X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review (Xbox 360)

When a new movie with a lot of hype comes out you can bet a video game will be sure to follow.  This happens to be a downfall for many great game ideas, but this can’t be said for Raven Software’s Wolverine.  This is where I must admit that I haven’t read many Wolverine comics, but soon realized that the story is partially about his brother (Sabertooth), Colonel Stryker, Agent Zero, and a few others.  The one thing I did know about him is his Freddy Krueger style blades that that come out from around his knuckles.  Did I forget to mention that they are indestructible adamantium. There had been several Wolverine games in the past that didn’t live up to my expectation, but this was not one of them.  Enough of my rambling let’s get to the game.

The X-Team is together flying through the air onboard a helicopter when all of a sudden a missile hits its sending you (Wolverine) on a short skydive.  Once you land be ready to fight for your life.  Don’t worry if you take some damage because of his mutant abilities you’ll regenerate your health in real time.  This a real highlight in the game, because you will show meat and bone when you are damaged.  Hence the Mature rating the game received.   That’s not all the tricks up Wolverine’s tank-top.  He has a whole pocket full such as, rage attacks, lunge attacks, and feral senses to name a few.  These are learned and not given out like candy.  The lunge attack will quickly become your best friend as you encounter many enemies.  Some enemies are soldiers, and some are mutants.  As you encounter each type it will be up to you on how to do battle with over 100 custom attacks.  But, let’s not forget about the main enemies.  A couple that comes to mind are the Sentinel that could have been in the Transformer movie, the blob that you will fight in the grocery store, and of course Sabertooth (Wolverine’s brother).  All of these are no simple task by the way.  Your travel will take you to the jungle, jungle towers, Weapon X facility, and manning a 50 cal on a boat to name a few.  Fighting will not be your only task.  There are ways to power up during the game if you decide not to stay on the oblivious path such as dog tags, and little Wolvie statues that can give you mutagen upgrades, and a little extra health. Did I forget to mention that your path and times will become your puzzle?  That’s right a puzzle of how do I get to the next spot.  Now, how is that not a win, win situation?