The Wolverine of videogames has always been a little different from the one in the comics, more so in violent approach than characterization. It's pretty standard in a Wolverine comic to see him stab someone in the head and then chop the body into bloody chunks, like a blender intended only for bad guys. Yet in games, his claws and feral sensibilities are toned down or meaningless all together. But this year's Wolverine title, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, despite being based on the upcoming film, seems to follows Wolvie's comic spirit pretty closely, with all the blood-coated claws and ripped off limbs that entails.
Our introduction to this concept came early in our time with the game, as we saw the opening cinema. Though the game proper takes place in his past, in the beginning we’re introduced to a Wolverine of now, or even years later, telling the title's story to us. But before that he has to kill a bunch a faceless goons.
The first man we see him kill with blood decorating the background. He then chops off another's arm, stabs someone else in the chest a few times more than necessary, then shoves his claws through a wall and into the head of the guy on the other side. To say we were shocked to see a Wolverine as cut-throat, literally, as the one we know on the printed page puts it lightly.
Once the actual game starts we're treated to a similar level of violence as Wolverine chops off one guy’s arm, throws another onto some spikes, then rips a guy in half. Raven, the developer, wants the combat to look and feel as satisfying to the players as it is for Logan on the screen. He has many combos built around even more gruesome dispatching, plus the ability to just dive at some enemies and stab them in the chest. It looks as if the devs, who've worked with Wolvie a few times in titles like X-Men Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, are really enjoying taking the character to such a satisfyingly bloody extreme.
