"Marvel's Wolverine": bombastic action cinema you can play yourself – with a bumpy story
After three "Spider-Man" games, PlayStation studio Insomniac is trying its hand at a new Marvel superhero. The brutal action gameplay in "Wolverine" is addictive and convincing – but the story and characters less so.
Every time Wolverine unsheathes his adamantium claws and roars into the camera like a rabid animal, my heart starts racing.
GRRRAAAAAH!!!
Source: Insomniac Games
Wolverine's battle cry heralds merciless carnage. Explosions, severed body parts, and plenty of destruction are part of everyday life in Insomniac's fourth Marvel game. The studio has succeeded perfectly with the uncompromising action – other elements in the overall overly formulaic construct, however, feel dated and out of place.
«Wolverine» takes itself way too seriously
Before I tell you about all the cool stuff I experienced in «Wolverine», I have to get something out of the way that Insomniac messed up: the story and the characters.
What is the game about? Wolverine (aka James «Logan» Howlett) was part of the mutant superhero group Team X for years under the leadership of Nathaniel Essex (aka Mister Sinister). After leaving his mutant buddies without much explanation or warning, he leads a lonely, sad life.
Wolverine, stop.
At the beginning of the game, Wolverine teams up one last time with his former Team X colleagues Mystique and Sabertooth. Their goal: to free Team X boss Essex from the clutches of business mogul and mutant hater Bolivar Trask. The villain has set himself the goal of exterminating all mutants on Earth – first and foremost Essex.
The story of the Canadian antihero is divided into three acts. The first part is all about rescuing Essex and destroying the Trask empire. After that, the story escalates – the mysterious ninja clan «The Hand» kidnaps a scientist from Team X to Japan to research ancient powers.
The final act focuses on the conflicts and rifts within the team that have opened up during the globe-spanning adventure. And it serves as an obvious ramp for future sequels and spin-offs in the «X-Men» universe.
On paper, the story reads rock solid. The problem: I often have the feeling that «Wolverine» takes itself way too seriously. Insomniac wants to tell a dark and traumatic story in the ranks of a «The Last of Us», but fails due to clunky dialogue and flat characters.
This problem is most evident in the relationship between Wolverine and Jean Grey, who joins the group during the first act. Their love affair quickly develops into a central narrative element. Too quickly.
Source: Insomniac Games
I feel zero chemistry between the two. I can't understand why this relationship even develops. It feels like something is missing – as if Insomniac had removed some parts of the game at short notice. And at the latest when the «couple» «breaks up» for a while in a contrived argument in the second act, I have to put the controller aside for a moment and take a breath. It all seems so clumsy, artificial, and unbelievable.
The other characters also suffer from similar problems. The result of this weak characterization: I don't root for them, conflicts leave me cold, and the deaths of central characters don't touch me. In short: I don't enjoy the game because of the story, but despite the story.
Speaking of characters – what is actually going on with these character designs? Why does every game character look so... uncool?
Stylistically, Insomniac has opted for a mix of realism and comic aesthetics. The result is an uninspired hodgepodge of strange facial proportions, boring hairstyles, and unimaginative costumes.
Source: Insomniac Games
And while I'm complaining – why do I have to see Debra Wilson's face and hear Troy Baker's voice in what feels like every second AAA game? I think they're both great, but at some point, enough is enough.
Killing to survive – the combat system rocks
So, let's get to the pleasant part. Insomniac did everything right with the combat system.
The brutal mass brawls perfectly capture the animalistic nature of the antihero. I know it sounds cliché, but: I feel like Wolverine when playing. Bloodthirsty, full of rage, and always on the verge of losing control.
Source: Insomniac Games
The basic controls are simple. I attack enemies with simple and heavy blows. Wolverine's ranged attacks are particularly spectacular. If an enemy is a bit further away, the little Canadian flies through the air like he's possessed by the devil and lands on him with a massive impact. Awesome.
Also cool are little gimmicks like the «hot claws». If Wolverine is near fire or lava, I can heat up his adamantium claws and deal even more damage.
Occasionally, even the indestructible Wolverine has to dodge particularly strong attacks – but I block most of them without any problems. If I parry with perfect timing, enemies stagger. I take advantage of this and start a brutal «stabbing barrage». I hammer on the controller and Wolverine pierces the enemy with his adamantium claws. One blow after another. Into the chest, through the skull, into the throat.
That feels damn satisfying. And it looks – compared to the very well-behaved «Spider-Man» games – almost ridiculously brutal.
The rage system also fits perfectly with Wolverine's animalistic nature. With every kill, I fill the rage bar. The more I collect, the stronger my attacks become.
I also need rage to reanimate Wolverine after his virtual demise. With this system, the game forces me to always go fully on the offensive – only if I kill can I survive.
Source: Insomniac Games
If I collect enough rage, the game switches to a black-and-white view. In his obsession, Wolverine blacks everything out and only sees enemies marked in red. I jump from one terrified enemy to the next and attack with critical hits. Severed arms and legs fly through the air, fountains of blood color the pale surroundings red. The more enemies I kill in this mode, the longer I stay in it. A perpetual motion machine of unbridled bloodlust.
