X-Men: The Official Game (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Chris McCarver on 12.13.2006
As if we needed further proof that the last X-flick was a steaming pile...
Platform: Xbox 360 (also available for PC, Xbox, Playstation 2, and Gamecube)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Z-Axis
ESRB Rating: T (language, violence)
Release Date: May 16, 2006
Review by CHRIS McCARVER
Earlier this year, we bore witness to what many are calling the final installment of the X-Men film franchise, Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand. And it was utter crap. Chock-full of throwaway characters and more shallow than a jungle-juice cooler at 5 a.m., Last Stand redefined the concept of going out with a whimper. Marvel game licensee Activision nevertheless opted to develop a game that would bridge the time gap between the second and third films (and give Alan Cumming an excuse to reprise his Nightcrawler role without subjecting him to hours of makeup), so let us now peel off the wrapper of the movie tie-in with arguably the most self-important title to ever grace a 360 discbox, X-Men: The Official Game.
The world's deadliest pimp-slap.
Graphics
As a multi-platform cross-gen port and the only next-gen version of this game, I expected the graphics on the 360 version to be somewhat subpar considering the processing oomph of the console. My expectations were dead on the money, unfortunately. The character models are fairly basic and suffer from a fair bit of jaggy pixels, and the environments are also of simply average washed-out quality. One would have thought that developer Z-Axis would have punched up the presentation for the next-gen outing. My estimation? Not so much.
What I believe to be the singular most glaring flaw in this game's visuals is what Z-Axis laughably tries to pass off as cutscenes. FMV footage from the movies? No. CGI-animated interludes? No. We instead get barely-animated painted stills of the characters whose lips don't even move when they're speaking. There is no excuse for this approach: call it a style choice, call it Hugh Jackman didn't want to be mo-capped... this singular element of the game's graphics is utterly unacceptable on a next-gen system. The last time I saw a game try cutscenes this way was Robotech: Battlecry on the PS2. It made me groan then, but in this day and age, with the level of technology available to developers now, the cutscenes in this game are by far the worst example of developer phone-in I've seen in a long time.
Gameplay
One would assume that an X-Men game would be rife with playable characters, each with unique abilities worthy of their four-color counterparts. Not so with X-Men: The Official Game, true believers, we only get three: Wolverine, the adamantium-clawed Canadian and shoe-in for any and all X-Men merch opportunities; Iceman, mutant master of cold and ice portrayed as a newbie X-Man as per the films, and Nightcrawler, the indigo-skinned German teleporter and former circus performer. While the first two of the three are mainstays of all three movies, the inclusion of Nightcrawler is mainly to explain his absence from the third movie. Each of the game's levels require you to take one of the three X-Men through a variety of levels built just for that character. You have some choice as to the order in which you tackle each level, as the story allows for some branching, but consign yourself right now to having to play every level.
The Nightcrawler missions are the highlight of the game gameplay-wise, as players will have full use of his teleportation abilities and agility. The Nightcrawler levels are a combination of Prince of Persia platforming, Sam Fisher-esque stealth, and the unique incorporation of his teleportation abilities with his combat prowess. A D-pad/button combo is all is takes to have the fuzzy elf 'port behind opponents and wail on 'em before they can react.
Upon seeing his foe's fridge-magnet wand, Kurt immediately regretting hanging a metal crucifix on his crotch.
Sadly, using the other two X-Men just isn't as much fun. While playing as Wolverine also yields a certain number of combat moves and such, the bulk of the Wolverine levels are little more than running around and shoving your claws into endless numbers of bad-AI'd gumbies. Also odd is that fact that the camera control on the Wolverine levels is actually far worse than in the Nightcrawler missions. Whereas you can aim the camera pretty much anywhere playing as Nightcrawler, the Wolverine-mission camera is painfully restrictive, and I'm talking Resident Evil 2 restrictive. Naturally, Wolverine's healing factor comes into play, and the levels come equipped with an option where you can retract his claws so he can heal faster. Wolverine also has a "fury meter" that builds up over time in battle and, when filled and activated by a button-press, lets him go all berserker-ragey, increasing his speed, damage, and healing speed. Despite all that, these parts of the game are fairly cookie-cutter and fairly unremarkable.
