So I finally received my final X-Men Origins: Wolverine review copy from Activision Tuesday afternoon, and after just playing it for a quick hour-long initial play test I felt compelled to chat about the game’s high level of violence. It’s pretty brutal. Not God of War brutal, but pretty damn close. And this really caught me off guard…and in a very good way.

With the movie rated PG-13, I didn’t even hone in on the fact that the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game are actually M-rated — now I know why those three versions were dubbed the “Uncaged Edition” while the DS, PSP, PS2 and Wii versions were rated a tamer “T” for Teen. Activision also never seemed to hype up the game’s mature style, so I just never picked up on it. I’ve poured over screenshots and not a one that I’ve seen depicts the gore that’s on display in the actual game.

From the moment the bloody opening CG sequence begins to roll, X-Men Origins: Wolverine instantly reveals itself to be a mature game that takes Wolverine’s character and powers seriously rather than being just another cash-in superhero game aimed at an all-ages demographic. Then once you actually get control of Wolverine and begin hacking enemy limbs off and body slamming them into spikes you get to see how vicious a game it truly is. There’s even this part early on where you pounce onto a helicopter, pull the pilot out and hold his head up to the propeller blade. I just didn’t expect this type of over-the-top violence from a movie tie-in game. Color me pleasantly surprised!

And you know what — all the violence aside — the game is actually ridiculously fun so far. It truly seems to be one of the rare movie games that doesn’t suck. I am very impressed.

Just wanted to share those early observations with you. Will check back in with a full review as soon as I play the game in its entirety and let you know if its visceral thrills hold up over the long haul.