After the tantrums, I look at the chaos I've caused. What remains are the mutilated remains of my enemies. Silent witnesses to Wolverine's uncontrollable rage. Gameplay, narrative, and character development mesh perfectly in such moments – much better than in the clunky and pseudo-profound dialogues. Great cinema!
A proven formula against boredom
«Wolverine» is a short game. After about 15 hours, I see the credits flickering across the screen. I like this compact game duration. Insomniac offers me a tightly orchestrated gaming experience with almost perfect pacing.
The variety in mission design is particularly successful. Hectic combat sequences, quiet story moments, stealth passages, epic boss fights, and spectacularly staged motorcycle rides alternate every half hour. None of these mission types are particularly groundbreaking or surprising. I've experienced all of this a million times in other AAA games and PlayStation exclusives. Nevertheless, the formula works – even if it seems a bit dusty in the year of our Lord 2026.
Source: Insomniac Games
One element that dares to break out of the formula are the so-called nightmare doors that I occasionally find. These magical portals transport Wolverine into short, high-score-based challenges. One moment I'm chillingly exploring the apartment of a superhero friend, and suddenly I find myself in a nightmare world where I'm breaking high scores with sweaty hands. Sometimes I have to run through a course as quickly as possible, sometimes defeat a certain number of enemies.
My favorite nightmares are the Gauntlets – merciless roguelike levels where I have to survive as long as possible with temporary combat modifiers. In these intense battles, the genius of the simple combat system comes into its own best.
In addition to the nightmare doors, I also find collectible items like whiskey bottles and boxes with rare materials in the levels. With these, I unlock new costumes, attacks, combos, and combat modifiers in skill trees (my favorite, parrying, restores health).
Again: seen it all before – but it works. The unlockable designs and new attacks are good enough to motivate me to take a closer look at the levels. I never have to collect much until I unlock something new, which provides a breath of fresh air in Wolverine's everyday life.
Source: Insomniac Games
I have to destroy everything!
Unlike Insomniac's «Spider-Man» games, «Wolverine» does not offer an open game world, but relatively linear levels. Good thing. Not every superhero game needs a huge open world.
The more compact game environments allow Insomniac to display an unprecedented level of detail. Particularly impressive is the ubiquitous ray tracing, which makes the game world feel more alive with reflections. Below you can see a comparison between standard ray tracing settings in «Performance Pro» mode with 60 FPS and «Advanced Raytracing» in «Fidelity Pro» mode with 30 FPS on the PS5 Pro:
Thanks to the smaller levels, Insomniac can also let off steam regarding destructible objects. While I fillet hordes of enemies with Wolverine's claws, not only body parts fly, but also countless shredded pieces of furniture through the air.
That just looks super awesome. The game environments literally invite you to cause chaos and shred everything that isn't nailed down.
In some game sections, the game throws me into semi-open areas where I can explore a bit more freely and look for collectible items. My favorite level is Shinjuku – an iconic district of Tokyo that I already know very well from the «Yakuza» games, among others.
I love how Insomniac reuses these larger game areas in different missions. At first, I only see a small part of the Japanese red-light district. Later missions then lead me deeper into new areas of the open level. This way, I travel across Shinjuku for several hours and get to know the environment – by day, by night, brawling, or completely relaxed.
Wolverine doesn't slide as well as Spider-Man
Unfortunately, the controls don't feel quite as fluid and smooth during exploration in direct comparison to Insomniac's «Spider-Man» works. A solid foundation is there – it's fun to run around with Wolverine, jump meters, and climb with his claws. The problem: I don't know where I'm allowed to use these moves.
The level design gives me strict rules about which walls I can climb, which doors I can ram, and which abysses I can jump over. In 80 percent of cases, it's clear to me what Insomniac allows me to do and what not. It's all the more frustrating in the remaining 20 percent, where I jump against a wall and Wolverine bounces off miserably, even though he could obviously climb up quite easily.
Wolverine's animations are also somewhat disappointing. Some wooden transitions between his movement sequences feel like foreign bodies compared to the otherwise fluid overall impression. This is complaining at an extremely high level – but at Insomniac, I expect nothing less than world-class in this area.
In general, the game still lacks the polish in some places that I'm otherwise used to from PlayStation releases. In one level, Wolverine gets stuck in boxes while climbing. In another section, an enemy spawns behind a wall, so I can't finish the level. And sometimes Wolverine gets stuck in his attack animation and walks through the level like a psychopathic monkey in quiet exploration scenes.
However, these glitches are nothing more than minor annoyances. Load checkpoint and everything is fine again. Furthermore: Insomniac is aware of the problems and promises improvement with timely patches.
«Marvel's Wolverine» will be released on September 15 for the PS5. The game was provided to me by Sony for testing purposes for the PS5. The screenshots in the article were, unless otherwise stated, created in the «Performance Pro» graphics mode on the PS5 Pro.
In a nutshell
Popcorn cinema by a proven formula – with a bumpy story
Pro
- simple but addictive combat system
- spectacular, brutal (!) action scenes
- clever level design with destructible environments
- fast pacing to combat boredom
Contra
- seen it all before
- uncool character design
- clumsily told story, uninteresting characters
- Traversal mechanics not entirely successful
My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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