X Men Origins: Wolverine - Activision - Multiplatform

[rk47]

"I'm the best at what I do, but my movie wasn't very nice."

But it's a good thing they let the developers ditch the PG rating on this. If I recall correctly there should be an Uncaged version that feature the violent stuff. This is probably the bloodiest comic book game I've ever played. And the best movie tied game ever. It didn't bother with tutorial or too much drama at the start, all you get is several cutscenes of Logan stabbing soldiers through the walls and him wondering how he got to this mess. After that brief interlude was over with, we get him diving off a helicopter before landing on a poor soldier with both of his claws extended.

Control wise, it's very responsive. With simple combo keys to execute special moves and a rage bar you could spend to execute fury attacks. Killing enemies will replenish your rage, or you can simply bash on destructible stuff, like crates and desk. Although it's disappointing to know you won't be playing other characters than Wolverine, it's still pretty fun. Every kills grant EXP that you can spend to upgrade his stats, and at hidden places in level you may acquire mutagens to enhance your regeneration and other things. Speaking of regeneration, the graphics for this stuff is pretty neat. Taking shots all over the place will tear your clothing and rip off chunks of your flesh, exposing your bones and such. Then you slowly watch as your healing factor covers the gaping hole as your health bar regenerates to full.

Despite the camera being iffy at times, it's still a fun game to play and I heartily recommend this game.

Rent it. Or Buy it.

And feast on this.

[schild]

If you're going to have a picture. It needs to be no more than 480 wide.

[rk47]

I just had it edited on drop box then suddenly someone ninja edited it. 

[schild]

There's no reason for it to be that tall either, it's why I didn't put it back at the top. Also, Wolverine? Really? I think I might have to set some more guidelines for the frontpage. I almost feel bad even having it there. Uggggggggh, licensed games.

[Trippy]

What the fuck is up with his costume?

[schild]

He made it at home.

[UnSub]

What the fuck is up with his costume?

It's true to the spirit of the comic!   

[rk47]

What the fuck is up with his costume?

Umm that is an alternate unlock. The original jeans and pants is the default costume.

[Azazel]

How many costumes does he/it have? Also, only 1 player? No co-op?

I'm thinking it might deserve to be bought once it hits half-priceland.

[rk47]

I've unlocked 2 out of 3 alternate costumes so far.

Jeans + Shirt - Default
Brown + Yellow Wolverine - Legendary Wolverine
Blue + Yellow Wolverine - Classic Wolverine
 - 4th Costume I haven't got yet.

[bhodi]

4th costume is X-Force. Black and Gray. Also, If you saw the movie, you basically play the movie, plus a few levels (like there's an entire gambit level)

This game is incredibly brutal and a lot of fun to play. I haven't had this much fun since I first played god of war and said "God damn, that must have hurt!". The ability to leap just takes your killing sprees to an entirely new level. You get more XP the more people you kill in a chain, and it's fun to leap down a corridor from enemy to enemy, while they are all shouting "Get him in the crossfire!", and then seconds later, walk to the next room with nothing but twitching bodies in your wake. It also has some basic puzzle elements to break up your death ride. Nothing very complicated, however. Move this block to reach next section, trigger this switch to extend platforms for 10 seconds, that sort of thing.

The combat system isn't deep but it isn't incredibly shallow either. You've got light attack, hard attack, throw, block. You can do everything from "LH" to "LLH" all the way to "LLLLLLLH" - basically, you end with a heavy - sometimes he'll spin hitting guys around him, sometimes it's a focused attack on your target, or a ground slam knocking enemies back, all depending on how many light attacks you used. You can throw people off conveniently placed cliffs or into 'instant death objects' like rusty protruding pipes or forklift forks. Some enemies are better thrown since they can take a lot of damage. Holding hard attack and releasing gets an uppercut that launches enemies into the air and is needed to get past specific enemy's guard. You can also counter by blocking right as enemies attack, the game slows down and enables a one-hit counter instant-kill for a lot of enemies. It's necessary to use on some later enemies that are fairly immune to your standard attacks. Boss fights are fairly interesting, if divided into 2-3 'sections' and formulaic.

The best part of this game is the leap. You hold a button (I played on the PC, so I held q) to lock on and then you hit e to leap. This is integrated into the game, not only as a combat option, but is also used to get across cliffs or other objects you would normally be unable to get to - like helicopters. A lot of the time it triggers a cutscene of you leaping across the 30 foot gap, brutally landing on some poor underpaid soul in black body armor. It's immensely satisfying.

Downside: Game is only about 8 hours long. The game is also fairly easy using your rage abilities and if you build your character correctly. Enrage is a particularly broken I WIN buttton - when you enable it, you go through any enemy (including bosses) like a buzz saw for about 20 seconds with your vastly increased damage and speed.

I would say this is most definitely a rental as there's little replay value and no 'challenge modes' - just the story and some unlockable costumes. It really is fun to play and you can tell that the designers definitely took a lot out of the god of war gameplay. Except the 'press X to live' shit - there's none of that.

Trust me, I was as surprised as you at how good this licensed game was.

