The blockbuster movie season is upon us, and as you would expect, many of the big name game publishers are there with video game tie-ins ready to go. Leading off the season is X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Activision’s third attempt at producing a game to run alongside an X-Men film. Since they were batting none from two, both critically and commercially with X-Men movie games, Activision brought in the big guns, namely Raven Software, to work on their Wolverine game. The result is a solid character action game which makes a strong initial impression, but really starts to wear out its welcome well before the credits roll.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes most of its plot from the film, though as one would expect, it is stretched rather thinly, and mostly jumbled out of order. Basically, all you need to know is that it is all about how Wolverine came to be, from his various military action to his joining and escaping from the Weapon X program. Some aspects of the plot are drawn out to fill time while a few new twists and turns are added in. Fans of the comic might be a bit pissed off with how the character’s origin story has been handled, but their issue lies with Fox rather than Activision in this case.


Wolverine is a gruff bastard with a no-nonsense attitude, big arse claws and an affinity for not dying, so as you’d imagine X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an unapologetic action game. It is inspired by the God of War school of character action games, packing in a relatively simple combo system, upgrade system and large variety of killing moves. Most of the combat sequences in the game are geared towards group fighting; Wolverine will enter a room and become surrounded by a vast number of troops, which you proceed to rip to shreds with a flurry of combination with the X and Y buttons.

One of the big issues with comic book movies and games is that they shy away from any sort of realistic violence in order to pursue more friendly classifications. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is quite different in that respect in that it completely embraces the violence and bloodshed which you would expect from a character with six massive adamantium claws protruding from his knuckles. Raven Software has had a bit of experience in delivering over the top bloodshed with their two Soldier of Fortune games; X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not quite that bloody, but certainly raises the brutality stakes as far as modern action games go – the screen is always full of bloodied screaming soldiers, losing limbs or being gutted by Wolverine’s claws. Wolverine himself does not escape the blood-letting either as Raven has tied his healing abilities to the character model – every shot you take will blow chunks of skin off the character, which will grow back over time. It is a cool-looking effect, especially after an explosion blows all of Wolverine’s skin off, but the fact his clothes grow back just like his skin provides a little unintended amusement.

Slaughtering the bad guys earns you experience which you can use to upgrade Wolverine’s various abilities. You have a fair bit of discretion in deciding how to spend your experience points, and the upgrade loadout, particularly when it comes to mutagens, can have a significant effect on how you play the game. Enemies get tougher as you progress through the game, requiring you to be a bit more competent in slicing and dicing foes, rather than simply relying on the regenerative health system.


X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not just about running around and slashing up everyone you can find – there are a few crazy set pieces, platforming sections and boss battles to break up the action. Of particular note is a scene involving sky-diving and a number of helicopters where Wolverine jumps from chopper to chopper, tearing them apart with his claws like a hot knife through butter, not to mention grabbing the pilot from the cockpit and ramming his head into the rotor blades. The platforming and puzzle sections are a low-fat version of those you’d expect to encounter in a Tomb Raider game; fairly straightforward, and usually involving some form of large block.

Boss fights are one of X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s more impressive components, but sadly they are all glitz and no substance. The game hypes up clashes against the other Weapon X subjects, but never really delivers the level of challenge you are looking for. Boss weaknesses are easy to discover, and their patterns never change. More annoying still is that the fights are really drawn out; you will have to fight the same boss in the same way three times in a row, maybe moving to a different location sometime during the battle. Towards the end of the game, most enemies approach a level of strength similar to the early bosses, so all encounters become like this, which is really irritating.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s gore-factor and approachability make a strong initial impression, but the game stops doing anything new at the half-way point. You are not really fighting any new enemies, most of the moves have been unlocked, and the locations all start to look the same. It seems like the game would have benefitted from being able two-thirds of its final length, which subverts the usual feeling comic book games give, in that they never seem to be long enough. There are a few unlockable costumes to gather, and the achievement set is reasonably varied and captivating, but there is not a whole lot of replay incentive.


The heightened gore factor and procedural damage system make X-Men Origins: Wolverine much more impressive than most comic book movie tie-ins. The game looks generally good as a whole, with detailed environments and solid enemy character models. Wolverine is the highlight as one would expect, with an extremely detailed model and very impressive animation. There are occasional issues with slowdown and collision detection, but that is really par for the course. Selected actors from the film are on board to provide voice-overs; Hugh Jackman is there as Wolverine, which is the most vital role, however sound-a-likes were used in place of some actors, like Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool). The cast does a pretty good job on the whole, particularly when compared to recent Marvel game efforts like Spider-Man 3 and Iron Man.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a dramatic improvement on previous Marvel film tie-ins from Activision. The game accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, which is to make you feel like you are in control of Wolverine. Raven Software should be commended for the game’s level of gore; it is a bit annoying seeing all comic book related products chicken out of blood and violence in order to gain a lower classification rating. This, in combination with the game’s accessible combat system make, it provide a really strong first impression. Sadly, the game’s second half doesn’t really hold up; the boss fights suck and the combat becomes too repetitive – it would have really benefitted from being shorter. X-Men Origins: Wolverine provides plenty of fun, but most players should be satisfied with a rental, rather than a full price purchase.