NYCC 09: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Q&A
"This is a kick-ass action game to start, and on top of it, we've got Wolverine."
February 6, 2009 - It's pretty hard to talk to Dan Vondrak and not get excited about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the game he's project lead on for Raven Software. Sure, most developers are into their titles and enjoy talking about their work, but when Vondrak's got the controller in his hand and is gutting bad guys as Logan, you can tell he's having a great time as he peppers conversation with terms such as "badass" and talks about bullets tearing apart his main characters flesh.
Still, X-men Origins: Wolverine is a movie game. There's no way it can be good, right? Although it's early, that doesn't seem to be the case from my hands-on time. The game's bloody, violent, and has the voices from the movie. Still, no one gets a free pass in the IGN office, so we invited Vondrak to chat with us about his baby.
The claws came out…
IGN: Games based on movies based on comic book IPs generally suck. Does X-Men Origins: Wolverine suck? Why or why not?
Dan Vondrak: We waffled between making it suck or blow, a tough decision. Seriously though, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is going to redefine what people expect out of a movie game. It's got smooth, brutal combat with tons of moves for Wolverine, awesome action moments, tons of little details that make Wolverine who he is, and Lunge – Lunging into a group of enemies 20 feet away. Unleashing with your razor sharp claws is awesome too.
When we work on a licensed game, we know the game needs to be fun on its own, with strong core-gameplay mechanics. The license will add to a fun game, but it won't make a bad game fun and I think people can make that mistake.
IGN: What was your goal when you folks decided to make this game?
Dan Vondrak: Make the best Wolverine game ever. When we initially brainstormed we said nothing can get in our way, we can't worry about the rating or what Activision might say. We're fans of Wolverine, we knew he could be an awesome game character. So we literally said "What if someone made the best Wolverine game ever what would it be?" – and we made a list. And we agreed to do whatever it took to get that list in the game.
IGN: When Superman games get released, people roll there eyes and complain because he's too powerful or there's some kind of health bar – how do you deal with the similar problem of having a hero who can basically heal any wound?
Dan Vondrak: We tried a lot of different things to represent Wolverine's Healing Factor in the game. We tried having him not die, not having any kind of health bar, have him captured after each time he blacked out and on and on. As we were playing it ourselves (and doing focus tests) it was clear the game was more enjoyable when you had some kind of representation of your health to look at (besides how riddled with bullets holes or shotgun blasts your Wolverine character is). We came up with a system of Health vs. Vitals. When Wolverine's health is low enough, his "Vitals" are exposed and can take damage – just like when you see him in the comics, ripped to shreds and his heart and other vital organs are exposed. If your Vitals drop low enough, Wolverine loses consciousness and it's mission failure. But if you can manage to avoid damage and let your Healing Factor kick in, any Health you regenerate will protect your vitals and allow them to grow back.
IGN: How does this fit in with the movie? Are gamers playing the same things they'll see on the big screen? Is this completely separate?
Dan Vondrak: You will get the whole movie story, plus a whole lot of additional story that weaves in perfectly with the movie story. We were working on our script as the movie script was going through changes. So what we ended up with was a really well integrated story – it will seem like it was a part of the movie story that just wasn't told.
IGN: What struck me when I saw the game was all the blood. I mean, I've always known there'd be blood if you stabbed someone in the chest and then ripped your claws to the right, but here there's a lot of blood. Were there conversations leading up to that gameplay aspect? Were most people for or against it?
Dan Vondrak: There's blood in our game??? We are fans of Wolverine, we read the comics, and we wanted to be authentic to that. The only conversation we had was – if we're going to do this right, bring this gritty Wolverine to life – then let's go all the way and bring the fans something we/they should have seen a long time ago. We didn't set out to make a "bloody game" – it was all about being real to the Wolverine experience, and that just comes with the territory. Honestly, when it came up, everyone was for it, everyone was excited about it. Well, at least everyone at Raven.
IGN: Experience points are the new golden coin – every game's got them. How does XP work in Wolverine?
Dan Vondrak: I think experience points are so popular because the idea of leveling up and growing your character is so rewarding. In Wolverine, every time you kill an enemy you gain XP. Gain enough XP and you gain a level. Each level has a variety of rewards (health, skill points, unlocking moves). There's even a feature that gets unlocked at level 8 or so that allows you to gain more XP for each kill depending on how quickly you kill guys and how many different types of moves you use. The skill points you gain can be used to upgrade Wolverine's powers and skills. Oh and there's special items called "Mutagens" in the game that you can find hidden in the levels – you can equip those to Wolverine and gain special boosts.
IGN: When you level up, your shirt comes back. I don't really have a question related to that point; I just think it's worth pointing out and thanking you for. Real-time damage and healing is cool, but I don't need to see a naked Logan running around for an entire level.
Dan Vondrak: Ha, ha – yes. I never thought I'd have a reason to say " Wow when you get shot repeatedly by a group of machine gunners that really rips your shirt up fast." I remember how cool it was to see the regeneration working in game the first time -- first his muscles and organs form up around his adamantium skeleton, then the skin layer kicks in, and finally the bruise layer does it's thing. Then someone said "Umm, dude he's going to be naked all the time". And so "Happy, Fun Level-Up Clothes" was born. It's actually amazing how rewarding it feels to see the clothes come back when you level up, so it was a cool addition.
IGN: How closely did you work with the filmmakers?
Dan Vondrak: It was on and off as we needed info on the movie or we needed assets approved that dealt with the movie material. We got the script early on from Fox which was really helpful. We also visited the movie set in Australia while they were shooting. We got a chance to see a lot of the Gambit, Creed and Wolverine scenes get shot.
IGN: Are all the actors from the movie on hand to voice their characters?
Dan Vondrak: Yes, we got the actors to reprise their roles for the major characters in the title. Hugh Jackman, of course, is Wolverine. The guy was amazing to work with; we had thousands of lines for him to do and he wanted to get each one right. He really understands how important this character is to the fans – he was really into it and excited about the game. We also have Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed (a.k.a. Sabretooth) and Will I Am as John Wraith. It was awesome once we got all their voice-over into the game, really gives it the authentic feel.
IGN: Who from the Marvel Universe can we expect to pop up in this title?
Dan Vondrak: It's actually a pretty big cast of characters – the story does a great job of pulling together all this great back story explaining where Wolverine came from, what made him what he is today.
IGN: About how long will the game take the average player?
Dan Vondrak: 12-15 hours. You can also replay previous missions with your leveled up Wolverine and continue to level him up, upgrade his skills and find all the bonus items in the game.
IGN: Final question: why should people buy your game?
Dan Vondrak: Because I could use the money... oh and to experience an amazing action game that has fast, visceral combat, epic action moments, beautiful graphics, and finally experience Wolverine how he should be, badass, smartass, unstoppable all rolled into one. The combat is so satisfying; it still makes us smile playing it. I know there's a lot of people doubting it because it's a "movie game" – and the team knew that would happen. But this is a kick-ass action game to start, and on top of it, we've got Wolverine. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is going to blow away any pre-conceptions of what a movie game is. |