I'm continuing my trek through my new found supply of games from Gamefly and next up is X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the 360. Yes, this game is based off of the movie of the same name but unlike almost all other movie games, this one is actually good. When you get a studio with the creds of Raven Software to do your game and build it on the Unreal engine, it is kind of hard to go wrong. The PS2/Wii/PSP/DS versions were done by other developers and unfortunately they all fall short of the "Uncaged" edition on 360/PS3/PC. Metacritic rates the 360 version at 75, the PC version at 77, and PS3 at 73.

To put it in a nutshell, the game is a fairly standard action/adventure game in the style of God of War but is fairly well done and does justice to the character of Wolverine. Here are my thoughts on the game's pros and cons.

Pros:

•  Wolverine character: This game does a great job of telling the story of Wolverine and is probably the first time he is portrayed in videogames and something other then a source for one-liners. His penchants for bloodlust and rage are accurately depicted by the game's combat system while his sense of honor and compassion are portrayed through the storyline. Wolverine is voiced by Hugh Jackman which lends further credibility to the game.
• Combat: Once you get used to the controls the combat becomes pretty fun. You'll eventually figure out the best moves to use against certain enemies but the game rewards you extra experience for varying your tactics, which adds another layer of fun to the system. The game is also very gory and you'll spend a lot of time watching your character decaptiate and rip dudes in half, which is odd for a game based on a PG-13 movie, but is true to the Wolverine character nonetheless.
• Sense of power: Something a lot of games miss on is making your character actually feel powerful. Many times your super powered dude in game X is able to fly, lift bulldozers over his head, and shoot laser beams out of his eyes, but some random thug on the street with a baseball bat will get the best of him from time to time. X-Men Origins does a great job of making Wolverine feel like a superhero. His regeneration powers from the comics and movies are totally intact. He can take a few rounds of automatic weapon fire to the chest, duck around a corner to regenerate, and come back for round two. When you take damage in the game chunks of flesh are ripped away but you will regenerate everything back in a few seconds in real time. He can also use his feral senses to spot invisible enemies and when you 're leaping from enemy to enemy ripping them in two by various means, you'll feel a small pang of satisfaction along the way.

Cons:

•  Graphic glitches: There are tons of small graphical glitches throughout the game. By themselves they aren't really a big deal but as whole they should be taken into consideration. One example is when you take damage in the game Wolverine's shirt becomes progressively ripped and shredded and eventually you're running around shirtless (although by some divine intervention his pants never take any damage, thankfully). This whole feature is rather glitchy and you'll notice that when you do things like level up or enter a cutscene Wolverine instantly goes from shirtless to fully clothed.
• Too many puzzles. The part of this game that shines is the combat, but it seemed like Raven forced too many puzzle sequences into it. I understand that they did it to try to change up the flow of the game and give you something to do other then decapitate people, but they went a little overboard with it. If they focused on the combat more and figured out a few unique combat modes the game would have played a lot better.
• Indoor environments: There are some great outdoor environments in the game but for some reason there are very lengthy sections of the game where you are forced to play in repetitive indoor areas, particularly the Weapon X facility. If they the made the indoor areas shorter and expanded on areas like the Canadian wilderness the game would have felt less confined.

Conclusion:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a solid action/adventure game that does great justice for the Wolverine character. It doesn't break down any barriers or innovate anything for the game industry, but it is still simple fun. Raven Software continues their lineup of solid titles and shocked everyone by making a game based on a movie that is actually good. If you can find it on sale or rent it then this is worth your time and money.

Score: 7.5 out of 10