X-Men Origins: Wolverine (video game): Difference between revisions

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Developer(s)	Raven Software (PC/PS3/X360) Amaze Entertainment (Wii/PS2)[1] Griptonite Games (PSP/DS)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS,[1]
Release	May 1, 2009
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 action-adventure game loosely based on the film of the same name. The game release coincided with the release of the film on May 1, 2009 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable.

The storyline is comprised of a combination of the Wolverine backstory being explored in the movie of the same name as well as original story created by Raven Software. In recent interviews, lead developer Dan Vondrak indicates that roughly 90% of the movie storyline is in the game. However, that comprises less than half of the overall videogame story, with the balance being exclusive to the game.

The primary storyline is the back-story of Wolverine. Uncovering his origins from his birth in the mid-1840's, formative years in rural Canada, through his military service and eventual recruitment to Col. William Stryker's Weapon X program.

The story begins in the not too distant future in an abandoned, dilapidated building littered with soldiers' corpses. Another body drops dead as Wolverine (born James Howlett, aka Logan) eviscerates the soldier. He narrates "I'm the best there is at what I do, at least the people still living after I'm done doing it say that." He is attacked by another few groups of soldiers and dispatches them in bloody fashion. "Everyone calls me Wolverine, I don't remember other names. In fact I don't remember much of anything..."

The story travels back several years into the past. Logan and the rest of Colonel William Stryker's mutant strike team are in a helicopter above an African jungle. The helicopter is brought down by an enemy attack, and Logan is thrown from the ship. He battles his way to the downed helicopter but finds only the pilot's corpse. Stryker contacts Logan, giving him orders to rendezvous with Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth, Logan's half-brother and fellow strike team member), and assist him in destroying a temple where enemy mercenaries are stationed. After reaching and clearing the temple ruins Logan contacts Stryker, stating that there is no sign of Victor. John Wraith, another member of the strike team, then informs Logan that Victor has planted the explosives in the temple and has already moved onto a nearby river area where more mercenaries are stationed. Barely escaping the explosion, Logan proceeds to the river, defeating several enemies traveling by boat. Upon reaching a dock upriver and massacring the soldiers he rejoins with Victor.

The story shifts forward three years later. Logan is living peacefully in Canada with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox. The two are on a walk together in the local town. As they approach the entrance of the local tavern Logan catches the scent of Victor and tells Kayla to run. Logan and Victor battle, Kayla watching from the sidelines, but Victor emerges victorious. Upon defeating him, Victor breaks Logan's bone claws and he passes out. When Logan awakes, he finds Kayla dead. Stryker appears and offers to help Logan defeat Victor by giving him the tools he would need to take him down. Stryker tells him that he will coat his bones in adamantium, making him virtually indestructible

As Logan's skeleton is being coated with adamantium, the trauma causes him to cycle through his memory of being in Africa and a member of Stryker's team. He recalls how the team was looking for the source of the material that would later become adamantium in a small village. Logan disobeys Stryker, stopping Victor from killing a villager and sets the man free. He is then restrained by Victor and is knocked unconscious after being hit with a rifle butt by Stryker.

After the adamantium coating process is completed, Stryker talks about using his DNA for Weapon XI and terminating Logan as he is a liability and cannot be trusted. Upon subconsciously hearing this, Logan awakes and begins his escape from the facility. During his escape he encounter a super-soldier experiment dubbed the W.E.N.D.I.G.O. prototype. With the help of Dr. Carol Frost, a scientist in the facility, Logan regains his feral and regenerative abilities that were deactivated during the adamantium bonding process. Frost then asks Logan to rescue a girl named Anna scheduled for termination. After Logan frees her she teleports the both of them to the door leading out of the facility, but she does not have the strength to teleport both of them out. Logan has Anna teleport herself while he battles his way to the spillway. Stryker orders the spillway flooded, blasting Logan out of it and knocking him unconscious.

The story flashes back to three years prior, during Operation: Firestorm, when Logan was still part of Stryker's team. Logan listens in on a communique between Wraith and Stryker. Wraith reports that he is unable to triangulate the target village's position because ion emitters have been set up in the surrounding area. Stryker orders the team to find the ion emitters and destroy them. Wraith directs Logan to one that is set up at the top of a large tower due north. Agent Zero and Victor are directed to the other two that are set up elsewhere within the jungle. After climbing the tower and destroying the ion emitter, Logan is flung from the top of the tower by the resulting explosion, smashed against the ground below where he is knocked unconscious by a severe blow to the head.

