X-Men: The Official Game
- May 19, 2006 13:52 PM PST
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Mutants get incredibly boring and uninspired in Activision's X-Men: The Official Movie Game, leaving us wishing that they had been "officially" left on the drawing board.
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Unless you're reading this review and wearing a home-made Wolverine costume, X-Men: The Official Game is not for you. Heck, even if you don't even know what a Wolverine is, this game is probably not worth your time. Activision tries to add a bit of video game magic to the game version of the upcoming X-Men movie, but thanks to some horribly generic gameplay and uninspired combat, it ends up continuing the disappointing trend of movie license video games.
Less Than Heroes
The game's storyline bridges the events between the second and third films , but all you really need to concern yourself with is that there are three playable characters in the game -- Wolverine, Ice Man, and Nightcrawler. Wolverine is the melee brute that you've come to love (or hate). His adamantium claws are ideal for slicing through enemies, whether you're dishing out quick or heavy attacks. As you take down foes you'll also fill up a special meter that, once full, lets your initiate a short-lasting Rage mode, where your attacks do more damage.
Ice Man seems to get the short end of the stick in terms of cool factor, however. He rides around on a slide of ice, which operates a bit like a flying game. To attack he can utilize his special ice beam, and to fend off incoming attacks, he can also throw up a temporary ice shield. While unique in that "wow, that's kind of cool . . .kind of" sort of way, Ice Man does offer up a bit of variety compared to his counterparts, but also ends up sticking out like a sore thumb. Why not throw in Colossus or Storm (who coincidentally appear as secondary, non-controllable characters).
Nightcrawlers offers up the most fun out of three, thanks to his fun transporting ability. This power comes in to play not only for combat, where it can be used to zip around enemies and pummel unsuspecting foes, but also for exploration. In Nightcrawler levels, you'll notice small wisps of blue smoke. These points indicate that Nightcrawler can transport to them. As such, most of his levels are multi-leveled, allowing for some high altitude transporting fun. The downside, however, is that most of his levels also usually have you tracking down some annoying switch to open some mundane door, which really cramps the otherwise enjoyable gameplay.
Mundane Mutants
Nightcrawler isn't the only mutant hero that finds himself running through repetitive and downright boring levels. Wolverine's stages are nothing more than button-mashing affairs that have you using the same attack combos over and over again, while occasionally pausing to heal some of your wounds. Most of his levels are full of machinegun-toting enemies, which unfortunately, can usually fill old Wolverine with lead. Since you can't really block their bullets, you'll find yourself running headlong in to their fire, slicing them up, and then stopping to heal. It's disjointed, repetitive, and highly annoying, and not something that I recommend experiencing.
Visually the game manages to offer up a nice graphical experience, with the Xbox 360 version naturally looking the best. But, this game isn't going to be setting any benchmarks for visual achievement. Level design is pretty poor and generic. You'll notice more than your fair share of bland, grey walls, and while the main character models are nicely rendered, enemies are generic and uninspired. The cutscenes are a bit different, and ditch complicated CG for hand-painted, lightly animated storyboards, but this style adds a weird comic book tone to the entire game. Wait a minute, wasn't this an X-Men game based on the X-Men movie? I'm getting confused . . .
Officially Boring
X-Men: The Official Games is worthy of a pick-up only if you're the most die-hard X-Men fan around. If you're not, there are a multitude of other productive things to do. You could go plan some flowers, write a poem, volunteer at your local senior center, or maybe even give yourself a do-it-yourself root canal. Granted, it does offer up some cool Nightcrawler action, but as far as super mutant power goes, use your powers to steer clear of this mess.
