X-MEN Origins: Wolverine

Stryker recruits Logan and Victor to serve in Team X, his top-secret black ops unit consisting of mutants Wade "Deadpool" Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), teleporter John Wraith (Will.i.am), Bradley Bolt (Dominic Monaghan), and Fred J. Dukes, who will later become The Blob (Kevin Durand). When Team X's activities become too gruesome and morally dubious for him, Logan -- always called "Jimmy" by Victor -- quits the team, a move that pisses his brother off to no end. Flash forward a few years and Logan is living in rustic tranquility with girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Silver Fox in the comics) in Canada, where he makes an honest wage as a logger.

When former Team X members start getting killed off, Stryker tracks down Logan to warn him. But things are more than they seem -- aren't they always? -- and Wolverine is brought back into the fold to hunt down his brother after Victor attacks Kayla. Agreeing to let Stryker use him as a guinea pig in order to gain an advantage over Victor, Logan is given his adamantium skeleton and claws. With help from Wraith and a New Orleans cardshark/mutant nicknamed Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), Wolverine takes the fight to his enemies as he uncovers what Stryker is really up to.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine turns out not to be the train wreck many had expected. No, it's merely passable entertainment, undone by the same factors that bedevil so many other big genre releases: bad action direction, sloppy storytelling, and breathless pacing that sacrifices character development in favor of rushing into the next big set-piece. It's still better in many ways than X-Men: The Last Stand, but that's not saying much, is it? The story, particularly near the end, attempts to be more clever with its plot twists than it needs to be or can handle (although, in fairness to writers David Benioff and Skip Woods, they're simply taking their cues from the comics); sometimes a straightforward revenge Western is good enough.

Director Gavin Hood, a filmmaker whose strengths lie in dramas not action films, seems out of his depth here. Studio interference has long been blamed for this, but at the end of the day it's his name on the credits. The trend in recent years has been to hire non-action directors (e.g., Christopher Nolan, Ang Lee, Jon Favreau) to helm comic book movies. Even the best of those filmmakers, though, still cannot call directing action their strong suit. Many of the fight scenes here overuse wire work, a technique which had gotten tired by the time X2: X-Men United came out. Of the major set-pieces, the helicopter/motorcycle chase widely seen in the trailers and TV spots is the most inconsistent; the quality of visual effects in this sequence alone range from cool to Sci Fi Channel bad. A more effective sequence is the climactic battle waged between Wolverine, Sabretooth and Deadpool. Overall, though, the caliber of the fight scenes are not much better than those seen in Twilight, another movie made by a filmmaker better suited to helming drama than action.

The concern held by many fans that the film would be overcrowded with characters turns out to have been justified. While not as poorly handled as in X-Men: The Last Stand or Batman & Robin, Wolverine shoehorns in way too many mutants, supporting characters arbitrarily included (e.g., Blob) for no other apparent reason than to sell toys or establish spin-off films. Take Deadpool and Gambit. While Reynolds is perfectly fine as merc with a mouth Wade Wilson, he's not in the film enough to be a show stealer or even truly memorable. I can't imagine there being much demand from audiences after watching this film to see further adventures with Deadpool, which is a shame considering how devoted Reynolds has long been to the character. Taylor Kitsch initially plays Gambit as the Doc Holliday of mutants, a smart approach that unfortunately disappears almost as quickly as his southern drawl. Continuity-wise, both characters seem to be screwed out of becoming part of the X-Men films' timeline since their scenes take place in the 1970s and '80s.

