New Screens & Impressions of Wolverine

Wolverine tears through the jungle, exiting sweaty and shirtless.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the multi-platform title releasing later this year, has received a lot of publicity -- not just because it's tied to the origin-story movie, but because it might be one of the few film-to-game conversions that isn't absolutely terrible. Activision came by the office last week to drop off some screens (which you can check out by clicking the picture above) and to let me try the first level of the game.

For starters, the game is violent. Wolverine's adamantium claws slice through his foes' flesh like they're walking sticks of warm butter. And, as you'd expect after killing a few waves of enemies, the battlefield is littered with limbs and rolling heads. But your enemies aren't the only ones who spill buckets of blood -- true to his comic persona, Wolverine is able to regenerate body parts (and his health meter) as he takes damage. Getting shot may leave a gaping hole in your stomach, but it fills in almost immediately. You clothes, on the other hand, don't come back. Even though I started out my playthrough fully clothed, the first stage quickly escalated into Lost-levels of shirtless jungle exploring.