There’s an inescapable truth when it comes to movie tie-in games – they generally suck. That’s not to say we haven’t had some amazing movie based games over the years of course. Goldeneye on the N64 was an exceptional game and still considered one of the best movie games of all times. The Chronicles of Riddick games are also very high quality. However, as a general rule, most movie games fall in the range of average to god-awful. As you can imagine then, I approached X-Men Origins: Wolverine with some trepidation, wondering just where about on the scale it would fall. What I found was a game that happily stays well away from mediocrity, was very enjoyable to play, and in many ways outshines the movie on which it’s based.

As the game title suggests, Wolverine is based on the film of the same name, the 4th film in the X-Men franchise, which looks solely at the origins of Wolverine, how he got his indestructible adamantium claws, and how he came to lose his memory, which was a sub-plot running through the first couple of X-Men films. I watched the film when it was released and while it perhaps wasn’t as good as the X-Men films, it was still very enjoyable and it filled in the back story nicely. The film tells the story of how Wolverine (aka Logan) was recruited into the Team X program, his relationship with William Stryker (the protagonist from X-Men 2), and how he came to have his adamantium claws and skeleton. The game follows that same story, with some obvious creative license taken so that it can extend the game and add in some extra characters and situations. These extra story parts are actually very enjoyable and it would have been interesting to see these added to the film. Perhaps they’ll be explored more should a sequel come to light.

One thing that the films have never gotten right in my opinion is Wolverine’s feral nature. In the comics he can be very animalistic at times, becoming very aggressive and extremely violent, happy to use those indestructible claws to give people several new orifices. In the films this nature hasn’t really be shown yet, though it has been hinted at before. In the game however, Wolverine’s violent nature is in full effect, and the game benefits hugely from it. I’ll say now that if you’re not a fan of violent games, with body parts flying in all directions, then perhaps you should consider staying away from this game. While battling with the various enemies here Wolverine will happily chop off legs, arms, torsos and heads, throw them around the landscape, then instantly dive towards someone else to do the same thing to them. It’s brutal, it’s visceral, it’s excessively violent, and boy it’s good fun!

Now in a an action game like this, there are two things the developers have to get absolutely right – the controls need to be exceptionally tight, and the action itself needs to be entertaining without every getting repetitive. Thankfully, developers Raven Software got both pretty much spot on. The three main attacks in the game – a light attack, heavy attack, and grab - are all mapped to a face button each and can be combined to create some devastating combos. As you progress through the game, additional attacks and abilities are unlocked, with a pop up at the bottom of the screen telling you how to use your new found tricks. One of the earliest new additions to your arsenal is the lunge, which you will use extensively throughout the game. Not only is it a great way to close the distance between yourself and an enemy (while impaling him with your claws as well), it’s used throughout the game as a way to reach areas you couldn’t normally jump to, with a handily placed enemy appearing for you to lunge to. The range of moves available by the end of the game and the amount of combos means that on a whole, combat never becomes repetitive. Not only do you have your claws at your disposal, but Logan can also use the environment to his advantage, impaling enemies on spikes or the prongs of a forklift, throwing enemies into cement mixers, or simply tossing them off the side of a cliff. You also have a rage meter which is built up through successful kills. As you progress through the game you gain additional rage abilities to unleash on your opponents. This can be a simple claw spin, where Wolverine extends his arms and claws and moves like a spinning top, eviscerating anyone who is close by, or you can unleash Wolverine in his berserker mode, where his claws and eyes glow red, every attack does additional damage, and Wolverine can even scare his enemies into running away! As a whole, the combat against the regular troops in the game is very very enjoyable, and doesn’t get old despite the fact the game is a fair bit longer than you’d expect. Maybe it’s just my bloodthirsty nature, but I found myself continually enjoying the numerous ways to dismember people.

One area that could have been improved however is in the majority of the boss fights. Unfortunately these all become pretty simple affairs in the main, with Wolverine having to avoid their attacks while waiting for the opportunity to lunge at them and start chopping at them to reduce their health bar. The boss fights at the end of the main levels don’t fall into this trap and are generally very enjoyable, but there are a lot of boss fights on the sub-chapters of each level, and these are the ones that are pretty repetitive. Thankfully none of them take too long, but after a while you will find yourself wishing for a bit more variety, even though the game does attempt to add that in later in the game by throwing normal enemies at you as well as the bosses.