Huston nicely underplays William Stryker, even when saddled with melodramatic dialogue so on-the-nose as to be laughable. Schreiber is serviceable as Sabretooth, but the story gives him a one-dimensional snarling baddie to play who would twirl his mustache if he had one. Lynn Collins is fine as Kayla, but her character is never really fleshed out. But this film obviously belongs to Jackman, who is in nearly every scene and is ultimately the only reason why the movie works to any degree. While it's nothing we haven't seen Jackman do for the last nine years, this Logan at least gets his edge back after becoming a curmudgeonly father figure in X-Men 3.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a love it-or-hate it kind of movie. It has its moments, but it's ultimately a by-the-numbers tale that will leave you feeling ambivalent about it and the prospect of any future X-Men films. Perhaps a more extreme reaction (good or bad) would have suggested a more interesting film.

Grand Theft Auto IV PS3

There are two ways to play a “Grand Theft Auto” game: following the rules or not following them.

On Wednesday morning at the headquarters of Rockstar Games, we took Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers in hand and spent two hours with “Grand Theft Auto IV,” trying both. The result: a better understanding of what “GTA” rendered on cutting-edge video game hardware feels like and how it might impact fans and nonfans of the series in a whole new way.

“Grand Theft Auto IV” is only six weeks away from release, but only recently have the developers at Rockstar let reporters get their hands on the game. During MTV News’ session, we explored the depths of the game’s missions and the randomness of simulated city life that makes every tour of a Rockstar gaming metropolis a sandstorm of surprises.

We flew helicopters, we returned an in-game text message on our cell phone, we crashed lots of cars, we wondered if the game’s version of the Statue of Liberty was supposed to look like Hillary Clinton (not intentional, Rockstar says), and we earned a five-star wanted rating on the series’ newly expanded six-star police-alertness meter.

First we followed rules, or at least tried to. A Rockstar rep working the MTV News demo turned the lights out and loaded a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game, displaying it on a large flat-panel TV. He used a developer cheat to warp the game’s protagonist, immigrant Niko Bellic, to a mission called “Jamaican Heat.” This mission is available early in the game and involves Bellic escorting a gun dealing Rastafarian named Little Jacob to a drug deal gone bad.

These “GTA” games are certainly still not for kids. Little Jacob names the drugs he likes. The game’s improved aiming controls offer smooth, precise techniques for shooting enemies in any body part. The radio stations still lampoon current events and skewer sacred cows. As ever, “GTA” is a crime story, unapologetically profane, irreverently sarcastic.

Following the rules had us pursuing a few more “GTA IV” missions, one involving a shoot-out in a brownstone in the game’s stand-in for Brooklyn, another a shoot-out at a dock, and another that wasn’t a shoot-out. This last mission, named “Call and Collect,” featured Niko helping a dirty cop by shaking down a blackmailer. We did this � almost � without firing a shot, relying instead on the power of cell phone technology. The blackmailer was hanging out near a fountain in a small park, though the game didn’t indicate exactly which person milling about in that area was him. Instead, Niko received a text message on his ever-available cell phone. With a few presses of the controller, we could call the texted number, causing the blackmailer’s phone to ring. Once the call commenced, the goal was to walk Niko through a crowd of people, looking and listening for someone talking on their cell phone. We heard him first and eventually stood face to face, with Niko’s and the blackmailer’s phones to their ears, their voices echoing through the phones and the virtual thin air. The blackmailer almost ran. Niko’s gun stopped him. And then Niko ran from the cops. Mission just about complete.

While we followed the rules of these missions, it became clear that Rockstar has tried to make “GTA IV” feel like less of a video game, a change that will likely excite fans and further horrify the series’ critics. Shooting a policeman, a criminal or a civilian will cause them to tumble with convincing physics. Shot people look hurt. Cars handle more realistically and more distinctly, depending on the type, making driving feel more true to life. The improved physics and animation make the game feel more real, the player’s actions more fraught with consequence. We stole a car, tried to evade police and fishtailed through an innocent crowd. Our car was damaged. The cops swarmed. And so while trying to drive up a hill, our vehicle simply stalled. The police won that one. When we stole a motorcycle in another mission, we were arrested immediately, without a shot being fired.

