  'Hey sentinels - chill out!' HOO-HA!
|
If you’re even a casual gamer, chances are you know all about the movie-based game curse – you know, the one that says that pretty much any game based on a movie franchise is going to be awful.
Well, if you’re looking at X-Men: The Official Game as the one to break that curse, think again. There’s a better chance you'll sprout adamantium blades out of your arms or shoot ice from your hands.
X-Men: The Official Game (otherwise known here as XM:TOG) takes place before the events of X-Men: The Last Stand motion picture. It answers a few questions (such as why Nightcrawler doesn’t appear in the movie) which may - may - appease fans of the series, but unfortunately, video game fans will be anything but pleased with this title from purely a fun-to-play standpoint.
You play the game as either Wolverine, Nightcrawler or Iceman. The story and levels branch off but you're able to finish each level before completing the game if you so choose. Besides these three, you can’t choose who you play as so don’t think this is anything like X-Men Legends, the last game in the series that featured several RPG-like elements that allowed you to pick from a slew of characters from the X-Men world and build up their powers.
In XM:TOG, there are a few appearances by other allies such as Storm and Colossus, but even they’re pretty much useless without your constant help.
The main problem plaguing this title is it’s just plain bland. It shows sparks of what could be a fun game, but it absolutely reeks of something that was thrown together for the sake of a few bucks. Sure, Patrick Stewart (Prof. Xavier), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Alan Cummings (Nightcrawler) and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) lend their voice talent, but all the other main characters feature voiceover talent from complete no-names, so the second you hear someone other than Kelsey Grammar or Halle Berry voicing Beast or Storm, respectively, the game starts to lose credibility.
And it doesn’t end there. Not by a longshot.
The Nightcrawler and Iceman levels are full of frustrating camera hiccups that are sure to cause any gamer, experienced or not, major headaches; Wolverine’s lame fighting system makes him look like anything but the massively popular, wickedly cool character he is; the upgrade system is one of the most dumbed-down, simplistic ones I’ve ever seen; and it’s not worth a second of your precious time to unlock the bonus extras in the game, which consist for the most part of alternate costumes or bonus training rooms.
I know I may be sounding harsh here, but I’m trying to make a point here. Why continue with these movie-based game tie-ins that are released as fast as the movies, when developers could instead focus on, for instance, a separate game based on the X-Men with an entirely different storyline? That way it doesn’t have to be rushed and it may end up being, well … good. What do I know about making games though, right?
There are a few positives to take out of the game. The graphics are fairly slick and the comic book style cutscenes, which at first looked silly, actually grew on me. The voiceover work of the four main characters is excellent, the game does answer some questions for fans and … that’s all I’ve got.
It boggles the mind how a game featuring the X-Men, giant fire serpents, massive robot sentinels and boss fights featuring Beast, Silver Samurai and Lady Deathstrike can’t be better than this - even accidentally - but it isn’t. X-Men: The Official Game is too short, too bland and too rushed to be considered anything more than a three-day rental (and barely that).
WHAM! Rating: |
4.5 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
T (Teen) |
Official Web Site: |
|
|
