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By: Siou
Choy |
| Developer: |
GenePool
Software |
| Publisher: |
Activision |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Est.
Release: |
4-15-03 |
| Posted: |
4-9-03 |
Industry rule #406: regardless of how mind-numbingly bad
they may be, comic book related video games will always sell, and
sell well. Aside from a few respectable fighting games, you
can literally count the good ones on one hand – and that’s going
back from the dawn of video gaming history to present. GenePool
Software and Activision are hoping that X2 Wolverine's Revenge will
join the select few on the short list on it’s release later this
May. As you might expect, X2 Wolverine's Revenge will be
released to coincide with the release of the second X-Men movie
"X2". Gee, what a surprise.
Of course, X2 Wolverine's Revenge actually has nothing
whatsoever to do with said movie; save it’s licensing of the
likeness of Hugh Jackman. Of course, with a Wolverine solo movie
rumored to be in the planning stages, the game may serve double duty
as a teaser promo item, (cue cheesy huckster voice:) "so be
sure to snap it up now!"
At least since John Byrne stuck his big head in to gum up the
works, the issue of Wolverine’s past has been burdened with some
rather convoluted, often contradictory eschatology, which this game
sees fit to exacerbate. Apparently, during his days in the Weapon X
program, he was implanted with a virus (back in the 1960s yet –
remember now everybody’s favorite id-surrogate is supposed to be
older than your grandpa is). This virus was set for time release,
albeit with a rather long fuse, since it’s set to go off within 48
hours of the start of gameplay. This shows some real innovation and
foresight on the part of the Weapon X bioengineers. Hmm…I’ll
get you…I’ll set a disease on you that won’t start to kill you
for over 40 years! (Yeah, yeah, I know, this makes a really
good metaphor for the fast, packaged, and frozen food industries,
but I don’t think the developers actually realized that).
So our intrepid hero must set off to find a cure, and maybe finally
unravel some of the mysteries in his past. Of course, we could just
toss out the last 20 years or so of bad continuity, and go back to
the days of the yellow costume. Hell, at the very least, it’d
spare us all that "ninja" crap.
The game will feature guest appearances by some of Wolverine’s
X-pals such as Beast, Colossus, Rogue, and Professor X (voiced by
Patrick Stewart) as well as such trademark Wolverine foes as
Sabretooth, the absurd "Lady Deathstrike" (who will be
making a rather unwelcome appearance in the movie), the Wendigo,
Juggernaut, and Magneto (let’s just pray we don’t get subjected
to the whole "feral" "bone claw" thing again –
bad writers of the comic industry, unite!).
X2 Wolverine's Revenge
is a third-person action game, where
you’ll have to the chance to use a lot of moves in Wolverine’s
arsenal such as his claws, mutant healing factor, and heightened
senses (what, no "fastball special"?). The heightened
senses work like infrared goggles, allowing you to see heat
signatures in addition to being able to detect enemies by smell
(enacted in the game by means of a "color cloud" in his
vision). There is also a rage meter that fills up as you take on
damage. Once the rage meter is filled, Wolverine will be able to
perform berserker attacks, increasing his speed and making his
attacks more powerful than usual.
X2 Wolverine's Revenge
seems to be shaping up nicely and
should keep X-Men fans happy when it’s released for all three next
generation systems on April 15th.
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