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X-Men: The Official Game

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X-Men 3: The Official Game
File:X-Men 3 PS2.jpg
Developer(s)Z-Axis, Beenox, Amaze, WayForward
Publisher(s)Activision
Platform(s)PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PC, GBA
ReleaseMay 16, 2006
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single player

X-Men 3: The Official Game is Activision's tie-in videogame to the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. The game covers the events of the films X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, specifically following the characters of Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. It also bridges the gap between the two films, explaining why Nightcrawler is not present for The Last Stand, and also introduces new foes to the X-Men film canon, such as Hydra. The game was released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube (all developed by Z-Axis), Personal computer (developed by Beenox), Game Boy Advance (developed by WayForward Technologies), Nintendo DS (developed by Amaze Entertainment) and mobile phones (developed by Marvel Mobile).

Writers

Zak Penn and Chris Claremont co-wrote the story for the game. Penn is the co-writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, and Claremont was a longtime writer of the X-Men comic books, establishing the personas for many of the "new" X-Men team, which featured then new members Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, and Wolverine. Claremont is perhaps best known for the Dark Phoenix Saga. Together, the two have woven a tale that fits in between X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand continuity.

Playable characters

Villains

  • Sabretooth (all consoles): You face Sabretooth in the game twice, the first during the training mission as Wolverine and the second also as Wolverine on the final mission of the game.
  • Lady Deathstrike (all consoles): You battle Lady Deathstrike twice; the first one is at Alkali Lake, as Wolverine, in a hurricane created by Storm, and the second one you fight her as Wolverine again in Japan, presumably killing her at the end of the mission.
  • Silver Samurai (all consoles): You fight Silver Samurai as Wolverine after defeating Lady Deathstrike the second time. You face him on the top of a building with teleporters he can use and an energy sword. You must defeat him in order to find out how to shut down the Master Mold.
  • Pyro (all consoles): You fight Pyro as Iceman, where you must put out the bonfires Pyro is creating at the Nuclear Plant and destroy his fire serpent.
  • Multiple Man (all consoles): You fight Multiple Man as Nightcrawler (assisted by Storm for the first part) when he takes over Brooklyn Bridge, with plans to blow it up.
  • Jason Stryker (all consoles)
  • Magneto (all consoles)
  • Master Mold (all consoles)
  • The Sentinels (all consoles)
  • Hydra Soldiers (all consoles)
  • Azazel and the Neyaphem
  • Juggernaut (GBA only)
  • X-23 (GBA only)
  • Mystique (GBA only)
  • Toad (GBA only)

Teammates

  • Storm: You are assisted by Storm in two missions: One in Alkali Lake with Wolverine, and the other on the Brooklyn Bridge with Nightcrawler. You do not have to worry about her health, and you can use her lightning attack once it is charged up to kill all villains on screen at the moment.
  • Colossus: You are assisted by Colossus in one mission as Nightcrawler at Alkalai lake, but must make sure he doesn't die in that mission or the one after that. He has no special attack move, but he is a good fighter and will help you eliminate the villains (as long as his health isn't too low). He's playable in the GBA version.

Gameplay

Players control the actions of several X-Men related characters, most notably Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Iceman, as they uncover a plot to eradicate mutants. Sometimes, another X-Man will help the player's character battle.

Home Consoles:

You play as one of three X-Men: Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine.

  • Wolverine's levels involve fighting hordes of soldiers, armed with weapons. He can retract his claws, but any time a button is pressed, they are extracted. Wolverine heals minor wounds, reflected as red on his Life Gauge, but when his minor wound damage empties, all wounds are considered major, taking off his actual life bar. If you stand still and press a game system-specific button, his life gauges refill until you move. Wolverine can't target lock like his allies, he can only block, which can fend off weak attacks only until it is built up. Wolverine, after he has attacked impressively for a time, builds up a Fury Bar, which when activated increases his healing rate (It is like using his Healing Button, but faster and works when moving), and his Strength. It also changes his attacks' appearances.
  • Nightcrawler's levels involve mostly stealth missions, as you run along pipes in the ceiling, and teleport. By pressing one button, you teleport to a spot with a blue flame, which is moved by looking in other directions. If you press another, and an enemy is nearby, Nightcrawler will teleport behind the enemy. By doing this and pressing the two attack buttons, Nightcrawler will use combo techniques to vanquish minor foes. In boss fights, you must teleport to the Sentinel's shoulder and wait for Mutant seeking floating machines to explode when nearby. Like Wolverine, Nightcrawler heals by holding down a button, only Nightcrawler constantly takes life gauge damage, and when he heals, it is called "Shadow Aura", a nod to the comic books (Nightcrawler becomes invisible in shadow). Like Wolverine, moving cancels Shadow Aura, and even though a clear version of himself, enemies can still clearly see his location and attack him. Nightcrawler can use the Target Lock to teleport behind and combo-attack several foes during a brawl.
  • Iceman's levels all take place as he continuously slides on his trademark ice column/slide. By pressing one button, he will do a 180 reverse. Another button makes Iceman slide faster, and another, slower. Iceman attacks are a Freeze Beam, which cools off fires and repairs structures; Ice Shield, which will cancel any damage he takes while it is "up" (it does no damage); and Hailstorm, which is his main attack, hurling several balls of ice at targets. Iceman will heal automatically as long as he doesn't incur damage for an amount of time. Using Target Lock will increase his attack power, although Target Lock will not automatically make Iceman use Freeze Beam and Hailstorm on those targets in most cases.

