I'm like God of War bub!
PlatformOVERALL
PlayStation 38.00
Overall 8.00
Movie tie in games have always been disappointing, usually games with minimal effort, extremely generic and not very well designed. Rarely does a movie tie in come out that is special, especially one with very to little hype. Wolverine is developed by Raven software and clearly some one did not tell them that it's a summer movie tie in game. This game is actually really freaking good.

It is rather generic in terms of structure and combat, it follows the GoW pattern very closely but they nail Wolverine as a character. I love Wolverine, he is my favorite comic book character and I have played many games that have him included. I even owned that horrible Wolverine game on the genesis. This game gets Wolverine right, he is brutal, this is one of the most bloodiest games you will ever see. You will hack limbs, decaptitate many and gut all sorts of enemies. It's done with such dramatic flare, its hard not to enjoy it after the 100th time you see it.

All the action is centered around Wolverine's claws. You have your usual set of combos, you know a mix of light and heavy attacks. There is the standard grab and throw button. The usual jump attacks. No action is complete without some sort of power meter that unleashes special attacks, this game has those as well. There is a block button, press it right as an enemy strikes and you can do a killer counter move. Action game fans will be right at home, it follows the handbook to make a standard action game.

For me action games standout cause of the combat system and the enemies you encounter. The combat system is standard but with some great Wolverine twists, this is where they nailed the character down. Since you are Wolverine you have healing abilities, that translates very easily to gaming, if you rest for a moment you heal up. The visual effect for this is amazing, Wolverine will literally lose chunks of his flesh and you will see nothing but a shiny adamanitum skeleton showing, he almost looks like a Terminator at times. Wolverine also has heightened senses which you can turn on with the push of a button. This puts the game world in a sort of haze with enemies and ey items glowing in different colors, you also get pointed in the direction of your next objective. This is used in combat cause some enemies have stealth, so to see them you must enter this view, also all environmental kill spots standout. Speaking of which there are a ton, if you see a spike, a pipe, anything that looks dangerous grab someone and throw them at it for an instant kill. My favorite move is the lunge, once you lock onto a distant target you can press the lunge button to fly across the screen, claws out ready to land while impaling the guy with your claws. Its a classic Wolverine attack and its so fun to rapidly jump around the room stabbing people.

The enemy variety is decent, each level will provide new enemies to fight. Most of them do fit under a certain category like guys with guns, or enemies with swords, or giant enemies. Many times enemies in each type can be killed the same way, for instance all big enemies can be killed by dodging their attacks and lunging onto their back where you can stab them. There are enough enemy types to keep things interesting but not on the level of the best action games.

There is a leveling up system that takes forever, you will need more than one playthrough to max out. Some idiot decided that you can carry stats over to another difficulty level so if you want to max out your character you must play it again on the same difficulty level, so whats the point. There are skills called mutagens that you can pick and choose to enhance certain aspects like say regenerate health faster, do more damage with rage attacks and so on. There is a good deep system in place i just wished it changed the amount of moves more than alter stats. You will basically unlock all of Wolverine's moves by the second level. Because he uses only his claws the combat system isn't filled with much variety.

The reason I am so satisified with this game is cause it doesn't just have a solid combat system in place, it is a well constructed game. There is a nice variety of locations you visit with many different spectacular set pieces. For example there is this moment where you jump at a helicoper, rip the pilot out of the windshield, use the propeller blades to decapitate him, then jump off and free fall into another helicopter where you land inside and kill more soliders. The game has many moments that will wow you, clearly took a page from GoW's book. This game is also filled with decent puzzles, yeah most are of the moving block kind but they aren't braindead. There are a good amount of boss battles, some simple brawls, others are epic setpieces, all fun. Best of all its a decently lengthed game, about 8-10 hours. My only complaints about the levels is that some go on for far too long without a break in the usual action. They needed to balance the usual combat with the WOW moments and boss fights better than they did.

Listen bub, it's a quality action game. Forget that its a movie game, it's a Wolverine game, a great Wolverine game. Raven software gave the character the game he always deserved. If you enjoyed any of the GoW games you will probably enjoy this game.
Posted by Dvader Tue, 19 May 2009 23:16:33
 
Wed, 20 May 2009 06:06:01
You fail for not mentioning the  indestructible pants!
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