Review: Marvel’s Wolverine

Unlike pattypans, which I’ve eternally abhorred, I have a complicated history with Wolverine games. I played X2: Wolverine’s Revenge on the PlayStation 2 back in 2003, and I don’t remember it fondly.

Six years later, X-Men Origins: Wolverine arrived, and I absolutely loved it. There was something satisfying about simply being Wolverine and tearing through hundreds of unnamed enemies. It felt like an antithesis of a Metal Gear Solid game. No 80-minute cut scenes to break up the action, just a barrage of hacking and slicing like a Verimark infomercial for a Japanese knife.

Seventeen years later, I was firmly on the hype train for Marvel’s Wolverine. It ticked all my boxes: an original Wolverine story from Insomniac Games, one of PlayStation’s most accomplished studios; the developers of one of my top five video game franchises, Ratchet and Clank; and a PS5 exclusive, with Sony rarely missing.

So my expectations were high. Does it stack up? Let’s find out.

MARVEL’S WOLVERINE GAMEPLAY

At its best, Wolverine makes you feel like Logan. Combat is built around close-range attacks, with a fair number of abilities to unlock as you progress.

The combat itself is serviceable but a bit repetitive. In many ways, it feels like an older game design running up against modern expectations, like a throwback that doesn’t fully commit to its intentions.

I get that Logan is supposed to feel rough and inelegant, but some of that roughness comes across as clunky rather than deliberate. Animations and transitions often feel awkward, and traversal rarely feels as natural as it should.

Logan does not feel slow or lumbering. He simply feels less fluid than the character demands, and that makes moving through the game a lot more frustrating at times. The best comparison I can give is an older Assassin’s Creed game, where your intention, expectation and input are dismissed as Ezio jumps away from a building instead of climbing it.

Exploration is the other core problem. Some games reward you for looking beyond the obvious path, making discovery feel like its own reward. Wolverine often feels encumbered with the need to explore. Enhanced senses, scent trails, hidden crates, collectibles and other diversions give you plenty to investigate, but I rarely felt that I was genuinely discovering something.

There are also smaller issues that become harder to ignore in a game carrying this much prestige. Character and environmental clipping occasionally break the illusion; I would walk over bodies on the floor without them being coded in as obstacles. The team-up sequences repeated the same finishers often enough that they quickly became tiresome. The pacing was also unpredictable and a little jarring.

These are not game-breaking problems on their own, but they are the sort of minor imperfections that add up and chip away at the adamantium.

STORY

The story takes Logan through Canada, Japan and Madripoor as he becomes embroiled in a conflict involving Team X, Bolivar Trask and the abduction of mutants. As you progress, the game explores Logan’s forgotten past, his relationships and the tension between his violent instincts and his desire to be better.

Logan himself is well realised, and there is enough character development to make the journey worthwhile. Unfortunately, I was less invested in some of the other characters and their arcs.

GRAPHICS

Visually, Wolverine is an impressive PS5 showcase. The Canadian wilderness, Tokyo and Madripoor all offer distinct environments, while the character models, animation and cinematics deliver the level of polish you’d expect from a major first-party PlayStation release.

I did have to play around with the settings and turn down some of the graininess, but that is purely subjective, and some people prefer that.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Marvel’s Wolverine is listed for R1499 on the PlayStation Store. A lot of my assessment of Wolverine comes down to expectations.

I would draw parallels to Marvel’s Avengers, which arrived in 2020 to mixed critical reception, finishing with a 67 Metascore despite the strength of its Marvel licence and the expectations surrounding the project. Wolverine is a much more focused single-player experience, but it faces a different challenge. It carries the Insomniac name and the weight of being a major PlayStation exclusive.

Had this been a multiplatform release from a less critically acclaimed studio, I suspect some of its rough edges would have been easier to accept and I would have been a bit more forgiving. I recognise this isn’t particularly fair, but it is part of the context of reviewing a major release like this.

Timing also worked against it for me. Having recently played Onimusha: Way of the Sword, some of Wolverine’s combat and progression felt less fresh than they might have otherwise.

Marvel’s Wolverine is a good game that occasionally feels like it should be a great one.

It gets the most important part right: playing as Wolverine is fun. The combat has some weight, Logan’s character is well handled and the production values are consistently impressive. But the issues are hard to overlook, especially given the expectations.

Fairly or not, Marvel’s Wolverine had a lot to live up to, and for me it does not quite clear that higher bar. I had fun playing the game, and I don’t think my score is an indictment, but rather a reflection of some disappointment shaped by high expectations. I’d love to know what you thought about it. For everyone else, wait for a sale.

FINAL VERDICT

Marvel’s Wolverine is a solid superhero adventure with a convincing Logan at its centre, but its core design frustrations prevent it from matching the ambition and pedigree behind it.