TLDR: I feel this game is an 8/10 which interestingly is pretty much where the metacritic sits. I think it’s a fair score and I think it’s a great game. I have a lot of thoughts on it though…
My History with Marvel
A little about me, I’m a mark for Marvel entertainment. I grew up reading Wolverine, X-Men and Spider-man in the late 80’s and early 90’s. My best friend and I would talk about how awesome an X-men or Spider-man movie could be with the new computer aided special effects in the late 90’s, then to our delight X-men came out in 2000, and Spider-man came out in 2001. When compared with the Spider-man movie and TV show that came out int he late 70’s, they were amazing. I’ve watched all the movies since. I loved the 2018 Spider-man game from Insomniac and the two follow-ups (Miles Morales and 2). I think it should be understood that my perspective comes from being a nearly lifelong enjoy-er of Marvel properties, with the expectations and passion that entails.
The main problem with Wolverine in the movies are that they rarely were as violent as comic. Ironically the movie producers were scared of showing graphic violence because children were the target market, so largely the character was neutered on film with a couple of exceptions (i.e. Logan and the Deadpool and Wolverine films) so the movies could make as much money as humanly possible. Doing this, it cut a huge part of the character out, though frankly Hugh Jackman did an amazing job regardless.
So now we come to the video game, not the first featuring Wolverine, or even called Wolverine. There was a game on the NES I played called Wolverine that was pretty challenging for me at the time it came out, and I struggle going back to today. However, I do still fire up the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game from 2009 because I love the combat flow in the game. The developers of the current iteration mentioned that they did not want to make the mistake most films did so Wolverine will be portrayed his gory glory.
My Review of the Game
As of this writing, I’ve gone through the campaign and have a 100% completion save, with a roughly 50% new game plus save. Here’s what I felt went well and what needs improvement with some nitpicks.
Well Done
- Graphics – Graphics in this game are beautiful. So is the design for most environments in the game. Only one didn’t knock my socks off toward the end of the game, but overall it’s a stunning game visually.
- Audio Design – I struggled with what I found more impressive, the audio design or the Graphics. The Audio design and how it incorporates channel separation between the home theater and the controller speaker, which I never enjoyed the controller speaker before this game, it works really well. How the game mechanics tie into the audio is innovative, Wolverine’s abilities (i.e. super hearing, super senses) and triggering a specific speaker is really neat.
- Game Performance – The game performed very well for me. I didn’t notice any hitching, or stuttering (except on motorcycle scenes) and I ran on a PS5 Pro with 120hz mode ‘smoothed’. It was a fantastic experience.
- The Gore – 10/10. ‘Nuff said.
- Voice Performance / Mo-cap – Liam McIntyre did a phenomenal job, his performance was nuanced which the mo-cap picked up. He was likable with flaws, he was very human. I loved the portrayal of Nathaniel Essex (Adam Driver, take note for the upcoming X-men film) from Troy Baker. Troy Baker is a masterclass in this medium and I’d be shocked if he didn’t win an award for this performance. Krizia Bajos was also very good, I’m struggling to come up with something to say other than ‘human’, but all 3 performances which carry this game were very human and not 2-dimensional. That’s a credit to both the writers as well as the performers.
- Story Development – I have a few issues in the nitpicks section here, but overall I really enjoyed the overarching story. It’s a very different take on Wolverine and Jean Gray’s relationship. I also really liked what they did with the Team X concept and how Essex ties into everything and how Insomniac played with Wolverine’s origin.
- Soundtrack / Music – I enjoyed the soundtrack and thought the composer did a great job.
- Character Dialog – I really enjoyed the interaction between Jean and Logan, as well as Logan and the rest of Team X. I have nitpicks on a couple of specifics, but overall I think this was done well.
- Combat – I vacillated between putting combat in the “well done” section and “needs improvement” section. First play through of the game I was somewhere between the combat felt ‘OK’ and ‘good’ but not great. That’s tied to issues with progression, because once you hit mid to end game the combat feels really good with the exception of the leap attack range (which is in the nitpick section). I think good combat allows you to get into a flow state, gives you options in terms of how to proceed and enables flexibility which this does very well by end game, but you don’t get to fully enjoy it unless you do new game plus.
Needs Improvement
- Level Design – Level design is 100% from a 2000’s era linear game. It has invisible walls, rigid use of traversal mechanics (meaning you can go up this wall because they want you to, but if you try to go up this other wall, you can’t… because reasons). I strongly feel the level design is one reason why the game gives a sincerely diminished sense of agency to the player. This type of level design essentially tells the player to turn off their brain and follow the line, which as of this writing is one large reason why the game is getting skewered in the court of public opinion. I personally think they go to far with the criticism, I suppose that’s sensationalism for you. What I would have liked to have seen was more of an open zone approach in the major hub areas. That would have enabled the player to do some side quests, dive more into the lore and extend the game play time a bit. Also make the traversal abilities universal, in certain areas I can understand not wanting the player to wander out of the area or getting lost, but level design has come quite a way in the last 20 years and can certainly be better than what’s landed in this great video game.
- Motorcycle Scenes – These sequences feel the most ‘half baked’, they’re where I saw the most game performance issues, cars materializing out of nowhere, cars phasing through enemies. Due to the finish quality of the sequences I’m glad they’re relatively short, but would have liked to have seen them a bit more fleshed out.
- Gameplay Progression – The combat feels OK to start, but not great. The progression system ultimately makes the combat feel great, though I feel a well designed combat progression system can feel great at the start and feel better or make you feel more powerful as you progress. Feeling great at the start doesn’t happen here.
- Bare-bones feeling / Game Length – I love the game that’s here, even though there are flaws. I’m usually the first person to say “Don’t add stuff just to add stuff, it makes a worse game” and I stand by that. Though there are characters and backstory here that could be better fleshed out or experienced in game that just isn’t. I’m sure that, as well as many other perceived flaws, is a byproduct of budget. I’m hoping, but don’t know, that the flaws I see int he story and things unexplained are cuts as a byproduct of budget as well. The game on my first play-through was about 15 hours, 20 hours to get to 100%. That’s a relatively short experience, it just feels like they left a lot on the cutting room floor and I would have liked to have seen or played more.
Nitpicks
- Nonsensical Mechanics – The unlock door mechanic when he sticks as single claw into brick which magically and automatically fully opens a door. How would that work…?
- Lady Deathstrike’s Sword – What is it, where did it come from, why is it so powerful (vague to avoid spoilers)
- Logan is too nice – I completely understand creating a level of contrast and showing Logan as something other than a dumb rage machine. I enjoy that aspect of what the writing team was doing here. I think they steered a little too far into the ‘Logan’s just a sweetheart when he’s not angry’ bit that made him seem less believably human.
- Sabertooth’s Childish Dialogue – On the whole I enjoyed the interactions between Sabertooth and Wolverine, though there are 2 lines that stood out as overly childish and not handled with literary elegance. I won’t spell it out due to spoilers.
- Leap attack needs greater range – Comparing between x-men origins wolverine and this game, the one thing x-men origins wolverine did incredibly well was combat flow. Wolverine could leap across the level, so they probably went a little too far. This game has the radius just a bit too tight that completely breaks combat flow. I’d like to see the radius extended, not to encompass the entire level, but by a 2 or 3 feet. I’m constantly in situations in combat where a soldier is juuuuuuuuuuuust out of combat range and it breaks combat flow and feels bad. I think the radius for the leap needs just a little adjustment and it would be perfect.
Wrap up
In summation I loved the game, despite the flaws. I had a great time and instead of firing up X-men Origins: Wolverine from 2009, this will be my go-to Wolverine experience.
