Game: "X-Men: the Official Game"

Console: PlayStation 2; also for Xbox, PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube

Developer/publisher: Z-Axis/Activision

Genre: Platform

Number of players: One to two

Rated: Teen

Premise: Take control of Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Iceman in the battle against evil mutants as well as human beings who are trying to rid Earth of mutants altogether.

Game play: After a few training missions to get familiar with each character's powers and styles, you are thrown into the story. The plot follows the comic book pretty well but doesn't have anything to do with the movie, so throw out any preconceived notions.

All three mutants have their own combos to learn, which is why the opening levels are excessively long. You can whiz through the game by button-mashing and moving the control stick at appropriate times. It takes almost no brain power to play this game, save for when you get stuck in some weird camera angle as Nightcrawler. Or when inundated with bullets while being Wolverine and have no other options other than running at the shooter head-on.

There are combos to be learned, but you're just as fine simply hitting random sequences. This game can drag on for much too long, so the stimulation might do your brain good. When the heat of battle is too much for you, all three characters have the power to regenerate (though Nightcrawler and Iceman never had such an ability in the movie, comic or TV show).

Eventually, the story branches into two sections: Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Each has a chapter, lasting three or four levels, to complete before being able to switch characters. After the initial training, Iceman doesn't come into the picture until much later and is given no real plot development.

Every level rewards you with an upgrade upon completion; higher difficulties lead to more upgrades. Also, there's the chance to collect five Weapon X tokens and a Sentinel Tech card in each stage to unlock playable costumes.

Good/bad: For what it's worth, the mutants and Professor X have the vocal talents of the actual actors: Hugh Jackman, Alan Cummings, Shawn Ashmore and Patrick Stewart. And more casual fans of the movie get an explanation of why Nightcrawler doesn't appear in it.

Tips: Take advantage of the chance to replay levels for more upgrades. This may be time consuming at first but is very rewarding when you reach later levels. Also, Wolverine's knock-back attack is very valuable when enemies surround you. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but it does give you time to set up combos and leaves your foes wide open to them.

My take: "X-Men: The Official Game" is about as unpleasant and banal as movie tie-in games can possibly get. That's a shame, because the film is quite good, and this game does it no justice. Even if you're just looking for a beat-'em-up to breeze through, pass this mess and pick up a better title.

Jeremy Castillo recently received an associate of arts degree from Windward Community College.