The X-Men have made a pretty good name for themselves in mainstream media the past few years. While at the New York Comic Con last weekend, I was one of the lucky people to catch the first look at X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the Xbox 360. And it was awesome.

The Activision booth showing Wolverine was closed to the general mass. You had to stand in line for quite some time to see the gameplay footage. Since I was press, I didn’t have to wait. Yay! The line was never short, and plenty of gamers wanted to see the game.

The gameplay footage we saw started with was Wolverine in the “not so distant future” sneaking through ruins and taking apart enemies. The developers did a great job of capturing Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine and of giving gamers and fans the true violent and gritty Wolverine. In the opening sequence, we see Wolverine slicing through his opponents and even splitting them in half. He also jammed his claws into someone’s head and through a cinder-block wall.. It was bloody and pretty cool.

When Wolverine gets hurt, you can see the damage done and watch him regenerate. There are three layers you see when he’s damaged: skin, muscles, and his bones or adamantium skeleton. The detail is brilliant, and it brings a realistic damage factor to Wolverine.

We soon see Wolverine as a younger man, riding in a helicopter. In this level, Wolverine has his bone claws. For his mission, he jumps out of the helo, and we see him plummeting to the earth. This level takes place in the jungle. He has to help his fellow soldiers and take out the enemy. Again, there is a lot of blood and a lot of violence. And this is the level Wolverine gets his lunge attack, which allows him to lunge, claws drawn, toward the enemy. We also see his feral sense ability. It highlights the enemies and things you can use. There is a variety of kill moves that give the player more than just the same kill over and over. And the game is rather fast-paced.

The graphics are great. Everything looked good and detailed. The music also matched the feel of the environment, and you could hear sounds suitable for each location. And every time Wolverine breaks out his claws and strikes, you can hear the swishing sound as he cuts through the air.

We next see Wolverine in the spillway. The floodgates have been opened, and you must maneuver Wolverine to avoid the rushing water and catch up to the bad guys. When in range, lunge Wolverine into the back of a truck and start to taking out enemies truck by truck, all while water is getting closer and closer. Sometimes the scene shows what’s ahead of you, but mostly it shows the water behind you. The effect was awesome, and it really gave you feel of how much of a badass Wolverine really is.

In the spillway, Wolverine is wearing the blue and yellow spandex costume, and you will notice that as he gets hurt, his suits take damage, too. The developers assured us that all variations of Wolverine’s costumes are unlockable and that you can play any level with the uniform of your choice. I thought this was a pretty comprehensive feature.

Although no one got to actually play the game, the developers said that all of the attacks are based on timing the buttons rather than just mashing them. The engine is the same as the Unreal 3 engine, and it looked like the Wolverine would be pretty easy to play and get used to, though.

The next footage we got to see was by far the coolest. Wolverine is at Alkali Lake. He jumps onto a helicopter that is taking off, and he starts attacking the machine while avoiding shots taken by the enemies in the helo. Here he has his adamantium claws. He slices through the tail of the helicopter as well as through the rest of the machine. It’s really a cool stage on which to fight. Once he manages to get closer to the people in the helo, he’ll attack them. For one of the guys, he tossed him into the sky. One guy catches fire and falls out of the helo. At one point, Wolverine pulls a guy through the windshield and then uses the rotating blades to chop off the guy’s head. It was brutal. But cool.

The final bit we saw was Wolverine in the Alkali Lake facility after they infused his bones with adamantium. We see him leap up and scream, and then it was over. Everyone in the booth with me seemed pleased and impressed by Wolverine. I think it’s safe to say it will be a popular game.

The developers said there will be about 12 to 15 hours of gameplay and about seven missions. It will be available for all platforms and will definitely be good for fans of the X-Men and Wolverine. I don’t at all recommend it for children because of the violence and overabundance of blood and killing. I really can’t wait to see what else the game will have to offer and what actually playing it will be like. Keep a look out for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.