Platform: PlayStation 5
Genre: Action, Superhero

While many fanboys and glazers can tell you that Insomniac Games is at their peak with the PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man game trifecta, a few others can tell you that the company has made a few duds here and there. The Resistance trilogy. Fusion/Overstrike under EA.  Ratchet: Deadlocked. Song of the Deep. It’s not a huge list thankfully, but the company is far from fallible.

You can add the new action game Marvel’s Wolverine to that list. If anything, it boggles the mind why a company known for its recent open-world action games choose to create a linear character action title that doesn’t showcase its creative strengths. Apart from the obvious paycheck and corporate obligation.

Let’s Go, Bub

Combining bits from the Marvel comics X-Men series while also adding its Insomniac-led comicverse started by Marvel’s Spider-Man, the game’s plot has Wolverine/Logan/James Howlett has you working alongside familiar names such as Sabertooth, Mystique, Jean Grey, and Nathaniel Essex as they form Team X, helping protect mutantkind from ever-invading humans hell-bent on hunting you down, led by one Bolivar Trask. If those names ring any bells to you, you’ll be pleased to know that Insomniac did alright with the game’s story. It ventures into familiar territory, and has some pacing issues closer to the end, but at least its performances from actors Liam McIntyre, Krizia Bajos, and veteran Troy Baker elevate the standard script. If anything, the portrayal of Logan here is far from the worst thing in this title. That dubious award goes to the rest of the experience.

Combat is the meat of Marvel’s Wolverine, and it does feel impressive and flashy. Fun even, with players able to do a combination of parrying, slashing with light and heavy attacks, and dodging akin to Logan’s feral nature. After a couple of hours or so however, its simplicity is laid bare and pretty soon devolves to a routine. An ultraviolent routine, sure, but one that just feels rote and monotonous within its 15 to 20 hour playthrough. Your parries may be lenient, but it’s too much in the beginner-level direction that spamming it is ideal to win in tandem with your other attacks.

The one golden rule in character action games is to make all your special moves accessible and without impediment; only have your most powerful install states be the one that needs a cooldown. Insomniac did not put this in their memo when making Marvel’s Wolverine: Logan’s best attacks are all behind a cooldown timer once used, and they do take a long while to charge up. While you do get passives and buffs along the way to mitigate those, they are only effective in the late-game, so it’s a too little, too late deal. Adding cooldown timers to special moves that are integral to a guy like Logan is the equivalent of giving cooldowns to Dante’s Stinger, Million Stabs, and High Time. More power to you if you feel like that is exciting, but action game fans who are already accustomed to high standards will just feel frustrated here.

Because of this you will be relying a lot on your regular attacks and parries, and this gets really old, really fast to the point where players can turn their brain off and go through the motions with nary a challenge or thought. It may control just fine, but your slashes and kicks just feel weightless and missing that “oomph” that other qualified character action games have. Even those from years ago in the previous generation, where that genre was thriving.

While linearity in character action games and a 10-hour-or-so playthrough time is fine and dandy, padding that all out in the game’s initial run to 17 is a sin onto itself. Adding GPS lines to target locations (they’re scent lines since Wolverine has heightened senses, but they do look like fart clouds) in pretty straightforward stages is also proof that Insomniac does not trust its audience. Even hidden items are given pings that are so obvious to the eye that you can spot them miles away, meaning that your Platinum Trophies for this just feels hollow when EVERYTHING is fed to you on a proverbial platter, without skill or senses involved.

Traversal moments are all under the game’s dictation and guiding hand: you automatically target ledges and go through the motions instead of skillfully doing so. Compare this to linear stages in the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta series that reward exploration and going off beaten paths, and the differences in quality and execution are clear as night and day.

The boss fights here, which are supposed to be standout battles and duels in a good action game, are just dull and rote. From a really unremarkable giant Sentinel battle to one-on-one duels with fan-favourites like Omega Red, they just feel like obligations that seem cool in theory, but falter in execution. It looks nice in motion, but you aren’t going to be challenged or enthralled either way.

No X-Factor Here

Insomniac Games deserves a pat on the back. Why? Because they somehow took an interesting comic character like Wolverine and put him in the most standard and milquetoast game ever imaginable.

The game’s long length just feels unjustified to the point where you question why the devs did not just make this 10 hours shorter and trim the bulls***? Though at this point in time, you wonder to yourself “Why did Insomniac make this game?”

To be fair, Marvel’s Wolverine is the latest victim of the “design by committee” action title with Insomniac doing their best to work with what they’re given. No amount of behind-the-scenes videos and marketing promos, hell, not even the plethora of comic book costumes shoved in-game can gloss over the fact that playing through Wolverine’s gritty escapades just feels less than adequate. It’s basically a functional action game you’ve played years before. Just with a better spit and shine than most titles that really deserve it. And it truly is a feast for the eyes, to say the least.

Marvel’s Wolverine is far from a terrible game. However, it’s just an action title that just plays and feels fine, disposable entertainment you’d forget after a few weeks or so with a few bright spots in storytelling here and there that show that at least its developers are trying. Given the company’s pedigree, that is the game’s biggest crime: mediocrity in an RM300 package.

Pros

• Pretty and cinematic.
• Good performances from voice actors.
• Decent story.
• Combat is entertaining for the first hour or two.

Cons

• Overall action is monotonous.
• Lacklustre boss fights.
• Doesn’t do much with its linear trappings.
• Too much handholding and “GPS” for a linear action game.

Final Score: 50/100

Review copy provided by publisher.

Marvel’s Wolverine is available on PlayStation 5 on September 15. Do note that the game’s publisher Sony & PlayStation are pushing an all-digital future without being upfront about its limits. PS5 downloads can’t be played from USB, and expanding storage requires an expensive NVMe SSD. Digital games are licenses, not true ownership. Physical discs preserve choice, competition, and ownership.