A first look at X-Men: The Official Movie Game

[Everlost_MI]

Xbox.IGN (http://xbox.ign.com/) has posted thier first look at X-Men: The Official Movie Game (http://xbox.ign.com/articles/685/685395p1.html) that bridges the story between the X-Men II and X-Men III movies.

Here's a bit from the article...

Legendary X-scribe Chris Claremont and X2/X3 screenwriter Zak Penn have teamed up to make the story in TOG really mean something. The newly-decorated X-Man Bobby Drake, for instance, is constantly struggling with what it means to be the newest member of a super-powered team. The always-gruff Logan...And Nightcrawler is... well, he's Nightcrawler. All three of these playable characters will have their own unique cutscenes and dialog to help tell their stories, and with an original script that's reportedly twice the size of this summer's movie draft, it should be pretty lengthy.

Now before you go back and double check to see if I really said "three playable characters," allow me to save you some time... that's exactly what was written. You see, the team at Z-Axis wanted to make a conscious effort to move away from the more familiar ensemble projects the X-Men have enjoyed in the past, and narrow its focus to keep gameplay as fresh as possible. Thoughts?

[mightbe]

The potential for good coop games have always existed with the x-men franchise. I hope this doesn't mean they're axing the multiplay.

Nothing quite compares to four grown men arguing over who has to play ice man.

XML 1&2 weren't that bad... honest.

[Spigot]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I enjoyed the XML games, so it's not as though it's impossible to make a decent X-Men game. As long as the quality of the game is a step (or 18) above the X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge game for the Xbox (shudder) then I could see myself enjoying it.

[Cupelix]

I still have mixed emotions on using other media to bridge stories between movies. When I watch X3 they still have to assume I haven't played the video game, and therefore they need to give at least some sort of explanation as to what has happened in the interim. If there is a significant number of events, it won't be sufficiently explained in the movie, which causes the movie to suffer. Conversely, if nothing really happens, the game will be irrelevant, which makes the game suffer. So while I think its cool in concept, I think it can't be executed properly.

[AntB]

X-Men Legends SUCKS. The coop is also horrible. It's incredibly drab and boring.

[Evil Avatar]

I still have mixed emotions on using other media to bridge stories between movies.

I was thinking the same thing. Why try to tie the game into the movie at all. We know that the movie doesn't have Nightcrawler, so including him in the game kind of takes you out of the movie timeframe.

[Grifter]

X-Men Legends SUCKS. The coop is also horrible. It's incredibly drab and boring.

YEAH!! And I kick puppies and eat kittens for breakfast to!! GAAARRRHH!!

But seriously I kinda agree.

This looks like it could be fun. Some of the Geometry needs a little work but all in all not bad considering it was probably developed on the PS2 then ported.

To bad we won't get a "from the ground up 360 or PS3 build"

[Stormwatcher]

I actually liked XML... Not the programming language, the XMen games.

[homunculus]

Claremont? Ugggg...

Chris Claremont is the guy who was the hot-shot quarterback in high school, and now he is middle-aged, balding, and endlessly reliving his glory days in repeat out behind his trailer. While I have plenty of respect for the guy, he hasn't written anything worth reading in years. Though I honestly hope that the game is good regardless, as I love the X-Men.

[cppcrusader]

I was thinking the same thing. Why try to tie the game into the movie at all. We know that the movie doesn't have Nightcrawler, so including him in the game kind of takes you out of the movie timeframe.

What? But I saw him in the trailer, why isn't he in the movie now?

[Cha-Ka]

I too was disappointed with both XML games. They seemed really restrictive and the "combo" weren't happening for me. I'm not saying they didn't have combos...but they utterly failed to make me fell "super" and instead made me feel like a mindless, button-mashing drone lured in by yet another shiny liscencing tie-in.

That said, I'm all for a more straightforward X3 game that lets me choose between playable characters. Now if they could just give us Ice Man's ability to make frosty ramps and set the game in a free-roaming city a'la Spider-Man 2 (PS2/Xbox) or Hulk Ultimate Destruction! I can dream, can't I?

[Savok]

XML and XML2 were good silly fun with friends blowing shit up. And come on, XML2 has Deadpool, the greatest superpowered being ever.

[Cha-Ka]

You got +2 wolverine vest.

[AntB]

XML bored my semi-beginner gamer girlfriend. And that's sad. She loved Resident Evil4 though. Here's hoping for this one.

[Jukey]

Did the last Xmen game actually make money then?

[Eric_T_Cheng]

Are they going to use the actors to do the voices? I assume they won't have the actor for Nightcrawler since he hated working on the set of X2.

[Doctor Setebos]

If you play XM:L with 4 players on a huge television, it's probably the most fun multiplayer in existence. Or at least, that's how it felt for me. But then, I have low standards.

[TrackZero]

Hrm. The possibility of playing as Iceman could be awesome. If done correctly. I hope this is an action game.

[Cupelix]

Claremont? Ugggg...

Chris Claremont is the guy who was the hot-shot quarterback in high school, and now he is middle-aged, balding, and endlessly reliving his glory days in repeat out behind his trailer. While I have plenty of respect for the guy, he hasn't written anything worth reading in years. Though I honestly hope that the game is good regardless, as I love the X-Men.

Shit, I missed that part of the news. I will officially not be buying this game now. Claremont ressurected Psylocke for the single purpose of writing stories where she must fight wearing only a bath towel (seriously), so he could jack off to the pictures once the issue was published.

[Spigot]

I still have mixed emotions on using other media to bridge stories between movies.
They tried this with the Matrix movies and look at how the sequels went over? I actually enjoyed the Matrix sequels but maybe that was because a) I didn't expect them to be a carbon copy of the first one or b) because I had watched The Animatrix and *shudder* played Enter The Matrix, so I at least had an idea at the side stories that were alluded to in the sequels.

The advantage of the X-Men over The Matrix is that we at least have a general idea of who the characters are, what they're doing and why they are acting a given way. Sure, it's different than the comics, but we're not going into the Marvel Universe cold. Same can't be said for The Matrix.

Or Star Wars: Episode 3, for that matter. You really didn't get half of what was happening to set up Ep 3 if you hadn't taken the time to watch the Clone Wars series.

As long as they keep the importance of what has happened in the game down to a dull roar, it's ok. Just have little throwaway lines to what went before so that people who did experience the game will go, "AH!" or at least have a better sense of dread/wonder when the big bad is revealed.