In previous games that have featured Wolverine, one thing they’ve never gotten right is Wolverine’s mutant healing power. Anyone who had read the comics or seen the film knows that Logan can withstand a tremendous amount of damage, then heal himself virtually instantly. This is highlighted perfectly at the end of the X-Men 3 film, where you see parts of his flesh being torn off, and watching him heal himself as it happens. Raven Software obviously felt no other game had gotten it right as well, as it created a progressive damage system for Wolverine. As you take damage, you will see it visibly on Wolverine, with body parts being covered in cuts, burns, and possibly even gaping holes. Stand still for a while without taking more damage, and you’ll start to see this damage heal itself, and before you know it that gaping hole has disappeared and you’d never know he’d been in a fight. Well, except for the body parts that no doubt litter his feet. It’s a great system that adds a real visual flavour to the game while highlighting one of Wolverine’s main abilities.

Speaking of abilities, as you progress through the game and kill people, you’ll earn experience and eventually level up. As you do so you’re given skill points which you can use to upgrade various aspects of Logan, from increasing his health or his claw damage, to making his special moves more damaging or last longer. There aren’t enough level ups available in a single playthrough to max out everything, so you’ll need to be selective in your upgrades and make sure you upgrade the abilities that tie in with your playing style. Alongside these abilities are the mutagens you’ll find throughout the game. These mutagens offer you various different bonuses, from gaining extra experience or rage with each kill, to dealing more damage or taking less, to reducing the cooldown time before Logan starts healing again. You get one mutagen slot to start with and an additional two get unlocked as you progress through the game, so again you get to tailor your abilities to fit in with your own style. To make levelling up easier, there are 95 dog tags hidden on fallen bodies throughout the game. Collecting each tag will give you an experience boost, and finding them all will be a challenge. Some of the bodies are in plain sight, but some are really out of your way and unless you’re following a guide you’ll need to explore every single area to make sure you find every dog tag and every mutagen.

Thankfully, finding these bonuses is made easier by the use of Wolverine’s Feral Senses. With a flick of the d-pad, Logan will activate his feral nature, which gives the screen a cool overlay, colouring elements in different colours depending on what they are. Enemies are highlighted, as are parts of the environment you can interact with or kill people with. Dog tags and mutagens are made more obvious, and should you find yourself a little lost, turning on Feral Senses will show you a blue trail pointing towards your next target. It’s a very handy feature that you will n doubt use for a large part of the game, especially as some of the later enemies have the ability to cloak themselves, leaving the Feral Senses as the only way to sniff them out.

While all this fighting, bloodshed and mayhem is going on, you’ll be forgiven if you don’t pay too much attention to your surroundings and how everything looks. This happens for two reasons – you’re too busy killings things to notice, and no part of Wolverine really stands out graphically. That’s not to say the game looks bad at all as it certainly doesn’t, but neither is it a graphical powerful to contend with Gears of War for example. Blood flies across the screen accompanied by body parts, bit of Logan get blown off, enemies leap at you across the landscape. Everything works well without every being outstanding. Thankfully for a game that is so action-heavy I never once ran into the dreaded lag or slowdown, something that can plague action titles and make them unplayable. Everything runs very smoothly no matter how many enemies I was gutting at once.

Like the graphics, the sound in the game works very well without ever being exceptional. Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber and Will.i.am all reprise their film roles as Wolverine, Sabertooth and Wraith respectively, and give the vocal work some extra authenticity. The rest of the sounds in the game, from the screams of the enemy soldiers to the ‘snickt’ sound Wolverine’s claws make as they pop out, all sound as you’d expect them to and you’ll never raise an eyebrow as you hear something. Just like the graphics, everything is as you’d expect it to be.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of those rare games that are just plain old fun to play. Sure, the game can be called repetitive as all you do throughout the entire game is kill things, with only a smattering of puzzles (which boil down to basic block moving). Sure, the majority of the boss battles could be handled better. None of that stop the game from being an incredibly fun experience. It’s like a guilty pleasure really, as you know you shouldn’t really be playing it and enjoying it, but you can’t stop yourself. I defy anyone not to smile the first time you see Logan yank a pilot out of a helicopter and shove his head between the rotor blades. I defy anyone not to smile the first time you grab an enemy’s shotgun and use it to blow his own head off. As long as you don’t come into this game expecting innovation, you’ll get exactly what you expect from a Wolverine game – tons of action, blood and guts galore, and adamantium claws. If you’re a fan of action games, you owe it to yourself to check this out.