Mission Progress

You play character specific missions, on Novice, Hero, and Superhero (Easy, Normal, Hard) Difficulties. The harder the mission, the more Mutation Bars you earn. For example, Novice may give you one; Hero, 2; and Superhero, 3. At each mission's end, you use your newly acquired Bars to process the character's skills, making them stronger. As the game progresses, you will get fewer Mutation Bars on each level, and each character's attributes have a maximum of 5 bars. The last 2 slots cannot be filled until each character's last few levels.

Wolverine can increase Strength (damage dealt), Life Gauge (amount of damage to be taken before you lose), Fury Decay (Fury mode lasts longer), Blocking (to block more powerful attacks), and Healing (For minor and major damage healing rates).

Iceman can increase Life Gauge, Freeze Beam (Cool/Repair faster), Balance (recovery time when knocked off the Ice Slide), Hail Storm Attack, and Ice Heal (automatic healing is faster).

Nightcrawler can increase Life Gauge, Shadow Aura Cooldown (decrease the time to use his Shadow Aura healing activation), Brawling (Standing Attack damage), Precision (Jumping Attack Damage), and Teleport Attack Chain (the number of times you can press punch or kick after teleporting behind an enemy).

If Colossus is an ally, he attacks automatically. With Storm, she has a bar in the lower left corner, and the fuller the bar, the more times she can deploy a bolt of lighting to attack foes by pressing the Ally Button on the controller. For example, a 1/4th full bar may deploy one bolt, but a maximum bar will deploy 4 or 5 bolts, knocking out most enemies at once.

Storyline

Template:Cleanup fiction-as-fact Template:Spoiler

Chapter 1

The story opens with Wolverine taking out some anger issues on Jean's death, depicted in the movie, X2. Wolverine wants to do a simulation of his battle with Sabretooth on top of the Statue of Liberty (as they fought in the first X-Men film) in the Danger Room, a technological marvel that can simulate realistic events using solid holograms.

File:Storm and Wolverine against HYDRA.jpg
Storm and Wolverine fighting against HYDRA.

After nearly being defeated by the simulation Sabretooth if not for the arrival of Iceman, Logan agrees to run Iceman's training program that the still-greiving Cyclops was supposed to run him through. Nightcrawler is asked to infiltrate the remnant of William Stryker's base in Alkali Lake, and he finds out that Stryker had a backup plan to destroy mutants: Mutant Hunting Robots called Sentinels.

Working together, Storm and Wolverine find an A.I. module for a Sentinel, when agents of HYDRA, an organization of terrorists, arrive to take the remaining Sentinels to their own base. It is revealed that Hydra designed the robots for Stryker, but the current commander doesn't want them activated. In the depths of the base, Wolverine finds Hydra has a familiar agent: Lady Deathstrike, who was able to survive an apparent death in X2 after being pumped full of adamantium.

Nightcrawler and Colossus destroy the generators for Alkali Lake, and he is plagued by visions of a youthful angry Jason Stryker, who keeps reminding him that he left him to die. When Nightcrawler asks Xavier why this is happening to him, Professor X says that is probably some form of psionic residue left over, and nothing to really worry about. However, it is soon revealed that Jason is alive and well, and wants to continue his father's dream of seeing all mutants destroyed. The mentally unbalanced Jason escapes with agents of Hydra, and the Master Mold.

File:Deathstrike vs. Wolverine game.jpg
Wolverine fighting against Lady Deathstrike for the first time in the game.

Deathstrike knocks out Storm and locks her in a chest, and battles Logan in the eye of a hurricane, which Storm has created in her panic (she is revealed to be claustrophobic like her comic book counterpart). After he defeats her, Deathstrike escapes with the remnants of Hydra, remaining Sentinels, and the Master Mold (a gigantic Sentinel "factory"), Wolverine tells Storm he is going to follow, because Deathstrike is a key to his past, however small. Storm questions why he constantly leaves them behind (Wolverine is still not a full member of the X-Men, and he doesn't actually join until the events of X-Men: The Last Stand). Wolverine promises to return as he hitches a ride on her helicopter, which is going to Tokyo. Iceman, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler return to the Institue in the X-Men's jet.

Chapter 2

Iceman is told to fight Pyro, who is threatening to destroy a nuclear reactor. Iceman arrives and battles his onetime friend, who is now a member of Magneto's Brotherhood, and is using his powers to create a giant Fire Serpent. Iceman has to defeat it to save the city, and he accomplishes this task. Pyro escapes and Iceman meets up with the rest of the team, after Xavier praises his skills in the battle.

Nightcrawler and Storm face off against one man who is many: James Madrox, the Multiple Man, a terrorist who robbed several banks who wants to blow up a bridge using his army of duplicates. Nightcrawler defeats Multiple Man, and he is to go to a prison for high-powered mutant criminals. This storyline is somewhat picked up in X-Men: The Last Stand, when Magneto and his new Brotherhood free Multiple Man from the Prison Convoy.

