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Pixel Parade

By Reyan Ali

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" adaptation cuts up consoles

Poor Wolverine just hasn't been able to catch a break lately. As if it wasn't bad enough that an incomplete work print of his new film was leaked online (thus making the copy impossible to contain once the P2P and torrent networks got a hold of it), the official forum for the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" video game recently contained a topic from a member celebrating the fact that he or she was able to obtain the action title over a week before its release date. For proof, the poster showed off a PS3 copy of the game in its plastic seal and the receipt from the store. Apparently, a Target in South Carolina quietly stocked its shelves with "Wolverine" well before May 1 and a few lucky buyers spotted it immediately. Whoops.

Street date errors aside, the game itself is expected to acquire a fair-sized following as releases of the game for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii will all occur simultaneously. While there will be obvious differences among forms between each specific port, all non-handheld versions appear to share a few certain gameplay characteristics.

The noteworthy common details appear to be centered on what a player can do with the actual Wolverine character himself. Armed with an arsenal of 100 special moves, combos, and situation-specific attacks (like, for example, long range lunges), not only can the Canuck force massive bloodletting from his opponents with his adamantium claws but after he gets struck, his flesh will also mend itself in real-time. Considering that this is a facet that no other game featuring the character has taken into consideration, it indicates good creative prospects behind this project.

While there isn't a ton of info available about the actual locales in the game (they'll presumably be based on the movie's sequences), fight scenes will occur on top of uncertain terrain like helicopters and falling bridges in additional to typical terra firma like jungles and cityscapes. It will also be necessary to solve various puzzles to take full advantage of all of what the game's landscapes have to offer.

In terms of characters, "Wolverine" will be highlighted by appearances from Wendigo, The Blob, Sabretooth, Agent Zero, Gambit, Deadpool, and others that first found life in print. Also adapted from the page will be a handful of original Wolverine costumes that are unlockable. As one might expect, one of the hidden outfits is his classic blue and yellow ensemble that he sported during his rise to fame in the comics.

With its plot scripted by TV show writer/occasional comic scribe Marc Guggenheim (apparently, he's written a bunch of episodes of "The Practice"), "Wolverine" officially makes it entrance into retail outlets on Friday. If nothing else, its release will mean a moratorium on problems with release dates.

Retrograde

X-Men: Mutant Academy for PlayStation

Released around the time that the first "X-Men" movie finally made it into theaters, "Mutant Academy" is a ho-hum fighter that feels stilted and out-of-date when compared to more complex genre contemporaries like "Tekken 3" and "Soul Calibur" that came out during the same period. With unimpressive graphics and less than ambitious game play mechanics, the best thing about "Mutant Academy" is its character roster. Not only could one spend adequate amounts of playtime as the likes of Gambit, Mystique, and Phoenix, but Toad was available! Okay, it wasn't the nifty Ray Park version from the flick (instead, the overweight and supremely subservient version from the comics), but still-playable Toad! There's a character that deserves a game all to himself.

Grade: C

Originally Published: April 29, 2009

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