X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Uncaged Edition

The Good
Well to start off this is another movie-to-game conversion which usually are some of the worst genres in the video game business, dating clear back to E.T. for the Atari 2600, but don't let that fool you though, this game is actually quite decent. Usually this type of genre will try to take the principle of the game and add so many new plot twists and turns that it usually ruins the game and give the movie a bit of a bad reputation, this one actually does pull it off.

Well, it does have the basic premise of the movie, the player takes control of the legendary X-men, Wolverine, as they travel through various locales and tear up enemies along the way in a quest of revenge. While the movie basically just deals with revenge plot, this game takes the basics of the movie and adds in the canon of the comics and cartoons and breathes new life into the game. The player will encounter some new characters that weren't present in the movie and some enormous enemies that Wolverine will have to bring down.

The graphics are actually pretty good, though I do have some issues with the ingame cutscenes where Logan has some weird facial animation tics, the in-game graphics are pretty sharp and bright at times with the pre-rendered cutscenes will blow you away. I swear towards the end there is a scene where it looks like they actually filmed Hugh Jackman at an actual location and slipped it into the game. If they didn't I have to say great job to the animators for that scene.

The sound and music are decent as well, with the clanging of his Adamantium blades cutting through other metal objects and more importantly flesh and bone or hearing him cutting into the floor as he is flung across the room. Voice-overs are done well too and most importantly does have Jackman reprise his role, a big plus for me, and even will.i.am reprising his role as well as Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth.

Controls are done well, though I do have issue with the targeting which sometimes will target an enemy opposite of you and requires you to switch around to the one you want. This really isn't a issue most of the time unless you are platform hopping and need to time it just right in order to leap across a large span to advance.

And last, but certainly not least, the blood and gore...oh yes the blood and gore. It's kinda weird playing an X-Men game where you can rip off the arms, legs and heads of enemies and see blood spurt out like a fountain. Some people may not care for this and may be angered to see this much blood and guts associated with an X-Men title, but finally you get to put Wolverine's blades to good use and tear up everybody on the screen and gives the game a unique flavor to the many other titles dating back to the days of the NES.

The Bad
Well, some things did bother me, one of which is the clone enemies you face. By that I mean that each soldier, whether it be the typical foot soldier or the Goliath soldiers, all have the same look and voices. I know it's not really an issue, but it's just something that gets on my nerves, I could stand that fact about them looking all the same, but couldn't they spring for some extra voice work or better yet work in a story where all the soldiers working in the Weapon X facility where all clones of some sort?

There are some glitches and bugs from time to time, such as collision detection issues or timing issues with the platforming, nothing too serious at times, but I have experienced a freeze up. Only one so far, but I have also had lag when there is a multiple of enemies and events going on at once.

I do like the story, but I do have issue with the way they treated some of the characters in this game. It does have lines from the movie integrated, but with different scenarios and situations which don't bother me. Sabretooth's character was severely underused for the game as compared to the movie. In the movie he was present at times, either on screen or being mentioned, but in the game he was more of a plot device of sorts. He is shown through flashbacks, but you only encounter him twice in the game all together which seems like a shame.

Weapon Eleven was also present, but the game really doesn't give him much time other than being a boss. I played the game before I experienced the movie and for the life of me when I encountered him I couldn't figure out who he was. I wasn't sure if I had skipped something along the line or what, until I watched the movie and I finally seen who he was. The sad part is in the game he is only shown briefly, maybe 10-15 seconds, so I didn't realize who it was or why he was relative to the game until watching the movie.

Even Agent Zero was completely destroyed for this game. In the movie he was a bad-ass gun-toting super-Asian with Matrix-style moves that would make Keanu Reeves jealous, while the game has him as an annoying white guy that looks like a horrible Elvis impersonator with no skills what so ever other than constantly using a sniper rifle.

Oh and who is the guy who casted the voice over for Gambit? The movie version is a pretty good actor, but the voice actor for the game is one of the most annoying voice-over I've heard in a while, constantly saying Creole stereotypical phrases and that god awfully laugh. I was begging the game to let me slice him in half the entire time. He is one of the most cheap bosses I've come across and his stage is a platforming nightmare, taking place at a huge high-standing construction site. It takes a while to get through his stage, but it is worth it to get to him and inflict some pain.

Finally my biggest gripe about this game is the camera. Much like many other games of this genre, the camera is a little wonky which can hinder you from time to time. There are times where you can move it around to get a better look, but it automatically resets itself once you let go of the analog. That's fine, but there are some instances such as running from helicopters that the game will switch to a side view and it can throw your timing off when platform jumping. I like the cinematic feel to it, but I would rather have it where I can see everything instead of the camera restricting my view of obstacles and pitfalls.

The Bottom Line
In the end, it's a pretty decent game, but can easily be powered through in a day or so. I would recommend just a 3-day rental since that is the time you will need to beat the game and collect all of the trophies it has to offer. It's a pretty decent game and I love how the story sets up for a possible sequel to the game, so here is hoping that Marvel will put out another one of these marvelous titles, just as long as I can rip apart more people.