“GTA IV” has been designed with the intention to strip away a lot of its predecessors’ video-gameness. Extra guns and health packs don’t float a few inches above the ground, waiting to be walked through. They lie on flat surfaces, waiting to be picked up. A Rockstar rep told MTV News that the developers didn’t even want those found items to glow, as they do now, because that’s not realistic. But a concession was made so players could more easily identify what they could and should try to grab in this world.

“GTA IV” felt less like a video game because there is no “Mission Complete” graphical flourish as there had been in old games, just a brief instrumental riff to indicate a job’s successful finish. Icons in the upper-right corner of the screen still display the player’s equipped weapon and money, but they are reduced in size, subdued to blacks, grays and whites, doing as little as possible to distract the player’s eyes.

In its missions, the game feels less like a game and more like interactive drama. It’s a playable crime story, doing what it feels it should. Get in a car and the GPS system maps you to a destination � and, if you’re in the right car or turn the option on in the game’s pause menu, it talks you there as well. There’s less getting lost, less struggling with the controls, less frustration, at least as judged by a two-hour session.

When the game still feels like a game, however, is when the rules aren’t followed. That’s the way that so many people play “GTA,” when the games become a glorified “Pac-Man,” a sandbox for mayhem or interactive Keystone Cops-style slapstick, pick your metaphor. The Rockstar rep had suggested the missions but humored our dalliances, which broke any illusions of this being completely hard-boiled fiction. We spotted an old roller-coaster and sprinted to its crest, then tumbled down its steepest drop. We sprinted on foot uncommonly fast, tiring less quickly than “San Andreas”‘ protagonist CJ, feeling like a bit of a superman. We took a helicopter for a joyride, in this case, in the PS3 build, traversing the city with haste, thrusting with the R2 button, rudder-turning with L1 and R1. The scenery was viewable from an optional in-cockpit, first-person view, the densely detailed Liberty City rolling by so quickly underneath that it’s little wonder that the private jets parked at the game’s airport are not usable. They’d be too fast for this game’s amount of real estate. Mostly we used the helicopter to land on skyscrapers and in busy intersections, the rotor blades magically hurting no one � not the least of whom Niko, despite what would probably be classified as hard landings. This is not the way a real world would work, and that’s a good thing.

Off its rails, the game can be cartoonish. We stood Niko at the foot of Liberty City’s Statue of Happiness and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the statue, sending tourists fleeing and denting the statue not a bit. A tourist had dropped a jug of milk and a loaf of bread. A policeman, sensing cause for alarm, approached and dodged a few shots of the RPG right in his direction. He had a gut but was nimble, and he had a backup fleet of choppers and, across the waterway, armored vans and SWAT teams to back him up, an imbalanced cartoon dynamic of cops vs. robber that saw justice again prevail.

As absurd as some of the moments in our session with the game could be, though, it was clear that “GTA IV” presents a more convincing world than its predecessors did. It presents a place less riddled with imperfect game design and awkward controls, replaced with improved technology and handling. The game lets the content � not the struggle to maneuver through that content � arrest the player’s attention. It’s a realer “GTA.” Is it also a game? Of course. Is it still “just” a game? That depends on your perspective and what your hopes are for how something like this might impact those who play it.

“GTA IV” will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.

(On a more personal note to Rockstar: Our subways in the real New York City aren’t dingy and graffiti-covered anymore. And the building where this story was filed houses MTV, not Music Entertainment TV, aka Me TV. What exactly is “GTA IV” trying to imply?)

It's a brutal ride for almost everyone in Niko's journey from off the boat yokel to mass murderer, but what is the Grand Theft Auto IV experience like for the player?

Loved
It's A Hell Of A Story: Niko's life in Liberty City is violent, tragic and enthralling. Rockstar North's ability to make the player emotionally invest in GTA IV's characters is a rare achievement—and this is one aspect of the game that the team came close to perfecting. Outside of a handful of either slightly annoying or forgettable cast members, GTA IV's supporting players are as much of a draw as firing RPGs at a car filled with Russian gangsters then fleeing from the LCPD at high speeds in a Turismo.

