, it's people that sound close enough, so there you go.
I haven't really noticed any music, now that I think of it, so either there isn't any, or it's mixed in so subtly that I haven't noticed it.
Controls: Again, another mixed bag. Controls are responsive- almost TOO responsive. Sometimes you'll find yourself running back & forth up against an item that you meant to go around because Wolverine stops on a dime and heads backwards on a goddamn dime.
Fighting- which let's face it, is 99% of this game- controls as well as any other brawler out there. You can wade into a group of enemies and be slashing and throwing them all over the place in no time flat thanks to an intuitive (and let's face it, often-used) control scheme. This does lead to some repetition- I mean, it's a brawler for God's sake- but the storyline will keep you going. especially if you haven't bothered to see the movie.
Gameplay: As mentioned, the game is a hack & slasher, but there is an experience point system where you level up, earning new abilities and points to buy new skills, as well as finding collectible 'mutagens' (thanks, TMNT) that can be tossed in one of three unlockable slots to grant you some bonuses. There are also some 'playable' cutscenes, not unlike what you find in God of War, but most of the cutscenes you just get to watch Wolverine killing the shit out of people, which is awesome.
THIS GAME IS GORY. There is a LOT of blood. Aside from Wolverine getting stripped of his own meat, there seem to be a million and one ways to kill folks, and activating a 'finishing' move (of which there are several and usable with different attacks) sets off a slow-motion ass-whoopin'. I've seen simple decapitations, I've seen guys get fisted in the chest with some claws, I've seen legs lopped off and more, and that's without even counting the environmental attacks where Wolvie tosses guys into wall spikes, electrical generators and slams them down on spikes. It's awesome.
This extends to the cutscenes as well, and make no mistake, I'm not joking. The cutscenes contain more extreme violence than I think I've ever seen in any game that isn't labeled "gore porn." (I'm looking at you, Conan/Viking/MadWorld.
) Additionally the plot is well-written and hits on the plot points of the movie- some modified to make it more game-accessible- but the game goes way, WAY beyond that, with tons more additional material, and a few extra characters for the geeks out there, even if most of them are only 'present' as a voice and/or during cutscenes. (You do get to fight Wendigo though, even if they're so, SO totally not the ones from the comics.)
Overall: Even for all of its glitches (which aren't horrible- I mean, at worst the game freezes, and that doesn't happen very often) and weaknesses, this is one of those games where the character and the story carry what is basically a very repetitive game into enjoyable territory. I mean, it's good. It's triple good if you like Wolverine and have either seen the movie or enjoy the comics. After escaping the Weapon X facility and tumbling once more into a flashback, I was actually excited to start the next level, and this was after hours of gameplay. This one isn't short, and it's very, very well done, even if it doesn't come off that way.
There's room for improvement, but it's damned fun to play. And the alternate costumes that you can unlock throughout the game are fun to play with as well, even if they regenerate, which is just weird-looking.
Overall, give it a rental at least- if you like the hack & slash genre of gaming and/or Wolverine as a character, you'll almost definitely find something to enjoy in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
