I finally got around to playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine after really enjoying the demo. I started off thoroughly enjoying the game. However, by the end fight I pretty much hate it. Probably that is my frustration with the final boss fight coming through so I’ll start with the good stuff.

This might be the first X-Men game I’ve played where I actually felt like Wolverine was not toned down to useless. The game is brutal. You can complete shred people to pieces. The story follows the same plot as the movie for the most part, but with a lot of back story added. I enjoyed the game’s plot and setting variety. Graphically it looks good and the watching Wolverine heal from the inside out never got old. The game is actually much longer than I expected for a movie based game. I was about half way through when I thought it was about over. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a lot more to play.

The game alternates between button mashing and pattern recognition fights with few puzzle/platform elements thrown in. For most of the generic people attacking you can pretty much button mash or find a couple combos you like and just repeat them over and over to kill enemies. For the bosses you just need to dodge for a few minutes until you figure out their attack pattern and then exploit the weakness in it. Between these two main parts of the game there are a few puzzle and jumping platforms that I found really annoying. The button mashing and boss fights are fun because you’re making Wolverine tear guys apart, but the puzzle/platforming completely break the flow of the game. You have to stop fighting and time jumps correctly. Then, if you don’t you have to start that puzzle whole section over again.

Up until the final boss fight I was enjoying the game for the most part. There were a few moments that were annoying. Like the sequence in the spillway where you have to outrun a wave but you camera does not show you where you are going. Then I got to Deadpool. It took me a few minutes to finally figure out his attack pattern and start to exploit it with block combos and special attacks. After you lower his health all the way down the first time he teleports to the top of the nuclear power plant and start the fight all over again. However, you can keep the the same pattern and take Deadpool’s health down pretty quick. After taking the health down the second time Deadpool teleports away and starts to shoot sections of the wall out from under your feet. Most of the time you can jump out of the way and land one section over. However, if you lunge at him during that part it knocks you off the edge and you have to start the fight over. Also, after the first couple laser shots enough pieces of the wall are missing that you have to jump over holes to get to Deadpool. Of you don’t then he just keeps shooting you until you die. But, if you do try to jump he shoots the ground out from under you as you land and you fall to your death. After over a dozen tries at fighting Deadpool I gave up, put the game back in the envelope and sent it back to GameFly. It is not fun enough to keep trying.

After sending it back to GameFly earlier today I was talking with some friends who already played it and found out most of them never finished the game either. Some of them did not get through earlier boss fights. If you like Wolverine or nuttom-mashing stule games this one is pretty good. Just plan on either playing on Easy or not finishing.