X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Uncaged Edition

Having initially based my opinion on the deeply rooted preconception that film tie-ins have never been exactly brilliant in their video-game transition, I had been rather remiss in judging this game before it even came out, having also strong reservations about renting it. Even so, being an action video-gaming aficionado, I just could not miss out on trying my hand at one of the few adventure-action releases ( still a limited variety in the Playstation 3 franchise), so I eventually "forced" myself to give it a go. Was it worth it? My answer is an emphatic 'yes!'

Seeing that many a reviewer shares my opinion about the surprise element that the game has brought forth in terms of the flawless rendition of its on-screen counterpart, I would like to share with them what bits of the game I enjoyed the most and what - in my opinion- made it stand out in the endless queue of all dismal film-based video-games.

From a story standpoint, I appreciated its plot, which, although… more »

Having initially based my opinion on the deeply rooted preconception that film tie-ins have never been exactly brilliant in their video-game transition, I had been rather remiss in judging this game before it even came out, having also strong reservations about renting it. Even so, being an action video-gaming aficionado, I just could not miss out on trying my hand at one of the few adventure-action releases ( still a limited variety in the Playstation 3 franchise), so I eventually "forced" myself to give it a go. Was it worth it? My answer is an emphatic 'yes!'

Seeing that many a reviewer shares my opinion about the surprise element that the game has brought forth in terms of the flawless rendition of its on-screen counterpart, I would like to share with them what bits of the game I enjoyed the most and what - in my opinion- made it stand out in the endless queue of all dismal film-based video-games.

From a story standpoint, I appreciated its plot, which, although significantly faithful to the film, encompasses a vast assortment of back stories, which both offer insights into Wolverine's past and salvage the game from falling into the archetypal, simplistic sequences of platform video-gaming, giving the story that flair of surprise capable of holding players spellbound through the end of the game. In this matter, I enjoyed travelling to the past and being catapulted into the future each time Wolverine came across key locations or key characters in his adventure, for such structure truly gave me a comprehensive explanation for the development of the story.

From a game-play perspective, I just could not help feasting my eyes on the off-the-chart graphics and enjoy the 360-degree interaction with the environment. In terms of graphics, the game is virtually unprecedented. Featuring an impeccable digital rendition of Hugh Jackman, Activision have really put emphasis on the 'details' of this game, thus delivering a realistic video-gaming experience in each of its aspects; for instance, when sustaining damage caused by gunfire, explosions as well as anything that involves wiping out the protagonist, you will see Wolverine's shirt tearing up bit by bit and skin tissues detach and hang from his body, only to grow back on his layers progressively! In addition to that, many kudos go to the fully fledged interaction with the environment, which, along with the outstanding mechanics, has had a prominent role in the success of this game. Unlike many other action games, 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Uncaged Edition' sports a wide array of combinations whose only limit is your imagination. Whether impaling foes on electricity poles hacking off their limbs with Wolverine's adamantium claws or simply behead them through helicopter blades, the simple control scheme is no drawback to the thousands of combinations that Wolverine can execute; on the contrary, it puts you in "charge of the game", letting you conform it to your own demands and making it impossible for you to put it down until you are through with it!

In conclusion, if I were to find a downside to this game - which is quite hard- I might well look at its longevity. Notwithstanding that I truly believe this game warrants each of the five stars I will give it, I cannot help pointing out that the absence of an online feature does not help its lasting appeal. Furthermore, the fact that gaining trophies is much too easy might well be another reason to put it aside after completing it - unless you happen to be a video-games collector.

We all know that movies that turn in to games are never good, there has only once been an exception to this rule (Goldeneye) but I'm happy to report that finally, a new tie in has been paid the attention is deserves. Wolverine is finally on my PS3 in the way that fans intended it to be!
The storyline is no surprise, it's the movie, nuff said.
What's so great about this is that there's not been any compromise in Wolverine's character, style or brutality. It's great, simply great being able to actually tear people apart with his claws, I will never tire of this. The ragdoll mechanics work pretty well and when you pull off a brutal kill (when an enemy has less than 10% hp) and the action slows down so you can see the trail of blood floating in mid-air from the fresh corpse to Wolverine's claws, you'll be amazed at how cool it looks and how cool you feel! There's no shortage of baddies in this game, a lot of the time, you'll find yourself totally surrounded and going mental to… more »

We all know that movies that turn in to games are never good, there has only once been an exception to this rule (Goldeneye) but I'm happy to report that finally, a new tie in has been paid the attention is deserves. Wolverine is finally on my PS3 in the way that fans intended it to be!
The storyline is no surprise, it's the movie, nuff said.
What's so great about this is that there's not been any compromise in Wolverine's character, style or brutality. It's great, simply great being able to actually tear people apart with his claws, I will never tire of this. The ragdoll mechanics work pretty well and when you pull off a brutal kill (when an enemy has less than 10% hp) and the action slows down so you can see the trail of blood floating in mid-air from the fresh corpse to Wolverine's claws, you'll be amazed at how cool it looks and how cool you feel! There's no shortage of baddies in this game, a lot of the time, you'll find yourself totally surrounded and going mental to keep them down. There's a huge array of moves to be used from your standard combos to special spinny manouvres to lunging at people from a distance, the action never gets tiring or samey. It also means you can pull off a fairly structured strategy as to you attacks as opposed to button mashing all the time.
The only gripe you could have here is that a lot of the bogger enemies use the same attack strategy, forcing you to have the same kill strategy. Basically, roll out of the way to get behind them, jump on its back and hack away. It's the only thing I could really pick fault with but not anywhere near a big enough issue to put anyone off.
The graphics are pretty good. There are odd moments where you'll kinda wince and think 'well, that could've been better polished' but there's not that many of them. On the whole, the graphics are great, Wolverine looks like Jackman and that's the goal so job done there. The environments are pretty good, not a huge variation but the game is very much focused on action so you're not playing this to look at pretty pictures. One of the best things is watching him regenerate. The amount of times I've blown up a barrel just to see his skin fly off and grow back is a bit ridiculous.
All the usual upgrade paths are there, gain experience and spend it, you can tweak quite a lot from piling strength into special attacks to just upgrading your health limit, it's all there as you'd expect.
No reasons not to get this game, the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the occasional framerate drops and the sometimes slightly sketchy graphics, nothing that would make me regret it, ace game, get it!