You Belong To The City: The level of detail packed in to every aspect of Liberty City's boroughs is simply astounding. On a micro level, seeing the neighborhood change from industrial to residential, from posh to sketchy, is impressive. Taking a macro perspective of whole islands during a leisurely helicopter flight can be awe-inspiring.

Shooting The Shit: Combat works. With a free-look option for targeting whomever your want to be on the receiving end of a bullet and a lock-on reticule for quick, dirty, accurate gunplay, ventilating lowlifes is precise and almost entirely free of frustration. That Niko can pull off headshots with analog precision is something I wish I'd learned to perfect earlier in the game. That said, trying to shoot out someone's tires with any accuracy while doing 90 MPH on a motorcycle isn't handed to you on a plate. Trying to shoot while driving can be frustrating—especially when the mechanism for switching weapons is remapped—but sensitivity options certainly help.

Friends With Benefits: You may occasionally grow weary of fending off friendly invitations to go for a drink or a trip to one of the cities fine gentleman's clubs while you're busy trying to recover someone's heroin, but cultivating friendships is more beneficial than not. The pay off—helpful nurses, gun running buddies, posses on demand—make your life in Liberty City much easier.

Driving Mr. Bellic: With two solid dedicated online racing modes and a slew of street dragging side missions, Rockstar had to get driving right. It did. Pulling off bad-ass parking brake U-turns is oh so satisfying. GTA Race—think Mario Kart with RPGs instead of koopa shells—is a better effort than many dedicated driving games. GPS directions are very, very welcome.

Multiplayer: GTA IV's fifteen multiplayer modes, each with a host of options, could have easily comprised a standalone release. Simple Deathmatch is fun, but playing it on Happiness Island with nothing but rocket launchers and knives makes it shine. Team-based modes, like Cops 'n' Crooks and Team Mafiya, elevate multiplayer from simple fragfest to strategic, frenetic car-jacking fun.

The Extras: Watch hours of television. Take on challenging assassination missions. Perfect your darts game. Shoot the flying rats—all 200 of them. Establish new friendships. Go on dates. Surf the Web. Stunt jump! When you're done with GTA IV's main story, you'll have plenty of fun just messing about. We were amazed to find how much there is to do.

Radio, Radio: So many guilty pleasures: Q Lazarus, Genesis, Godley & Creme. Some new favorites: The Boggs, Justice, Boys Noize. Talk radio is genuinely funny and ad spots provide hilarious social commentary.

Hated
Some Characters And Plot Threads Fall Flat: One of the characters, who is intended to have an impact on the later portion of the game, is hard to care about on the level that Rockstar asks of the player. Some of the end-game relationships simply don't carry the same weight of those established in the first half, making it hard to be invested in some of the drama and can ultimately make one of the final chapters feel forced.

Some Missions Are Maddening: Of the 155 missions I attempted, 64 ended in failure. That's fine, but some seem impossible on the first attempt and others come close to resulting in thrown controllers. Missions are quick to restart, but by your third or fourth attempt of The Snow Storm, you may be looking for a Rockstar dev online to kill. There's not much in the way of mission filler, but some jobs are definitely more memorable than others.

Grand Theft Auto IV is a powerful game. After blazing through the core story line, having made certain decisions that affected how the narrative played out, I longed to return to the world to experience what I had missed. I recall watching every one of the game's trailers after completing it, reminiscing about GTA IV's tragic, colorful yarn. It's a hell of an accomplishment on many levels. Graphically, it's not as pretty as some other PS3 or 360 offerings—to which it will be unfairly compared—but what it may lack in pixel pushing performance, it makes up for in visual design. Using the cell phone as an interface for maintaining relationships, seemingly a minor thing, is brilliant.