[rk47]

Game definitely needs a survival mode where they just toss me in a room with lots and lots and lots of increasing opponents just to see how long I live and tally kills at the end of it. But yeah sometimes I don't want the killing sprees to end. The sentinel kicking Logan was the winner in my book. Gambit level was annoying as hell cause those card throws and press X to live was there. When you're facing a badly acted Gambit with annoying voice you really want to murder that bastard real good. I wish there's a Good/Evil choice you can pick to determine endings just like Spiderman's darker Web of Shadows game, cause I really want to gut that Cajun.

The lowest point had to be the 'RUN OR DIE' segments where they just fuck around with the camera. I thought I was in a cut scene before dying to it on the first try.

[schild]

I haven't had this much fun since I first played god of war and said "God damn, that must have hurt!".

This is the game with which you've had the most fun since 2005?

What.

[bhodi]

In this specific platformer category, yes.

Edit: No means yes.

[Azazel]

Sounds bargain-bin-tastic.

I shall pick this up immediately. In 6 months.

 

[Rendakor]

So I've just gotta ask...why is this a sticky?

[Azazel]

I was wondering that, too. Assumed that maybe it was "BiiF of the Week!" or summat.
 

[taolurker]

I was thinking it was a sticky because of the Front Page thingy, but maybe it was just accidental.

[Azazel]

So I picked this up cheap a few days ago. Fun so far. Repetitive, yes, but I'm shallow enough to enjoy the repetitive nature of slicing people up as Wolverine.

Question though - is the 360 version a bit ...aliased looking? I've found that this game (and Batman: AA) both look quite aliased on my PS3 while I haven't really noticed that kind of thing being an issue with 360 games.

[Azazel]

I was gonna edit, but fuck it's almost a month later so I'll do the double post thing.

Good fun game, shallow as all hell. Quite brutal and gory, a little OTT in that regard, I guess for the Wolvereeeeene! fanbois and the teenage kiddies, but hey I think the gore and fatalaties are funny too so there you go. The levels are so far pretty long and bland and repetitive for the most part (jungle wilderness with Aztec Mayan African WTF? ruins, snowy icy wilderness and underground industrial complex) There's occasionally some cool environments and buildings/bridges etc but overall I've gotten bored with the very samey landscapes.

Haven't tried the enrage stuff - I'fe just been putting xp into claws and health. Might try that next.

[LK]

I wanted to bring this up again since I played it this weekend.

Holy god damn shit! There's something just FUN about watching Wolverine be a human stunt man and get tossed around like a rag doll with only his healing factor making everything OK and survivable. I sympathize with the guy, but at the same time I'm going "Oh SHIT that looked like it hurt." The game starts with a BANG (as shown in the screenshot) and doesn't really let go when the pacing is on. Unfortunately the pacing is rarely on -- levels stretch too long, too many similar combat situations, and obvious attempts at padding are evident. Bosses and other big guys are boring (Dodge, Leap, Stab, Repeat).

There was some obvious effort put into some of the fights and cutscenes. The bar fight with Creed early in the game has lots of character and is a damn entertaining brawl; I found myself really getting into it and trying to explore the boss environment by chucking Creed into it.  

I think they've done a good job of showing the human and feral sides of Wolverine. Hey! This guy kills a lot of people! But they were bad guys. Good guys, he's a saint too!

Also, I felt like the game needed a Body Count like in Hot Shots: Part Deux that tallies up as you go along, and at some point show "BLOODIEST VIDEO GAME EVER" in giant, flashing letters. They have nods to other I.P.'s in the game (Found Lost, StarCraft (Ghost), and heard there was a Warcraft one), so it wouldn't be that terribly out of place.

All kidding aside, it's worth at least checking out (via rental) and seeing how ridiculous and over the top the game is. The first boss you fight, after hacking away at mercenaries, is this lava elemental thing. Nobody blinks and questions the nature of the world after discovering it. Wolverine just hacks at it until it dies then blows up its home and escape by ziplining down a rope with HIS BARE HANDS.

[bhodi]

I told you!

[Azazel]

That's all pretty accurate to my experience with it as well. I found the Warcraft reference when I was playing. From memory I think it was Frostmourne (Arthas/LK's sword). It was definately a LK reference, and it was just behind some crap in one of the snowy levels.

[UnSub]

Bought this on the cheap and playing it as a button masher. Kind of fun, but definitely shallow.

There is a WoW reference in the sword, a hatch door in the ground that lights up as you stand near it and a hidden cake in one area. All give achievements.

[CmdrSlack]

I just sent this back. I think I was about halfway through the game. To be honest, it was a semi-ragequit because I got sick of the damn jumping portions. I don't want to do stunts on a timer, I want to fuck shit up with my adamantium claws.

Lunging onto guys? Awesome. Shitty jumping "puzzles"? Awful.

Yes, I am admitting to have sucked at some of the jumping parts. I turn 35 this week, and that's just fine with me. 

But seriously, point me at lots of AI-driven meat and let me slash away.

[UnSub]

The two biggest issue with the jumping puzzles is that

1) Wolverine lacks that last second jump responsiveness you need and

2) The moving pillars / platforms are 'slippery', so that you need to get it right the first time (although why Wolverine can't grab onto a platform edge 90% of the time is beyond me.

Camera angles also don't help sometimes.

I missed one dogtag in game to get that achievement. I've been spending some time trying to find it, but dammit that's annoying.

[Azazel]

I'll agree with that. The jumping puzzles were completely unnecessary and also unfun. Adamantium-clawed-mass-murder is why we were all playing that one.