But the bottom rung of the ladder of X-Men: The Official Game is the Iceman levels, which are little more than an airborne shooter under the thin guise of Bobby Drake flying around on an ice slide and shooting freeze beams at incoming enemies. Granted the controls are fairly simple and it's kind of cool to bust through existing iceslides with accompanying vibration, but I'll play Starfox Command if I want to fly around and shoot at stuff.
Rewards for gameplay come in the form of "mutation" points, which are used to "alter the genetic structure" of the characters for the purpose of improving their abilities. How many you get for completing a level is decided at the beginning of each level by what difficulty you set. The game also has unlockables to be searched for in the levels, which are collected for the purpose of unlocking unlockable costumes and non-story Danger Room missions.
"That is the LAST time I let Joel Schumacher program the Danger Room..."
Sound
The game's voiceovers are probably, the Nightcrawler missions notwithstanding, the biggest highpoint of the game. All three of the player characters are voiced by their live-action actors, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler). In addition, three other actors from the franchise reprise their roles, namely Patrick Stewart (who has voiced every recent game appearance by Prof. Charles Xavier short of Marvel Ultimate Alliance), Tyler Mane (Sabretooth), and Eric Dane (Multiple Man). The other voices in the game aren't that bad either, most of them have proved themselves in other more prominent roles in the X-Men Legends games and in the aforementioned Marvel Ultimate Alliance. As a funky bit of trivia, the XML actors for Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler (Steven Blum, James Arnold Taylor, and Dee Bradley Baker, respectively) all appear in X-Men: The Official Game in other roles. To sum up, expect some top-notch voice acting across the board.
The music soundtrack is pretty much entirely lifted off the movie soundtracks, so you get that same sweeping epic superhero score that the films provided for the most part. It's unintrusive, but really doesn't add anything to the play experience.
Shawn Ashmore. Earnin' them residuals.
Lasting Appeal
This game is fairly short-lived in terms of total play-time and the seemingly brain-dead enemy AI makes it feel even shorter. The game's various missions can be played through more than once at any time once they've been played through once, so players can always go back and pick up that last collectible they missed the first time. The downside here is that, apart from the genuinely fun Nightcrawler levels, the gameplay is so thin and repetitive that one play-through may in and of itself seem like more than one should expect. And with the lack of any online component, this game is an early return to Blockbuster waiting to happen.
Fun Factor
X-Men: The Official Game is a very uneven gameplay experience. While the Nightcrawler missions are kind of a hoot to play through, the remaining majority of the game is woefully uninspired. Much of the game is hampered by lackluster presentation, short and easy missions, and player characters with far too short a repertoire of abilities. Playing through this game was a burdensome experience to say the very least.
The 411
X-Men: The Official Game is yet another case of a rushed movie tie-in that just does not stand on its own as a decent game. The limited number of characters will doubtlessly prove a disappointment to X-Men fans, the cinematics are a complete waste of disc space, and the barely-average gameplay and short levels are not going to guarantee this title much residence in your consoles. In the final analysis, consider it the best choice to leave this one on the shelf, just like the DVD of the just-as-bad movie it's tied to.
Graphics
6.0
Minimal graphic enhancements for the 360 version, abysmal static cutscenes
Gameplay
7.0
Lots of variety and ease of control in Nightcrawler missions, Wolverine and Iceman missions are below-average rehashes of better games
Sound
7.0
All-star voice cast lifted largely from the films, music soundtrack also from the films but adds little to the experience
Lasting Appeal
5.0
Threadbare character advancement, levels are short and repetitive, no online play
Fun Factor
5.0
Nightcrawler missions are the only highpoint, awful presentation, far too few playable characters for an X-Men game
