X-Men: The Official Game
Verdict: Not so super powered
PS2 also Xbox, GC, PC, 360
Rating: 2/5
Stereotypically, videogame adaptations of films suck. Film adaptations of games suck even more (no, Mortal Kombat wasn’t a good movie). Resting in the knowledge that they’ll sell no matter how bad they are, adaptations are thrown together and time after time they dominate the charts as amnesiacs buy them, forgetting how forgettable last month’s tie-in was. There is the odd exception like James Bond: Goldeneye or The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay but with this turgid history, Xmen: The Official Game has little to live up to and it does it with as much gusto as you might expect.
Broken up between three characters you get to find out what happened between the 2nd and 3rd film, taking control of Wolverine, Iceman and Night Crawler. Each character has a different play style - Wolverine is the straight up brawler with healing abilities, Iceman plays more like a shooter as he slides around on his ice (looking rather like a large blue, flappy tongue) firing, you guessed it - ice, while Night Crawler gets the obligatory stealth treatment whilst offering up some genuinely interesting moves in the form of teleports.
While it all seems competently built the game is let down by a lack of flair and good design. Missing basic features like the option to change camera control (with the default being counter-intuitive) and level design being as flat pack as flat pack gets (there must be an Ikea for game design) it all comes across as rushed.
The combat is standard fair with Wolverine being a tiresome button basher without any form of counter attack. Iceman’s move set is limited, and lacks punch (no pun intended) while Night Crawler on the other hand is quite fun to play. With his teleport ability you can mix up melee attacks and acrobatics all the while zipping in and out of existence. Unfortunately it quickly shows up its limitations, never offering up the depth of something like Ninja Gaiden or the fluidity of Prince of Persia.
Peppered with a list of ‘me too’ features it fails to really draw the player in despite the fact that some talented Marvel writers helped script the story. Then again, when the cut scenes are presented in an embarrassing amalgamation of film and comic that’s hardly surprising - comic book stills mixed with audio just come across as a lame cop out, which pretty much sums the game up.