X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review - Xbox 360

8.5

Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Audio: 9
Innovation: 7

Introduction

Good movie-to-game titles are few and far between, so when X-Men Origins: Wolverine came along, our expectations were not incredibly high. OUR EXPECTATIONS WERE WRONG! Raven Software, the creators of the legendary Hexen, and other classics including Star Wars Jedi Knight II and Soldier of Fortune are back with their latest creation, and we should have guessed that it would be amazing. Taking a lot of the gameplay elements straight from the Wolverine character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, this new X-Men title is a winner, and here's why.

Gameplay

The storyline of Wolverine consists of almost everything you see in the movie, and then some. The developers have said the movie content in the game takes up less than half of the actual gameplay, which is good signs for gamers that were worried this would be like Wanted: Weapons of Fate and only take 4-5 hours to beat. Most of the game involves hacking and slashing away at your opponents which sounds monotonous, but fortunately the developers have added in a very simple move that keeps gameplay flowing at an incredible pace. This move is known as the lunge, which allows Wolverine to lock-on to an enemy, and lunge at them from great distances. This allows for a whole new level design where characters may not be able to reach a new area without lunging to certain enemies, and it works very well.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has many role-playing elements to it as well. For every kill you get experience, which obviously means you gradually level up. As you level up, you get new points which can be used to upgrade skills such as your blade damage, health bar, rage bar, and rage skills. Rage builds up from every enemy too, and as you work your way through the game you unlock new abilities which are also upgradable. The different rage abilities include Claw Spin - where you spin around like a cyclone attacking anything that gets in your way and Berserker Mode – where your claws appear on fire, and you do increased damage, and more.

Another gameplay element in Wolverine is the Spidey Feral Sense. This sense is activated by pushing the up button on the d-pad, and allows you to get a perspective on where to go if you are stuck. It lights up parts of the environment that are interactive as green, and gives you a general blue glow path of the direction you need to go next. This works great in some of the harder puzzles in the game, as sometimes there's a hidden ledge or a movable crate that blends in with the surroundings. Fortunately, Wolverine is practically invincible. With health that regenerates and can be upgraded to regenerate even faster, the only way to die on Easy is if you're not very good, or if you fall off a cliff by accident. There's no achievement for not dying though, and you hit a new checkpoint for every new area you enter, so the only time you can ...