Insomniac is no stranger to making superhero games like Spider-Man, but with Wolverine, the veteran developer has traded its friendly neighborhood fun for something darker and far more violent. Wolverine doesn’t web up criminals and leave them for New York’s finest – no, no, he slashes, stabs, and dismembers his enemies, carving through them like a hot knife through butter.
While Marvel’s Wolverine plays a lot like the Spider-Man games, Insomniac has well and truly kept its promise about making a mature Wolverine experience, rather than the sanitised version of the character we (understandably) see in most adaptations.
It’s an important game not only for Insomniac and Sony, as it’s an exclusive for the PlayStation 5, but it’s also a test for whether the triple-A market and today’s gamers are ready to embrace a single-player Marvel game that is based on an established (but not overused) intellectual property amid a sea of competition.
Combat is repetitive, but satisfying
Wolverine is a violent delight and something that will make traditional fans of the character happy, especially when it comes to the combat. Logan can leap across the battlefield to land on unfortunate enemies before tearing into them with brutal combos. He can also parry incoming attacks from the noticeably aggressive enemies and stagger them to pull off some rather glorious takedowns.
He can also equip and upgrade a variety of special skills that spice things up and allow player to craft their preferred version of Wolverine. We won’t use the term build, as you’ll be able to unlock everything, chopping and changing at will, by the end. But it’s enough personalization to experiment and find your preferred style.
After this, however, the combat can start to feel a little bit samey. After all, there are only so many ways you can tear your enemies apart with sharp claws. The good news, though, is that even when it becomes repetitive, Wolverine’s combat never gets stale. It’s always entertaining to hack and slash an enemy to bits, and the better you get at parrying and mastering Logan’s moves, the more satisfying it’ll become.
This is especially true once you activate Logan’s rage, allowing you to bounce between foes like an unstoppable force, killing them all in quick and brutal style until the rage subsides. Now and then, Logan will be partnered with an ally, and the game will fluidly let you double-team bad guys for some even more stylish finishers.
While the combat is always fun, we do have some concerns about the game’s longevity once the credits roll. Marvel’s Wolverine is essentially a playable 15-hour movie that acts as an origin story of sorts for not just Logan, but a variety of characters who’ll one day fill the ranks of the X-Men – and the more nefarious Brotherhood of Mutants.
While most missions inevitably spiral into Wolverine slashing his way through scores of goons, there are also quiet moments where you’ll get to hang out in Logan’s snow-covered cabin, or spend some time socialising with other allied mutants like Sabretooth and Mystique.
Building a new Marvel universe on PS5
Lots of X-Men comic book characters appear, with many depicted in ways that fans may not be familiar with. There are characters here who are destined to become supervillains, but here we get to learn a little bit more about who they were before, and what drove them down the path they chose – be it good or bad. There’s a lot of fan service on display with easter eggs for eagle-eyed players, and the prospect of a shared Insomniac Marvel universe is a tantalizing thing to consider.
Naturally, Logan is suffering from amnesia and has locked his memories away behind “Nightmare Doors” that pop up in each mission. Upon completing the trial within, Logan will unlock a fragment of his memory, and this will, in turn, open up more skills to be used. So while the game is relatively linear, it pays to go exploring.
Exploration also helps Logan build his whiskey collection and find materials for crafting new suits. The whiskey bottles allow players to upgrade Logan’s skills, but the suit materials not only improve Logan’s armor but also allow for more customization options.
Some suits will be available by default; for example, the traditional yellow Wolverine spandex will be unlocked early in the game, and missions that see Logan walking around in a leather jacket or casual cowboy outfit will be unlockable from that point onwards. Other suits will be more special, and many are based on Wolverine’s movie and comic book appearances, something that will delight longtime X-Men fans.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Marvel’s Wolverine is exactly what fans of the character have been craving for a long time, offering a deliciously gory take on a comic book superhero who, let’s face it, has a rather grim superpower that lends itself well to ultra-violence.
There’s a lot of fun to be had, but we feel like the game’s linear design and repetitive combat will give the title a relatively short shelf life, even after multiple playthroughs. But if a fun blast through an expanding Marvel video game universe is what you’re looking for, then there’s a lot to love here.
Verdict 4/5
Disclosure: Sony provided a game code for the purposes of this review. The content is solely the responsibility of GamesBeat.