"A fun, but britally frustrating game, with a emphasis on evil design!"

Ah... Wolverine... One of the coolest, most well known comic book "heroes" of all time! He has had his good moments in video game history, unlike the man of steel, but Wolverine has still suffered a lot from some crappy, poorly made games. Thankfully, Wolverine's revenge is NOT a bad game. Unfortunately... it is frustrating... REALLY frustrating!

Story- Why is this game called Xmen 2: Wolverine's Revenge, when the story has NOTHING to do with Xmen 2? The story is all about Logan (Wolverine), who was just turned into a test gone wrong. He has 48 hours to live, and must find a cure. Along the way he finds many classic Xmen villians and heroes who want to help/kill him.

The story is simple, but the big cast (even though most characters are only seen in a cutscene or two) is enough to make any big Xmen fan happy!

Graphics- Ouch. Whether it's the cutscenes, or actual gameplay, the graphics are really blocky. The animations are mostly ok, but with character models this poor, that isn't helping.

Wolverine is animated well, but for some reason, looks horribly programmed when he falls backwards from powerful blows.Their are bad textures everywhere, and only a few special effects look good. It's obvious that the graphics aren't a strong point...

Sound- Logan is voiced by non other, than Mark Hamill (who did Luc Skywalker in Star wars!) and Patrick Stewart does his job of being Professor X. Fred Tatasciore manages to voice Sabertooth, Juggernaut, and even Magneto! The voices are all well done, and fit perfectly! The music is good too. Though there are only 17 tracks in the game, they are mostly good. Some are even really catchy! I like the first Sabertooth's boss fight music. The sound effects are well suited to every situation, but I don't like it that when you get zapped by several lasers at once, Wolverine sound like he's a young child, who's too hyper for his own good.

Gameplay- Wolverine's Revenge is a mix between action, and stealth. You will hack and slash (literally!) your fair share of mutations gone wrong and helpless guards... well.. not completely helpless, as if they fire at you in a group, they can kill you in 5 SECONDS! That's where the stealth comes in. Wolverine can do stealth kills and do them in a large amount of ways. You will need to think more then twice about your choices, because if you **** up... you have to play the whole level again!

Now this wouldn't be so bad if the levels were short... but they aren't. Most of these levels will last you 10 minutes at least! Sometimes even 30! If you die, you don't get a second chance! It's back to square one! It's brutal, since enemies can drain your health, faster than you can say "Holy pizza pie, batman!".

Now don't worry... Wolverine's regenerating ability is in this game! By standing around, without an enemy in your sites, you will start to gain your lost health back. SLOOOOOWLY. It can take up to 3 minutes to get your stinking health back to max! This is a game where you better have access to youtube at all times! When ever you a regenerating, go to youtube, and watch a funny let's play of someone playing a Super Mario World hack. When it's time, pause the video and continue playing.

Basically... The regenerating system is BROKEN.

Boss fights can also be a pain. Some are amazing, (Sabertooth's fights, the Wendigo,etc) but some like Magnetos are cheap as can be! He will off-screen you all the time, and his hard to see where he is, because he teleports around the room so much! He can even go to a capsule in the battlefield at random times and one-hit kill you if you don't attack him in time!

You will face the occasional "Hit switch, and kill guard for key card" scenario, but the levels all seem like dungeons from a Zelda game, as you will say to yourself "Oh, so now I can finally open that door!" many times, throughout your heroic adventure.

Replay value- If you never die, Wolverine's Revenge will take about 6-10 hours. But I am CERTAIN that you will die. A LOT. So maybe it will take about 20 hours.. after wards, there isn't much to do, but find all the little collectibles in the levels that unlock costumes and comic covers. Some neat features await, but for some... one playthrough is enough.

*Overview*

Story- 6
Graphics- 4
Sound- 7
Gameplay- 6
Replay Value- 5

*Wolverines*

-Decent storyline
-Good length
-Playing as Wolverine has almost never been so fun
-Some nice extras for the Marvel fanboy, within you

*Magnetos*

-Poor graphics
-Needs a checkpoint system. BADLY.
-Regenerating system is rubbish
-You will hate the Magneto boss fight. It's awful. It really is.

Overall- 6.5 (Less than stellar. Worth a rent, but maybe not worth much else.)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/09

Game Release: X2: Wolverine's Revenge (US, 04/14/03)