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X-Men videogames have always been a bit of a
hit-and-miss affair. The arrivals during the days of the 16-bit era
were generally traded-off against each other; when the SNES received
a decent  release, the Mega-Drive equivalent was bound to be
lack-lustre in some fashion, and vice-versa. Early releases in the
current generation such as X-Men: Next Dimension and X-Men:
Wolverine’s Revenge, although sitting on the comfortable side
of ethical game design, did little to grab the attention of gamers.
It wasn’t until last year’s X-Men
Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse that player’s outside the
pre-installed comic book fanbase stood-up and started taking notice.
With the film adaptations having reached critical mass this
year; hitting that trilogy mark, there was bound to be a whole host
of X-Men arrivals, and the first is, quite predictably, an
adaptation of the film into the videogames market: X-Men III: The
Official Game.
Offering its presentation as little more than a Third Person
Action/Adventure title, X-Men III: The Official Game spices
things up with the interjection of three playable characters:
Wolverine, Iceman and Nightcrawler. Wolverine sees the action coming
thick-and-fast, with the majority of his Levels being based around
the rather basic principle of killing waves of enemies of  increasing
number and difficulty. With combat executed through Heavy Attacks on
the Y Button and Quick Attacks on the X Button, as hits both given
and taken increase a Fury Meter, the structure is pleasing, yet
seemingly incredibly dated since the releases of the likes of God
Of War and Spartan: Total Warrior.
The Iceman Levels are probably the biggest disappointment of
the title. Presented as, in early Press Releases, Free Roaming
environments in which Iceman can jump into action and soar though
the skies at will – much like the gameplay evident in Spider-Man
2 – the final release sees Iceman permanently fixed to his
ice-walkway. The Levels offered are seemingly inspired by the likes
of Lylat Wars, with many being races through twisting
tunnels, or arena-based Missions.
Nightcrawler offers-up much of the balance of the title. His
Levels are purely of a Platform nature, with minimal combat and lots
of precision aiming. Taking through a variety of Level designs,
Nightcrawler’s  teleportation ability is probably the most well
exercised production within X-Men III: The Official Game. A
Blue Flame constantly denotes where Nightcrawler will land,
teleporting with a press of the R Trigger. Pressing the L Trigger
executes an enemy Lock-On which, with a press of the B Button,
teleports Nightcrawler directly behind; allowing for some nice
additions to the combat resulting in an offering as equally enticing
as that of Wolverine’s Levels – in which close-combat is clearly
the prominent feature.
Upon completing Levels, you will be offered Mutations to
upgrade your characters, the quantity of which is denoted at the
start of the Level and dependant on the Difficulty Setting you
choose, with Hero and Superhero setting offering the most. These
Mutations actually seem to do very little with many of the
abilities, whereas others will be made super-powerful with just a
few Mutations. The Level Structure featured in the title would’ve
been rather interesting, had it been given a little more thought.
Every Level you play is mapped on a scaling DNA chain, with the
harder  Levels at the top, and display Iceman on the left, Wolverine
in the middle and Nightcrawler on the right. However, you cannot
simply play through as one character, coming back to do Levels for
the others later – there are many strands in the chain at which
the game simply will not allow you to progress until all
previous Levels have been completed – even if you’ve reached
that point in the story with one character.
X-Men III: The Official Game is very disappointing
graphically. Offering a distinctly average and very grey
presentation for the best part, it’s only the later Levels
featuring Nightcrawler and Iceman that show any proof of effort
being put into design. Although the visuals are distinctly
Current-Generation, it’s incredibly disappointing that the game
has undergone no update, whatsoever, for its Next-Generation
followers. Another Activision release, akin to Tony Hawk’s
American Wasteland, that doesn’t even attempt to try.
X-Men III: The Official Game may be a disappointment
to gamers, but to X-Men fans – and that’s hardcore fans
– it’ll be a pleasing attempt to bring the small book to the big
screen and onto the home console. There’s been countless better
releases featuring the X-Men but, here too, there’s also
been countless worse. While never really excelling, X-Men III:
The Official Game is more than confident to rest on its laurels,
and sell to the average gamer, as an average game.
 
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