Retractable, foot-long Adamantium claws shooting from your knuckles is a cool trick. With half the OXM team currently dosed up on antibiotics, a nifty self-healing ability could also come in handy. Unbreakable bones? Well go on then, if you insist. But we'll pass on the enhanced senses, thanks - nobody really wants to smell Ben's fear.

And so the shopping list of special abilities introduces another superhero to Xbox. After a cameo appearance in sluggish beat-'em-up X-Men: The Next Dimension, Wolverine - the character that resembles a sordid dalliance between a hairy trucker and Freddy Krueger - grabs centre stage in his first solo Xbox outing, X-Men 2: Wolverine's Revenge.

But rather than opting for the standard superhero beat-'em-up shenanigans found in the likes of the previous X-Men title, Wolverine's Revenge offers the chance to maximise the hairy one's abilities through exploring a scrolling action/stealth game. But before memories come flooding back of recent licence disappointments such as Dark Angel, relax - Wolverine's Revenge is a breed apart.

So why is the grizzly fella out for revenge? Well, apart from needing to hunt down his hairdresser (he's got bigger sideburns than Supergrass), Wolverine has to find a cure for a mysterious virus that's been dormant in his system for years but has suddenly become active and given him 48 hours to find an antidote.

The action is often of the 'beat the bad guys and find the exit' variety, but it's the manner and method you choose to dispatch the opponents that makes this game a little different from the endless conveyor belt of similar titles available. For a start, you have the rather cool mutant sense mode. With a squeeze of the Left trigger the screen turns a radioactive orange (which represents thermal imaging), producing an almost cel-shaded effect that allows you to detect the scent trails of enemies - you don't have to be seen in order to strike. You can also spot hidden traps and objects (vital when negotiating a booby-trapped room) and unleash a different array of attacks via a stealth attack. The change in style helps take the level of mayhem down a notch or two from carnage to controlled aggression and does an admirable job of fluctuating the pace of the game.

The attack system is similar to Dead To Rights. You have your basic single-button punches and kicks, and if enough of them are thrown together successfully a strike message appears. This allows you to hit the B button and begin an automated killing bonanza. There are four special strikes available and further attacks can be unlocked depending on the number of stealth kills you perform.

Die-hard fight fans will no doubt sneer at the simplistic combat system, but for the nature of this mainstream action romp it works well. The style enables casual gamers to see some pretty spectacular kills without needing to do button gymnastics, while still allowing greater sophistication for players that want to unlock every strike sequence. These become increasingly harder to perform due to the number of buttons that must be pressed.

The action isn't all about mindless baddies following you around a map either. The developers have come up with more than a few interesting twists to keep the game fresh. One level will find you needing to beat soldiers senseless before hoisting them above your head and feeding them to an invincible mutant (Wendigo) that's blocking your path. To counter, another mission will involve you using all your stealth abilities to pass through an area undetected before having to find your way through a pitch-black mine. The imagination gland of the game designers has at least been lightly tickled allowing for a more enjoyable experience than the usual mundane 'punch and run' style action games.

With no difficulty setting, some of the action (especially the various bosses) has an old-skool trial and error feel about it that can often result in our tough-as-nails superhero dying a little more frequently than one would have hoped. The control can also be a bit hit and miss. Your opportunity to create a strike is down to split-second timing and sometimes when trying to wall hug - a la Metal Gear Solid - the controls offer a clunky response that wastes valuable seconds when needing to hide.

But these worries can be put to one side because Wolverine's Revenge doesn't pretend to have ideas above its station. It's not going to blow you away with ground-breaking design and it's probably not a game you'll be playing a year from now. But it does provide an interesting twist to a veteran genre that ultimately makes the game more enjoyable than other comparable titles. With a solid sense of control over Wolverine's abilities (even down to deciding when to unleash his claws) the game makes you behave how the character would - resulting in a better use of the X-Men licence than we've seen before. And that's all the reason you need to play it!

Power
Functional without any noteworthy elements. Graphically, it's the PS2 in a wolf's clothing.

Style
There's something strangely satisfying about hearing the sound of claws shooting from knuckles.

Immersion
The gameplay tweaks keep a traditional linear action title looking fresh.

Lifespan
You'll need more lives than a cat to get past the big bosses. Plenty of challenge and lots of levels.

Summary
Wanna feel like a superhero and tear the place to shreds? Look no further than this entertaining action title.

1. Good use of special abilities
2. Variety of action keeps it fresh
3. Intuitive combat system

1. Some controls can be sluggish
2. Visually average