Have you played the X-Men Origins Wolverine demo only to be left still wondering if you should buy? Check out TDrag27's review of this Marvel movie tie-in and also get an inside look at what might happen if you ever manage to get your wife to be a gamer.
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When you have Friday off work and your husband is going out with his friends, it’s like the world is your oyster – or at least your suburban town-home a scooter-trip away from Gamestop.
I picked up X-Men Origins: Wolverine for some mindless mashing and easy chievies for my night alone. It fit the bill after a rough week at work. There’s little depth to this Marvel movie game, but it doesn’t lack in fun. It took two weekends of approximately four solid sessions to get through the story. And by story, I mean series of cut-scenes that I frantically pushed buttons to try to skip where stupid people were talking and being stupid. Go see the movie if you want to hear about the story, because I have no idea.
I easily could have finished the game in one weekend. But that’s where the “couples gaming” comes into play. After Dean came home from doing whatever men do while they’re away from their wives, he decided that HE wanted to play my game. Never mind the two other games sitting in plastic. Forget the shelf full of half-finished games that he HAD to have (including Leisure Suit Larry). Nope. He wanted to play MY game. We each have our own bathroom and Xbox 360. But it doesn’t make fiscal sense to buy two copies of every game if there’s no co-op mode. Sharing FTW?
It went down like this. I played for 2-3 hours. Then he played for 2-3 hours and I helped him when he got stuck. The puzzles are not difficult by any means. If you need to consult a guide or website, gaming might not be for you. But if your wife is sitting next to you and knows the answer, you’re going to take it right? Once Dean would reach a stage I hadn’t played yet, I would leave the room. I didn’t want to see what I was going to play in advance. Once Dean allowed me some time with the game, we entered our customary "coaching" banter. I prefer help only when I ask for it. Dean has a more “field marshal” style of back-seat playing. “Now push that box. Hit X. Go to that door. Pick up that thing.” He’s a living walk-through, play-by-play if you ever need one. It drives me mental. I banished him to the basement. I don’t even like it when he watches me play biting his tongue. I just know he’s thinking that I’m doing something wrong. And then I inevitably make a stupid mistake and die because I know he standing there in disapproval of my gaming methods. Gaming is a journey right? It doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you do
On that road to fighting the final boss, you encounter a few bugs. I had to restart from checkpoints twice. On one occasion I didn’t know if I was missing some puzzle or the game was glitching. Like any wife, I yelled from the recliner instead of walking into the other room, “DEAN! I need help! Come up here!” Smug in my call for coaching, Dean told me the game is buggy and I have to restart the boss battle. In another glitch, my character just stopped leveling up despite earning the requisite experience points. I quit the game, restarted and was back on my way to managing the mini-rpg aspects of Wolverine's skills.
Most other annoyances with the game were caused by my own impatience. Having to climb a rope for five seconds I’d try to shortcut to three, jump early and fall off and die; that type of thing. There were enough of those moments to encourage some swearing. No control throwing. Just a few quietly muttered “ugh fuck its.” But, I’m not the true test of patience. I played the sniper part on CoD: WaW on Veteran for two hours until I passed it – no lie. My blood pressure slowly elevated, my muscles might have quivered in anger, but damn it I wouldn't let that game get the best of me. Dean, on the other hand, will throw shit, startle me with screaming outbursts, and quit if games don’t go his way. I often observe that he’d be happier watching movies that give him periodic achievements. He doesn’t disagree and still thinks he has the highest gamerscore in Minnesota. I didn’t hear much of a peep out of him playing Wolverine; this one passes the angry gamer test.
The gameplay is varied, not particularly inventive, but fun. Orchestrating Wolverine’s moves require just enough intent to be interesting, but not so much that you’re consulting the in-screen guide to figure out YY-X versus YYY-XXX-B. Graphics are, well, it’s a Marvel game. They’re colorful and comic-book-y. Not much else to declare in that department. If you’re a Marvel nerd you’ll get your desired dose of comic-book trivia tidbits, hunts for new outfits, and bonus features. Only my Asperger’s-affected, super hero-obsessed cousin would be interested in that stuff, but maybe you will too?
Once I finished the story, I spent about two hours achievement hunting using www.xbox360achievements.org. You’re allowed to teleport around to any mission and sub-level to quickly navigate to any spots that you missed finding cake, WoW swords, or enemies that give you opportunities to pull of achievement-worthy attacks. Beyond grabbing the low-hanging fruit of achievements, I had little interest to play through a second time or to test my claws on the hard difficulty level. The last 140 points weren't worth the effort.
If you’re a solo gamer, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is worth a rental for sure. It’s fun, it has easy points, and will keep you entertained for a weekend. If you have another gamer in the household, it might be worth a buy – might. I say “might” not because of quality or fun of the game, but the longevity factor. Even with two of us playing through the game and then some, we’re ready to loan out our copy to our cheap friends just two weeks after buying. And in a couple more weeks we’ll sell it back to Gamestop for a deep loss. That’s not much for sixty bucks, but it’s still better than dinner and a movie.
