X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been in development by Raven Software for the past 2 years and the folks are clearly passionate about the Marvel universe and characters. When Raven set out to make Origins, their priority was to create a game about Wolverine that allowed players to experience the character’s rich and dynamic back-story in a way that had not been communicated before.
In previous iterations of the character, Wolverine largely dealt punch attacks, however in Raven Software’s latest homage, they hold to the true nature of the character. Wolverine is a brutal melee fighter who delivers devastating slash attacks with his claws, when the claws come out, limbs fall. The game also emphasizes Wolverine’s iconic regenerative abilities via a procedural damage model consisting of four layers including clothing, skin, muscle, and bone. The layers strip down one level at a time depending on the severity of damage inflicted to the character. Wounds will heal in real time as Wolverine moves away from the battle, I did notice that Wolverine tends to lose his shirt relatively early on in levels.
The first level shown of the gameplay demonstration focused on Project X and the process of adamantium being bonded to Wolverine’s skeleton. Upon emerging from the tank, Wolverine is quickly thrown into battle and caught in rifle fire. Wolverine easily deals damage in close quarters and arms and legs fall. Despite the fact that many of the enemies in the game have ranged attacks, Wolverine can leap great distances to cover the distance between his enemies to deliver devastating attacks.
Although the game follows the general movie plotline of Origins, developers also included more levels which provide the player with information on the character back story including Sentinels. This level was my absolute favorite of the day. It took me back to my comic book collecting days and was demonstrative of Raven Software’s movement to take huge action sequences that were typically button pressing sequence and get players involved in “over the top cinematic moments.” While fighting the Sentinel boss, players have to take down the Sentinel one part at a time. Over time, the Sentinel fires off to escape Wolverine; however he manages to attach himself to the machine. Hurtling through the sky after the Sentinel, Wolverine dodges parts of the dying Sentinel, landing onto his back to deliver attacks and eventually decommission him.
There are 7 boss fights in the game, including the Sentinel, that take anywhere from 20 – 30 minutes each.
As Wolverine takes out enemies and environmental objects he collects rage orbs that can later be used to upgrade the character so that he can unleash more brutal moves. Orbs also allow players to increase rage duration, claw damage, and health. The game also features level collectibles including dog tags, action figures, and mutagens. Dog tags are largely similar to the rage orbs and action figures allow the player to view different uniforms on Wolverine including the blue and yellow, brown and yellow and X-Force uniform. When a player collects two out of five of one version of a particular action figure, they unlock a mini game where they have to defeat the other Wolverine. Upon beating the character you unlock the new uniform. Finally, there are 15 different mutagens, each of which has three levels that can be upgraded during the course of the game.
The primary goal of creating Origins was to make a Wolverine game and the folks at Raven Software happened to luck out and partner with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie and FOX. The game follows the movie plotline featuring the same characters and locations; however, it also delves deeper into Wolverine’s back story. Voice talent from the film is also featured in the game including Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, and will.i.am. Developers also talked with Marvel to develop the game.
Watching the demonstration and playing through a stage of the game, Origins is promising. The experience was fun and one of the better games I’ve played that had a movie tie-in. Origins gameplay reminded me a lot of God of War complete with chain combos and red orbs and although Wolverine’s moves can become repetitive it was still satisfying to continue on to the next enemy and slice them apart.
Graphically, although the game doesn’t stand out among the latest next-gen games it does hold its own. The level I played featured lush detailed jungle environments, complete with a collapsing bridge and air battle as Wolverine took on a helicopter. Enemies are richly detailed and the different types of enemies are easily distinguishable from one another helping players assess strategies to effectively take them down. When you battle with enemies you’ll clearly see the effects of the slash damage on enemies with severed arms, legs, and the occasional head. Finally Wolverine’s character model is extremely detailed and will change depending on character damage taken showing bullet holes, wounds and blood.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine features our favorite unstoppable killing machine and will run you about 12– 15 hours of gameplay and is scheduled for release in the U.S. on May 1.
~Bawdyjane
In previous iterations of the character, Wolverine largely dealt punch attacks, however in Raven Software’s latest homage, they hold to the true nature of the character. Wolverine is a brutal melee fighter who delivers devastating slash attacks with his claws, when the claws come out, limbs fall. The game also emphasizes Wolverine’s iconic regenerative abilities via a procedural damage model consisting of four layers including clothing, skin, muscle, and bone. The layers strip down one level at a time depending on the severity of damage inflicted to the character. Wounds will heal in real time as Wolverine moves away from the battle, I did notice that Wolverine tends to lose his shirt relatively early on in levels.
The first level shown of the gameplay demonstration focused on Project X and the process of adamantium being bonded to Wolverine’s skeleton. Upon emerging from the tank, Wolverine is quickly thrown into battle and caught in rifle fire. Wolverine easily deals damage in close quarters and arms and legs fall. Despite the fact that many of the enemies in the game have ranged attacks, Wolverine can leap great distances to cover the distance between his enemies to deliver devastating attacks.
Although the game follows the general movie plotline of Origins, developers also included more levels which provide the player with information on the character back story including Sentinels. This level was my absolute favorite of the day. It took me back to my comic book collecting days and was demonstrative of Raven Software’s movement to take huge action sequences that were typically button pressing sequence and get players involved in “over the top cinematic moments.” While fighting the Sentinel boss, players have to take down the Sentinel one part at a time. Over time, the Sentinel fires off to escape Wolverine; however he manages to attach himself to the machine. Hurtling through the sky after the Sentinel, Wolverine dodges parts of the dying Sentinel, landing onto his back to deliver attacks and eventually decommission him.
There are 7 boss fights in the game, including the Sentinel, that take anywhere from 20 – 30 minutes each.
As Wolverine takes out enemies and environmental objects he collects rage orbs that can later be used to upgrade the character so that he can unleash more brutal moves. Orbs also allow players to increase rage duration, claw damage, and health. The game also features level collectibles including dog tags, action figures, and mutagens. Dog tags are largely similar to the rage orbs and action figures allow the player to view different uniforms on Wolverine including the blue and yellow, brown and yellow and X-Force uniform. When a player collects two out of five of one version of a particular action figure, they unlock a mini game where they have to defeat the other Wolverine. Upon beating the character you unlock the new uniform. Finally, there are 15 different mutagens, each of which has three levels that can be upgraded during the course of the game.
The primary goal of creating Origins was to make a Wolverine game and the folks at Raven Software happened to luck out and partner with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie and FOX. The game follows the movie plotline featuring the same characters and locations; however, it also delves deeper into Wolverine’s back story. Voice talent from the film is also featured in the game including Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, and will.i.am. Developers also talked with Marvel to develop the game.
Watching the demonstration and playing through a stage of the game, Origins is promising. The experience was fun and one of the better games I’ve played that had a movie tie-in. Origins gameplay reminded me a lot of God of War complete with chain combos and red orbs and although Wolverine’s moves can become repetitive it was still satisfying to continue on to the next enemy and slice them apart.
Graphically, although the game doesn’t stand out among the latest next-gen games it does hold its own. The level I played featured lush detailed jungle environments, complete with a collapsing bridge and air battle as Wolverine took on a helicopter. Enemies are richly detailed and the different types of enemies are easily distinguishable from one another helping players assess strategies to effectively take them down. When you battle with enemies you’ll clearly see the effects of the slash damage on enemies with severed arms, legs, and the occasional head. Finally Wolverine’s character model is extremely detailed and will change depending on character damage taken showing bullet holes, wounds and blood.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine features our favorite unstoppable killing machine and will run you about 12– 15 hours of gameplay and is scheduled for release in the U.S. on May 1.
~Bawdyjane