RETRO – Here we are with Deadpool & Wolverine, the new Wolverine movie, and it’s absurd that Marvel’s Wolverine is still nowhere to be found. If you want a decent Wolverine game, you’ll have to go back to the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition. But even that’s a loss because it’s not legally available anywhere, and old Xbox 360 discs don’t work on new consoles! This action-adventure was once a hit! Why? Find out in our nostalgic article…

Back in 2009, Raven Software’s film adaptation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, exploded onto the market. It was an ultrabrutal action-adventure beat-em-up that, in today’s woke and PC era, would be unimaginable. Unfortunately, we can’t have it anymore: after the contract between Activision and Marvel expired (and the rights transferred to Sony), the game was pulled from all online stores (it was never on Steam), and even if you have the Xbox 360 version, it won’t run on modern Xbox consoles! So, on PC, you’ll have to torrent it, and on consoles, you need an ancient Xbox 360/PS3 and the original disc, which is now incredibly expensive on eBay – while here we have the new Wolverine movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, but we’re still years away from a new Wolverine game! But what was the game like?

Starring: Hugh Jackman!

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Raven Software, famous for the gory commando FPS series Soldier of Fortune and the 2009 Wolfenstein, developed a game adaptation of the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine (known in Hungary as X-Men Kezdetek: Farkas), where players could control Wolverine. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was characterized by well-executed, raw, and brutal violence, making it significantly better than the average or poor film adaptations. The violence wasn’t gratuitous, as it perfectly fit the ruthless world of the original comic book hero and film adaptation.

The game’s story partially follows and expands on the movie’s events. As Wolverine, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Hugh Jackman, players travel to various locations including the African jungle, the Alkali Lake’s hidden base, a huge casino, and more. Besides constantly dealing with increasingly aggressive and dangerous enemies, players must solve various – not too complex – logical puzzles.

Additionally, players face well-known villains from the Marvel universe who weren’t in the film, included just for variety’s sake. While this is a great idea, the developers forced them into the story without a solid concept, leaving it unclear why our hero has to fight them.

X-Men Origins takes the movie’s events, adds a bunch of backstory, and puts you into the tattered white tank top of Weapon X. Set before the X-Men films, it chronicles the time when Logan ran with his commanding officer Stryker and Sabretooth, engaged in disturbing missions, broke from the group, and embarked on a one-man revenge mission. As a respectful geek, I’ll leave the story elements at that; no need to spoil the movie for those who have been avoiding early reviews.

These Claws Are Exactly How I Want Them!

Wolverine’s weapon, naturally, is his two famous metal claws, which can cause massive destruction. The claws never get damaged and can cut through any enemy or obstacle.

As is common in such games, there are numerous combo attacks to use against enemies, but the most hardcore and entertaining attack type is when Wolverine charges at them from a distance. As you level up, you gain new combos and special attack types. These attack types can also be upgraded later, making perfecting Wolverine’s abilities one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

X-Men Origins follows a fairly simple control scheme. You have a light attack, a heavy attack, block, and jump at its core, supplemented by the mentioned Rage moves. There are combos for light and heavy attacks if you want to learn them, but you can literally run into a room full of enemies, alternate buttons to your heart’s content, and be lopping off arms and legs without a problem.

Does It Still Hold Up?

Graphically, the game is pleasing on both PC and consoles, though I didn’t find it exceptional even in 2009. The jungle sections are visually impressive, but the indoor rooms, larger halls, and corridors weren’t detailed enough even by the standards of the time.

So, while the graphics weren’t groundbreaking even then, the game’s strength lies in hearing Hugh Jackman himself as Wolverine. Not only did they use his voice, but they recorded new lines with him, which wasn’t cheap for a star of his caliber. And speaking of Jackman, the other main actor, the still-popular Liev Schreiber, who played Wolverine’s major antagonist, deserves a mention.

The story loosely followed the movie, but for a beat-em-up, it was fairly decent, though the cutscenes weren’t exactly animation award contenders, and Hugh Jackman would laugh at them today.

If Wolverine were being graded, it would earn a solid B: it’s an entertaining and relatively well-crafted action game that fits well with the original film. It’s a real shame that such silly licensing issues have buried it, and we can only hope it will come out of this “hibernation” someday.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Raven Software

Style: Action-adventure, beat-em-up

Published: May 1, 2009.