Origins is influenced by games such as God of War, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (combats), X-Men: The Official Game and Devil May Cry. The gameplay also features a large amount of blood and gore. ^[2]

Raven Software addressed a major deficiency of previous Wolverine videogames, lack of regeneration, by creating a progressive damage system. When Wolverine is shot or stabbed, which removes parts of his flesh and clothes, his injuries will heal in real-time, allowing you to see his muscles and skin grow back. Layers of skin and muscle are peeled back to eventually reveal his adamantium skeleton. Wolverine possesses enhanced feral senses, which can be used in a variety of ways, such as solving puzzles, revealing hidden escape routes, and finding weak points in opponents.

Combat relies on three options - light attacks, heavy attacks, and grabs, mapped to one button apiece - but doesn't ask players to memorize long combo strings. Another form of attack is the lunge, which allows Wolverine to quickly close the distance between him and an enemy. Not only can Wolverine dispatch enemies via his variety of attacks, he can also use the environment to his advantage, like impaling foes on spikes. During the course of combat, Wolverine's rage meter begins to build up, and when full allows him to unleash more deadly, devastating attacks. His claws also glimmer red when he is in berserker mode.

• Wolverine / James "Logan" Howlett^[3] - A mutant with powers of regeneration, animalistic instincts, and three retractable adamantium claws.
• W.E.N.D.I.G.O. Prototypes^[2] - In keeping with the somewhat realistic tone of the film series, these are genetically engineered supersoldiers, instead of magically cursed beings.
• Kayla Silverfox - Logan's lover. She has the ability of tactile hypnosis: the ability to control someone as long as she is touching them.
• Blob / Frederick Dukes^[4] - A mutant and former member of Stryker's mutant strike team. Fred has an indestructible layer of skin. After leaving Stryker and the team, he developed an eating disorder and became obese.
• Sabretooth / Victor Creed^[4][5] - Wolverine's half-brother who has a healing factor, animalistic instincts, and retractable claws in place of fingernails.
• Gambit / Remy LeBeau^[4] - a former prisoner of Stryker who can manipulate kinetic energy.
• Agent Zero / David North^[4] - a member of the Weapon X Program, Stryker's second-in-command. Zero possesses expert tracking skills and is a lethal marksman.
• Deadpool / Wade Wilson^[4] - the "merc with a mouth." Wade is a highly trained mercenary who was the annoyance of the team.
  • Weapon XI - The altered Wade Wilson is the mutant killer. He was given a healing factor, teleportation, and optic blast powers and had his mouth forced shut. Stryker also had adamantium blades surgically implanted into his arms.
• John Wraith - A mutant who has the ability to teleport. A former member of Stryker's team. Owns a bodybuilding studio in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Mystique / Raven Darkholme - A female mutant with shapeshifting abilities and a CIA operative who was working in conjunction with Stryker's team in Africa. She later encounters Wolverine when they both are searching for Wraith.
• Dr. Bolivar Trask - Creator of the Sentinels. He kidnaps Wraith to use him in his study of the mutant gene for sentinel programming. His hand is cut off by Wolverine, he later replaces it with a prosthetic hand. In the future, as shown in the game, he appears to be the one directing the soldiers attacking Wolverine in an attempt to capture him.
• Sentinels - Robots created by Dr. Bolivar Trask, built for the sole purpose of hunting and terminating mutants. Wolverine encounters a smaller prototype and later fights a larger Mark I model. At the end of the game, in the future, many sentinels are seen walking through the ruins of a city, seemingly terminating mutants as they are detected.
• William Stryker - A Colonel of the military who formed Team X, and is a major part of the Weapon X Program.

• Gregg Berger - Blob
• Steven Blum - Wade Wilson, Senator Kelly
• Georgina Cordova - Anna
• Chris Edgerly - Gambit
• Dave Florek - Colonel William Stryker
• Anna Graves - Mystique, Dr. Carol Frost
• Hugh Jackman - Wolverine
• David Prince - Dr. Abraham Cornelius
• Bumper Robinson - Dr. Bolivar Trask
• Liv Schrieber - Sabretooth
• April Stewart - Kayla Silverfox, Weapon X Computer
• will.i.am - John Wraith
• Robert Wu - Agent Zero

Additional Voices by David Boat, Kiel Holmes, Andrew Kishino, Matt Mercer, Christian Mungai, Nolan North, Beatrice Ouere, Roger Rose, Patrick Ssenjovu, Fred Tatasciore, and Dave Wittenberg

• Official Website
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (video game) at IMDb