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MARVEL’S WOLVERINE
From: Insomniac
For: PS5
★★★+
What was that line a young gaming reviewer had drilled into his head many virtual generations ago?
Do not read anything before playing the game. Do not read anything before playing the game. Do not read anything before playing the game.
It might have been a smart idea to recall that astute advice when it came time to play Marvel’s Wolverine, the new PlayStation 5-exclusive adventure featuring the eponymous clawed superhero.
The pre-release buzz has not been kind to a game that was wildly anticipated because (a) it has a superhero in it, and (b) it comes from developers Insomniac, who knocked it out of Central Park with their magnificent Spider-Man titles.
Quickly, it seemed, the world wide internets took one look at some pre-launch graphics and clips and decided this was going to be a very, very bad game.
Too linear, they said. Unimaginative gameplay, they howled. Something something woke culture wars blah blah, they droned. Boycott Sony over their plan to get rid of discs, they changed topics.
It was all rather overpowering, to the point it was a blessed relief to play the game and discover . . . it’s not bad!
No, it’s not a great game. And no, it cannot really be compared to the Spider-Man games. But it really is what it says on the tin: an energetic superhero romp with some of the most engaging and visceral combat sequences seen in many a year.
You step into the furry shoes of Wolverine, also known as Logan, real name James Howlett, the mutant with special healing abilities, animal-like senses, a formidable protective layer and, oh yes, those insanely dangerous retractable claws.
I do not play superhero games for the story but MCU-heads will relish the back-yarn of Team X and Logan’s quest to help them find their leader, Essex, who has been captured by evil Trask Industries.
Along the way, he spends time with fellow mutants like Sabretooth and Mystique, meets a few other intriguing characters, and leaps around some spectacular locations.
There are walls to scale, Assassin’s Creed-style. There are a few collectibles and costumes and the like.
But come now, all we really care about is the combat.
This is Wolverine. A ragingly angry, intense feral bloke who can do some serious damage with those claws.
Insomniac has hardly reinvented the wheel but the combat mechanics are impressive.
Your angry boy will engage in takedowns, giant leaps and utterly satisfying, brutal, body-shredding destruction.
The level of violence is intense but not obscenely gory, and the pace of the combat is sort of busy without being too frantic — most of the time.
You parry and block and dodge and roll, of course, but the meat of the game is in the fighting.
They have struck a reasonable balance between mindless button-mashing and variable skills, and the claws-out hacking-and-slashing blends nicely with elements like kicking enemies off a wall.
During the combat, your rage meter fills, opening up all sorts of pleasing new methods to cause some carnage.
Outside the fighting, there is the ability to use Logan’s vision and scent skills for a change of pace, while there is plenty of back story and character exploration to satisfy those who love the Marvel universe.
Art and animation is impressive, the character acting — especially from the main man — is seriously good, and the sound and score are totally on point.
If the No 1 criticism of Wolverine is that is is too linear, especially when compared with old web-slinger’s games . . . well, yes, guilty as charged. It very much is mostly an on-rails adventure with little room to truly explore or set your own pace.
And that’s fine occasionally, right? Does everything have to take place in a giant sandbox?
Wolverine is simple fun. It holds your hand a little too much, and the combat can get repetitive. But it’s a tight, enjoyable fighting adventure game that did not deserve all the pre-release opprobrium.