X-Men: The Official Game

 PlayStation 2
Metascore
52

Mixed or average reviews - based on 44 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 44
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 44
  3. Negative: 14 out of 44
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  1. GamePro
    45
    Thanks to some horribly generic gameplay and uninspired combat, it ends up continuing the disappointing trend of movie license video games.
  2. Game Revolution
    42
    This caught-between-generations game manages to just barely clear graphical obstacles and shallow depth by introducing some simple, fun game mechanics.
  3. GameSpy
    40
    Perhaps the worst offense of all would have to be Wolverine. Not only has Z-Axis managed to take everyone's favorite adamantium-infused Canadian wildman and turn him into possibly the most boring hero ever, they've pinned a sizable majority of the action upon playing as him. Boring, you say? Yes.
  5. Yahoo!
    40
    Like many games of this style, there is some vague, half-guilty pleasure in the mechanical repetitiveness of the game's combat. But ultimately, X-Men is in the time-honored tradition of licensed games -- rushed, derivative, and well worth avoiding.
  6. Game Informer
    40
    Unless you despise the X-Men movies and simply want more ammo that can be used to insult your friends, I strongly advise that you avoid this game like you would a French kissing toad. [July 2006, p.104]
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  7. Jolt Online Gaming UK
    39
    As it is, X-Men: The Official Game is “officially” a horse’s turd of an experience that’s approximately as painful as Wolverine’s claws inadvertently sliding out while he’s wiping his arse.
  8. Electronic Gaming Monthly
    38
    The play-style variety may be decent--and you get to upgrade abilities--but each character's level sets grow horribly repetitive and pointless, with stingy checkpoint placement compounding the frustration [July 2006, p.91]
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  9. Play Magazine
    35
    X-Men: The Official Game is pretty awful. [July 2006, p.71]
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  10. Gaming Age
    33
    While the voice work is fine, the whole thing just comes off as so low rent, it’s hard to take it seriously. It’s a shame too because the filler story isn’t that bad.
  11. Play UK
    32
    This game is ass; don't buy it. Don't even rent it. [Issue 141, p.106]
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  12. VideoGamer
    30
    The idea of giving the player three fairly unique characters to play as is good one, but the game design verges on plain stupid at times.
  13. Edge Magazine
    30
    Had The Official Game provided a consistent overall challenge, it would have been bearable, if unexciting. But it hasn’t, and it isn’t. [July 2006, p.88]
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  14. games(TM)
    30
    When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word ‘dross’ rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]
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  15. Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK
    30
    Uninspired action, laughable cinematics and repetitive action make this the summer blockbuster tie-in to avoid. [July 2006, p.88]
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Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2006

User Reviews

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 22
  3. Negative: 5 out of 22
  1. hiltong55
    Mar 22, 2017
    3
    You know your playing a bad game when after each mission you find yourself hoping that it is the last (but you know its not because theYou know your playing a bad game when after each mission you find yourself hoping that it is the last (but you know its not because the mission menu tells you exactly how many more you have). That is how I felt for the several weeks and short segments of game play it took to finish this unimaginative bore of a game. The story takes place between the X2 and X3 movies and your mission is to stop HYDRA from releasing sentinels that are capable of destroying humanity or something along those lines. The biggest problem with the story is that they try to present in comic book form in conjunction with very dull sounding voice overs. It really did not get me into the story therefor I found myself playing through mission without really knowing or caring why. You get to play with 3 of the X-Men (Wolverine, Ice Man and Nightcrawler) all with individual linear missions. To the games credit all 3 characters mechanics and move sets are fairly accurate and distinct to their respective character but suffer from balancing issues in terms of level of enjoyment. Wolverine is pretty much what you would expect. A lot of button mashing close combat attacks with a rage mode special that makes you heal and attack faster with more power. Other than a fairly challenging final mission his story is not very memorable. Ice Man surfs on Ice to move around and throws Ice Beams as an attack. I found the Ice Man missions to be the most difficult mostly due to frustrating controls and confusing mission objectives. I was happy to be done with him. The one saving grace of the game is the Nightcrawler missions which are made somewhat fun due to his controls and abilities. Nightcrawler's transporting ability allows you to move quickly from enemy to enemy and place to place fairly easily and accurately. You can hop on the backs of enemies and beat them down so quickly that the IA has difficulty responding at times. This makes the Nightcrawler mission fun and have fairly authentic feeling to them but are by far the easiest. The in game music is entirely forgettable.

    There is nothing more to say about this game other than it is a prime example to me of a movie game cash in. The whole game just felt really lazy but not so bad that to the point of unplayable. The few good things I can say about the game is at least a portion of the game was somewhat challenging, but not much and not always for good reasons. The game also answered one of questions I had in the X-Men movie series. What the hell happened to Nightcrawler?    … Full Review »
  2. The_D4RknesS
    Aug 9, 2023
    6
    Just a generic beat em up game but I still give it a 6 because the graphics are nice and the gameplay is cool especially with the blueJust a generic beat em up game but I still give it a 6 because the graphics are nice and the gameplay is cool especially with the blue creature that has a tail (don't know his name)… Full Review »
  3. aspentitan
    Oct 21, 2020
    7
    Debatable whether this is 6/10 or 7/10 but I guess that doesn't really matter. I found the game to be reasonable presentation but nothingDebatable whether this is 6/10 or 7/10 but I guess that doesn't really matter. I found the game to be reasonable presentation but nothing spectacular. There are enjoyable aspects of this game but for me too many of the missions were monotonous fetch quests that do not make you feel the tension and excitement the game could have showcased with the exact same characters. What is good is you have 3 playable characters all with different controls and voice acting done by original members of the movie. If you are a fan of the movies I could see one liking this game. Unfortunately with most movie based games I think the software designers always make the same huge game design errors, and that is to presume the game is an entry/gateway in video games coming from the movie and so they are designed extremely simple which explains my turnoff. I think fans want the opposite they love the movies and characters and want a more hardcore experience with cool moves and hectic gameplay. This game as most movie games is unfortunately the very opposite what was necessary for this game to be lovingly admired even casual fans of video games are feeling insulted. I wish more movie based games would go all in and quit trying to lure movie fans into game cuz it's never gonna be the proper draw to a successfully selling game. Make a super great game and all gamers will flock to it. What can we say, another playable game with players wanting more and better, as usual. One other thing not mentioned in many reviews is that this game has some rpg elements. You can upgrade your skills and customize the gameplay after every successful mission and further mutate your characters skills. Overall this game is more fun than ratings suggest but I opted out not finishing because of the low complexity game design just sending me here and there and wasting my time with unfun puzzles.… Full Review »
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