File:Nightcrawler vs. Multiple Man.jpg
Nightcrawler fighting against Multiple Man on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Jason activates the Master Mold in Tokyo, causing the Sentinels to hunt down and capture mutants. The Sentinels begin to hunt down mutants, capturing them, and Iceman sets out to prevent this from happening, and destroys many of the Sentinels.

Wolverine inftiltrates Hydra's main base, interrupting the Silver Samurai, who tells Deathstrike she shouldn't feel dishonored by William Stryker's underhanded method of controlling her (using Jason's serum in X2). Wolverine interrupts their discussion, and Samurai runs away, leaving Wolverine to a final battle with Deathstrike. Victorious, Wolverine leaves Deathstrike to what he hopes is a real death this time when she was crushed under a pile of rubble.

Logan follows Silver Samurai to his base, who tells him that he is a mutant, and if Wolverine can defeat him in combat (the two being great warriors), he will tell Logan how to defeat the Sentinels through the Master Mold. Samurai's power is the ability to charge his sword with energy, letting it slice through nearly anything, and to channel energy blasts through it. Conquering Samurai in combat, Wolverine emerges the winner, gains the information, and tells the team how to defeat Master Mold.

Chapter 3

Xavier telepathically contacts Magneto, and asks him for help in facing the Sentinel forces. Magneto agrees to a final teamup, saying the next time, it will be as foes again. The X-Men, meanwhile, are attacked by new, towering Giant Sentinels, crashing the X-Jet and leaving Iceman to defeat the huge robots. Iceman wipes out these Sentinels, as Master Mold lurks in the distance. Magneto arrives and uses his powers of magnetism to crush the many Sentinels attacking the mutants. The temporary alliance over, Magneto sends Sabretooth (who has a healing factor, like Wolverine, and survived his fall from the Statue of Liberty) after a new recruit for his Brotherhood: Jason Stryker, whose mind control powers would be a great asset... if he can be convinced to stop hating his own kind.

File:Iceman vs. Sentinels.jpg
Iceman fighting against two Sentinels in order to destroy the Master Mold.

Arriving inside the Master Mold, Nightcrawler must disable its control center, while he is aided by a different, nice apparition of Jason Stryker, who helps point the way through the maze of the Mold's body. When he arrives at the Master Mold's command center, he finds Jason, who hates the younger "ghost" Jason, a manisfestation of his split psyche.

Wolverine arrives in the Master Mold, and Jason uses his powers to make Wolverine fight himself in a mental battle in the Weapon X Lab, to fight his own demons. Wolverine is victorious against a horde of himself, and he heads to Nightcrawler's location, in the Master Mold's head. Jason tries to get rid of Nightcrawler by entering his mind and trying to convince Kurt that he is not a mutant, but a real demon. Nightcrawler disables the Master Mold's neural net, changed by Jason to look like a demonic realm, complete with demons. Meanwhile, Iceman must destroy the Master Mold's core, so that it will be a useless machine. He takes care of it, and flees the core's destruction.

Sabretooth works his way to Wolverine and Nightcrawler's location, knocking Nightcrawler out and taking the wheelchair bound Jason, when Wolverine arrives and attacks his nemesis. The two have a vicious battle, ending with Logan throwing Sabretooth from a great height to be impaled below, and then leaving his rival to, apparently, die. Jason dies in the battle, the good part of his psyche winning, and tells Nightcrawler it is okay for him to leave him this time.

The Sentinels, Master Mold, and Jason out of the picture, the X-Men head home. Nightcrawler tells Xavier he does not want to be an X-Man, for their lives are too violent and he is a peaceful man. Xavier tells him he is always welcome in the Mansion, and Kurt leaves, explaining his absence in X-Men: The Last Stand. Xavier ponders what is in the future of the X-Men, and we go to Cyclops, who is tormented by images of Jean's home and hallucinations of her voice...

Template:Endspoiler

Cast

X-Men: The Official Game uses several voice actors from the X-Men movie franchise. From the films, returning are Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Patrick Stewart, Tyler Mane, and Eric Dane.

Storm, Colossus, Deathstrike, Jason Stryker, Pyro, Magneto, Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, and Beast are not voiced by their film counterparts.

New to the X-Movie/Game franchise are Silver Samurai, Jason's "evil" and "good" child (both are male, unlike the female in X2), and Hydra.

Voice cast

Trivia

  • Iceman, Colossus & Wolverine's costumes differ from those they wear in the film. This also applies to the costume Cyclops is wearing during the game's ending.

Reception

X-Men: The Official Game was widely bashed and called a "cash-in" to X-Men: The Last Stand by critics.[1].

In the consoles and PC, some of the problems cited were repetitive gameplay, poor enemy AI [2] and the fact that the Xbox 360 version looked similar to the other console versions (despite the better hardware)[3].

In the handhelds, the DS version was considered repetitive and hard to control[4], and the GBA version, a by-the-book platformer[5].

It was also known as being rushed.

  • [6] - GT Video Review
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