Marvel's Wolverine [Review]

Games often are predictable. Not because of some conspiracy-mongering about a hidden agenda — but because the cooperative artistry behind game development often results in studios and teams with a very specific set of strengths and weaknesses that shape the imperfect-perfect art that they deliver in the end.

After a decent introduction in the first few hours, I've started to notice that Marvel's Wolverine was taking a bit too much to really begin, if that makes any sense. My relationship with Insomniac's previous games was always highlighted by their exceptional open-world design, where they can weave interesting mini-games and side stories to really bring a massive map to life. That's what I remember the most from both the first game I've played from them, 2014's Sunset Overdrive, and from the last, 2023's Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the latter being exceptional at this design.

Since the announcement of Marvel's Wolverine, it was clear to me that this was not going to be an open-world Action Adventure game like everything else both in the market and from the studio's previous output. I assumed that they were going to make a character-focused Action game, aiming for the absurdly technical, rewarding and explosive experiences of linear, replayable and 10-hour games like Bayonetta 2 and Devil May Cry 5. Instead, what Insomniac delivered is a Frankenstein of an experience: not quite actiony and not quite adventurous, on a stretched 20-hour campaign that can't quite carve its own identity.

Following some absolute trends from the current Super-Hero comic book landscape, Marvel's Wolverine is a blank slate for the whole Mutant ethos in this universe, that features famous characters but swap their origins or intentions. Without any kind of canon needed to be followed, Logan is an amnesiac that only remembers the last 30 years of his life, even though he doesn't age. Before that, he was just a feral being, without any semblance of a personality whatsoever, roaming the world like an animal. The person that saved Logan at the time is now the same person that needs saving in the first mission of this game — Nathanial Essex — so Logan's back with the team, alongside Sabretooth and Mystique, for a "last mission" to save their leader.

While the pitch for this world is good and it is a decent foundation for the mutants in this universe, the great opening act led me to believe that some characters were going to be way more important than what they actually are in the rest of the game. As the story progresses, the game blatantly stops focusing on the mutants that it introduced and the setting it created to start a more intimate story of Wolverine and this new red-haired mutant he just found: Jean Gray.

This would not necessarily be a problem, in a game called "Wolverine", to have a more intimate story focused on him, but the writing of this game failed massively in creating any kind of chemistry whatsoever between the leads. Interactions are rushed and cut to conclusions really quickly. Eventually, there is some kind of narrative explanation for this, but even considering the ending twists, the writing failed massively in making these characters themselves before their relationships, so everyone feels fake and a bit pretentious.

Still, well, I'm here to press buttons, right? A good action game can have a terrible story and I wouldn't really mind. But, then, again, it doesn't really feel that the game has started. Wolverine doesn't have access to somewhat basic abilities, that are locked behind a leveling system, and by the middle of the game, the story sure has started, but the gameplay stays lukewarm at best. This middle section of the game is the worst in its writing, also, with cringe-worthy dialogues or expositions about the past. The story gets a bit better in its conclusion, but is that really an achievement considering what was happening before? I can't really say.

Unfortunately, Marvel's Wolverine never achieved what it aimed for with its gameplay as well, delivering a gorgeous but anemic battle system that never really slashed as it should. Logan can act both in a very basic stealth (in some encounters), or brutal action, that is indeed fast and somewhat reactive, but not different enough to really be a game where I'm playing as Wolverine. With Spidey in his games, web-slinging, shooting webs and traversing around the arenas were only possible because I was playing as Spider-Man. Here, Wolverine can't really climb other than few obvious structures, can't really leap other than at very specific targets and can't really maul like one would expect him to.

Maybe the biggest aspect of Wolverine in Marvel's Wolverine gameplay is with its rage system. Doing combos make the rage gauge go up, and when it gets to its second section, Logan has an extra life at the expense of it, reaching third and maximum, most of his attacks become insta-kill for a while. This is nice, and honestly it is the only part of the character that I find it well realized in this game. Still, the simplistic gameplay can be reduced to mashing the square button and the occasional parry, so the gameplay loop isn't that unique.

While Insomniac aimed for a focused, more linear Action game, what it delivered is just an above-average experience, that isn't as iconic as playing as Batman or Spider-Man is, and not because of Wolverine as a character, but because of Insomniac's decisions on how the game is played: effectively, a simple, basic and decent action game with Wolverine as the main character. The camera can be a mess, with a problematic system to determine the target, and while the combat is somewhat decent in the open arenas, there are several fights in closed spaces, rooms etc., where the whole thing clashes with itself, resulting in a button-mashy cacophony of ideas that are always obstructed by the camera.

Instead of designing the world for Wolverine, it is just a simple, polished and gorgeous action game with a bad story that can't really highlight its characters or its systems. The production value is what makes this above average for me, as the game has a decent amount of enemy variety and my playthrough was basically free of bugs, with impressive cutscenes and presentation. But a single attack button and a parry aren't really enough for the combat, even considering the leaps that Logan can do between enemies, and the serviceable but forgettable stages – that lack any kind of mini-games, stories or activities – didn't do a thing to make his powers or presence unique.

With a rushed story that can't really live up to its characters alongside a wasted supporting cast, Marvel's Wolverine only delivered an above average experience for me. A samey, uninteresting love story full of melodrama and an action game that doesn't really have an identity other than mash square to kill grunts.

6.5/10