X-men Origins: Wolverine

X-men Origins: Wolverine

Despite his gruff demeanour, difficult past, sabre-like claws and general sense of coiled-spring brutality, videogames have typically taken a conservative, comic book approach to Wolverine. X-men Origins, however, has no such qualms about showing the man for what he truly is.

In the game’s opening scenes, the helicopter in which he’s travelling is blown up mid-air. Wolverine then sky-dives into the undergrowth below, cushioning his fall by landing on a machete-wielding jungle soldier, who promptly explodes into a red mist before you can say schnick. Two minutes later, the rest of his platoon are all dead, their mutilated, headless, armless bodies lying prostrate all around, severed by your eager claws. Rest assured: this is not the Wolverine of the Saturday morning cartoon show.

Indeed, the game style is closer to the hyper-violent spectacle of God of War than your traditional superhero action romp. Its fast, kinetic pace has Wolverine lunging at enemies 30 feet away in an instant, catching insurgents midair and pile driving them into the floor, or launching them off cliff-tops. One moment you’ll be manning the machinegun turret on a riverboat, the next tearing the head off a giant golem, the next negotiating your way up a mountainside of creeping vines. The first hour of play is tense, exciting and spectacular, not the sort of words you normally associate with the Hollywood blockbuster videogame tie-in.

After the big opening, the game does settle down a little, the set-pieces placed more sparingly throughout the levels as you travel from film location to location. But the game maintains a strong beat thanks to the precise controls and the pleasing way that Wolverine handles, even when his abilities are stripped away for some sections of the game.

There are some RPG elements thrown in for good measure as, the more you fight the more experience points you earn, which can then be spent on upgrading Wolverine’s moves. Different enemies grant different types of experience points, a design decision that ensures you spread your upgrades relatively evenly over Wolverine’s move set. As well as simply being able to power up stock moves, new combos can be unlocked, and then combined with Wolverine’s infamous whirlwind rage attack (which can be triggered by collecting enough rage orbs from downed enemies).

Visually the game is remarkably solid, the environments detailed and believable, the cut-scenes polished and impressive. Like all popcorn videogames, the repetitive nature of gameplay, even with scaling abilities, eventually grows wearisome if experienced in long bouts without a break. Nevertheless, X-men Origins: Wolverine still succeeds in presenting one of the best, big, slightly-dumb blockbusters of the year, and comes strongly recommended to action and comic fans alike.

4 out of 5