Sandbox-style, ultra-violent games like Grand Theft Auto aren't typically my thing, but GTA IV has made me a fan. A fanboy. Rockstar North has addressed virtually every single one of my personal hang ups about the series, crafting one of the most memorable experiences in gaming. We hate to gush, but it's just that good. Flawless? No. But it's about as close to a game can come to being perfect.

Grand Theft Auto IV was developed by Rockstar North, published by Rockstar Games and is due to be released on April 29. Retails for $59.99 to $89.99 USD. Available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Played single player campaign to completion on PlayStation 3, played additional single player campaign portions on Xbox 360 and tested each online multi-player mode on Xbox 360. Total game progress on first completion was 65.67%, with 94 missions completed over the course of 35 hours.

GTA4 Walkthrough, click here

This Is Vegas

When a powerful businessman begins turning Vegas into a family-friendly tourist trap, you must start your own powerful empire and resurrect the famous adult playground. Party hard at the hottest clubs to make VIP connections. Grow your bankroll by hitting high stakes tables. Race the fastest cars on the underground circuit to raise your reputation. Fight off enemies with fists and firearms to prove your strength. Where you go and what you do is your call whether counting cards, seducing dangerous women, cruising the strip or starting bar brawls, there’s lots of excitement on the way to the top.

Some people think Vegas is a Mecca for pleasure. Me, I'm the archetypal misery guts. Honestly, this - home to Midway Gamers Day - is my worst nightmare. Being greeted by a giant video wall blaring out a montage of Cher classics. The sight of perma-tanned plastic surgery dreamboat Barry Manilow spread eagle across a 100-foot billboard. In a place where the prolonged absence of Siegfried and Roy is sincerely mourned, you already know that a game called This is Vegas is going to be the most random collection of ideas possible.

It is, Midway says, "Openworld evolved", as well as "glitzy, indulgent and outrageous...a believable simulated Vegas" with the "tone and style of a Will Ferrell movie" that's "all about materialism" where you "gamble, race, party and fight" in a place where squirting tits with a soda gun and punching guys ten feet up into the air with your Buzz Bomb special move is standard-issue. This, dear reader, is Vegas, and don't you forget it.

In development over at Surreal's Seattle studio for the past three years, the premise is that you've "gotten off the bus with fifty bucks in your back pocket" on a mission to make sure Vegas isn't turned into a "family-friendly tourist trap" by a fast-food entrepreneur Preston Boyer. Presumably by squirting soda over lovely breasts and dancing like a loon. Somewhere, at some point, this probably all made sense. Probably at 4.30am after 12 double-vodkas.

It was only after examining CCTV footage of his defeat that Gary realised he'd been beaten by a ghost. Spooky and humiliating.

In what looks more akin to a hedonistic Sims than Swingers-inspired GTA, we're given a whistle-stop tour around some of the key elements of the game. Executive producer Alan Patmore beams that the game is built around the idea of creating "Vegas moments" with your adventures: "It's like when your buddy goes to a bachelor party and tells this wild story," he says. What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas: a game world with random over-the-top fun awaiting you around every turn.

With the greatest emphasis given over to the Party section of the game, our man enters a rather quiet-looking nightclub. Improbably dressed Jet Set Radio escapee DJ Lara handles the decks, and you can chat to her and activate a mission. Given the task of "keeping the drinks flowing and the losers out", you obligingly wander off to get the party started.

As soon as you head to the dance floor, you enter a dance-off mini-game, which mixes the combo element of Tony Hawk with the beat-matching Dance Dance Revolution. So you must pull off combos in time with the music to nail the coolest moves, and attempt more complex manoeuvres for a greater reward. Billed as "one of the most ambitious elements of the game", hitting button prompts in time with the music performs the requisite moves, such as the "Liquid Combo" Running Man, and seemingly dozens of others. The better you perform, the more strange neon effects squirt out of you, and the more curious ravers join the throng.