Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PS5
Tested on: PS5
Marvel’s Wolverine – Review
It’s no secret that Marvel’s Wolverine has been one of the most hyped games of the last few months, not only because it’s developed by the same studio that brought us the recent Spider-Man games, but also because it looked absolutely brutal. With its release now being a few days ago, we were lucky enough to give the game a go and spend some time with this digitized version of Wolverine. While it did have a lot of good elements, the game didn’t end up being the next game of the year in our book.
Story
Unsurprisingly, Marvel’s Wolverine deals with the topic of humans versus mutants, where Logan, part of Team X, has rejoined the team after an absence of three years. He has joined the specialized force again now that Nathaniel Essex, the man who took him in, has been kidnapped by Bolivar Trask and his band of Reavers. Trask is obsessed with making sure the human race stays ahead of the mutants, and will stop at no lengths to come up with devious and monstrous plans to wipe out the mutant population. What originally begins as a rescue mission helmed by Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Mystique becomes something a lot more sinister.
The story is decently written, and the presentation did captivate us, but a lot of main plot points were very predictable. This is, of course, not that uncommon for a Marvel story, but we would have perhaps loved a few more original twists and surprises here. Once again, we enjoyed going along for a fairly predictable ride, but things remained fairly shallow throughout.
Graphics
Graphically, Marvel’s Wolverine is a good-looking game. The character models are impressive and respect the source material, while still also having their own unique identities. We loved the overall quality of everything, and even the small enclosed areas looked nicely designed. There was enough variety in the backdrops to also keep things interesting from start to finish. Some minor details were not always that impressive, and claw marks faded away after a while or when we started scratching up more and more walls. We did encounter quite a few clipping issues with smaller assets though. Luckily, the massive amount of blood and gore makes up for it, and it’s a nice touch to have such an adult ‘feature’ in a Marvel game. For those who are a bit more squeamish, they will be pleased to know that blood and gore can be turned off.
Sound
All in all, the sound design isn’t too bad at all. We loved the cast’s performances, and Liam McIntyre does a standout job portraying this version of Wolverine. The other cast members bring their characters to life in great ways as well, but we did notice some awkward pauses in some of the dialogue, and the writing isn’t always that amazing. Even so, we found the overall quality on par with a lot of other Marvel productions. The supporting soundtrack was also great and always matched the on-screen action. The sound effects were of high quality, and we quite enjoyed hearing Wolverine’s claws rip and tear enemies apart.
Gameplay
Marvel’s Wolverine is a linear hack-and-slash game with a heavy focus on its story. While probably still classified as an action-adventure game, we felt it was closer to a hack-and-slash experience due to the nature of the combat in the game. You’ll often find yourself going from one group of enemies to the next, hacking them into little pieces while you build up your rage. The game is really straightforward, and it has different difficulty settings to choose from, catering to different kinds of gamers. If you want, you can even opt for a mode where you cannot die, making it a lot easier to just focus on the story. As stated earlier, the game is linear, and you’ll go from one zone to the next without too much freedom. We didn’t mind this at all, and it was refreshing to see that the game didn’t have too much padding (we’ll get into this below).
Even though the combat is visually impressive and even finishing moves looked cool the hundredth time we saw them, it becomes rather dull. You’ll mainly be spamming your square button, with a few other buttons thrown in to activate a special skill or to jump towards your enemies. Don’t get us wrong, though, as the combat was still quite satisfying, especially when you learn how to time your parries right; it just felt like we were going through the same motions over and over again. That being said, in some of Marvel’s Wolverine’s battles, especially ‘boss battles’, the game shows us a glimpse of how diverse and entertaining fighting with Logan’s abilities could have been. As you progress, there are luckily some upgrades, but even later in the game we found ourselves just spamming the square button to deal with hordes of grunts.
There is some extra content to be found by looking for all collectibles and completing the challenges that lie behind the Nightmare Doors, but it often just feels like padding. We did like the challenges as a whole, but it was clear that these were added just to add a bit of variety in an otherwise linear experience. If you don’t care too much about completing the Nightmare Doors or you’re not a fan of collectibles, you’ll probably see everything Marvel’s Wolverine has to offer in roughly fifteen hours. We don’t mind a slightly shorter game, as it prevents a lot of titles from growing stale or overstaying their welcome. In the case of Wolverine, we also feel the game should not have been any longer.
Conclusion
Marvel’s Wolverine was an enjoyable, albeit shallow experience that could have been much more than it currently is. The game impresses with its visuals, and even the narrative hits the right notes, but the gameplay elements sometimes fell a bit flat. The combat eventually became rather repetitive and basic, and some segments of the game felt rather unfinished. For a title that underwent such a long production time, we expected a lot more. That being said, if you’re a fan of Marvel as a whole, and you’re looking for a rather brainless experience, you could do far worse than Marvel’s Wolverine.
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