Business practice is just smart sometimes. You find a hot license, and you want to release a game behind it in order to pick up on the hype. I mean, seriously, would we have had a Da Vinci Code game in any way, shape or form, if Hollywood didn't release a version with Tom Hanks taking the lead? But to lean so heavily on a movie license that you forget about the actual game content at hand, that's when things start to get a little shallow. I could go off on a rant about Acclaim's licensed crap here but I'll spare you of that, saving it for a late night blog post. But to see the X-Men bow to that level...oh, boy.

And after the potential had been realized for where they fit in best, too. X-Men Legends was a game series that was working exceptionally well, I thought, especially the Rise of Apocalypse chapter that gave you control of both heroes and foes in the same game, delightfully mixing up the results each time you play. X-Men: The Official Game, Activision's latest release to coincide with the forthcoming Last Stand film, does not stride into such innovation. Instead, it's a basic action affair, putting you in control of a total of three X-Men characters as you work your way through a comic book plot concocted by Last Stand screenwriter Zak Penn and comic book cohort Chris Claremont.

Funny I should say "comic book", because, instead of taking film clips from Last Stand, the cinemas are made up of unanimated vignettes similar to that of cels from comic books, complete with non-moving close-ups of characters. This is odd. In a way it works, because it looks like they're torn right out of a comic book, but Activision then throws us a fast one and casted a lot of the actors from the film, including Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and Alan Cumming as the strange Nightcrawler. (Even stranger here is the fact Nightcrawler isn't even in Last Stand- confused yet?) So it's partly licensed from the film, and yet still strains for terrain of its own. This is probably the most interesting thing about the game.

The rest of it is made up of basic action levels taking Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler through a series of locations, working their way around different parts of the level, beating up bad guys aplenty, and then flipping switches or activating a certain something in order to get a door open. Each character has different maneuvers that are called upon to get the mission complete. Iceman slides around the level almost as if he's flying, almost Silver Surfer style. He shoots ice missiles and fires an ice beam that comes in handy for putting out fires and destroying enemies. Nightcrawler is able to teleport himself from ledge to ledge, and can also sneak up on enemies this way, taking them out with a quick attack. Wolverine does what he always does, unsheaths his claws and kicks plenty of ass with versatile slashing attacks.

Sound like fun? Well, the problem is, the game doesn't really strike any new ground in its level design. One level is made up of survival, where Wolverine has to survive wave after wave of enemies as new dangers, like cages and flames, rip up around the area. Getting through that, he moves on, only to face even MORE enemies. Nightcrawler's segments are more interesting, allowing him an almost stealth-like method of warping from pipe to pipe and sneaking up on enemies. Iceman's are typical shooter levels, but do break up the beating-up-hundreds-of-guys-on-the-ground formula a little bit. But none of this is really lying anywhere in innovation, and you run through the basics getting from point A to point B.

And frustration also comes into play due to a couple of unforseen problems. First, the healing method that the characters use is a little off the wall. Iceman can heal automatically without any given reason, and Nightcrawler has a neat little healing process where he can turn himself invisible. However, most of the time you'll be playing as Wolverine, and healing is damn near impossible because just when you think you find a safe spot, some soldiers run up and begin firing bullets like mad. Even with a full Rage meter that lets you slash through them like a bulldozer in a rain forest, you find your energy dwindled and the invincible Wolverine brought down like a common dog. Worse yet, the game has a couple of irritating bugs in it that have enemies pop up from another part of the level, inexplicably. Think you're safe? Well, boom, here come five guys that say otherwise. What the hell?

I went with the Xbox 360 version because, well, I would think that's the most advanced edition out there, right? Want to know what I got for the extra $20 I poured into it? Some slightly better detail in high-definition and a few brighter colors. Um, yeah, that's about it. The game still looks pretty nice, although we've seen this kind of level design before in other games (even some X-Men titles), and the voice acting is good for the most part, with Jackman and Cumming having some good fun with their dialogue. (I wish I could say the same for the other actors, though- Halle Berry's voiceover replacement didn't really do much for Storm.) But, really, I can't see any reason to plunk down a whopping $60 for the next-gen version unless all you have is a 360 in your room. The older versions will do just as well for you, even though the same glaring flaws seem to be present with their releases as well.

Sigh. It's a shame that X-Men: The Official Game couldn't rise better to the occasion and not rely so strongly on its license. Maybe with the control over more X-Men characters, including Juggernaut and maybe even a little Jean Grey in Phoenix mode, and some more thought put into the gameplay and level design, we would've really been getting somewhere. But, as it is, what you have here is something that'll provide a few hours of enjoyment, but nothing worthy of standing aside The Last Stand. Wolverine's claws just ain't as sharp as they used to be.