"X-Men 2" was one of those rare movie sequels that turned out (debatably of course) better than the original. The video games didn't fare as well. "Wolverine's Revenge" is a bare bones action beat-em-up with little to offer fans of the comic, the movie, or games in general. It's not a total loss, it's the just the potential was never fully realized.
The game steps back in time from the movie to Wolverine's first days as, well Wolverine. After being spawned, you lash at your creators using a simplistic fighting engine that has little to offer. There's the back-story that you have 48 hours to cure a virus slowly killing you, but that hardly comes into play until the final levels.
Gameplay is simplistic yet enjoyable in a retro style. It's your standard beat-em-up as you slash your way through those who have created you (and of course want to destroy you). You'll unlock more moves as the game progresses, though these are hardly necessary. Making it through without doing anything other than hitting the X button is enough.
To spice things up a bit, Wolverine can enter into his famous rage. This gives him a brief but substantial increase in power. A meter shows how close you are to blowing your top. This increases as you take hits or dish them out. You can also sneak up on guards or detect danger using your special senses. It's seems like a cheap way to make it seem like you have more moves available since an opportunity to use it rarely prevents itself.
The boss fights will require a little ingenuity, assuming the blatant clues don't give it all away. They'll usually go down harder, requiring something extra to finally put them in their place. Everybody else is brain dead as, unbeknownst to them, you run up behind them, slash them in the back, and move on. They have no skills either, firing bullets wildly when you're standing right in the front of them.
Even with the lack of AI, cheap shots do eventually take their toll. There are only two ways to gain back health: Find power-ups or stand around with your claws retracted. Power-ups are rare and standing around isn't fun. This is a blatant way to get around the fact that Wolverine isn't exactly powerful and their level design is amateurish (get key A, open door B). Either way, it's not fun.
Article comments
1 - Anne Hedley
Its really very hard to picture Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in an animated game.He has made the role his own very distinctively and for an action film that is rare with the success he has been awarded. I love games but have not got this one I may well see what it is all about