Marvel’s Wolverine sees the talented folk at Insomniac take a crack at another comic book icon following their acclaimed Spider-Man series. Although there’s definitely some shared DNA here, it’s a markedly different game, from its linear level design to a more frenzied, blood-soaked combat and a grittier, more nuanced narrative.
In the opening moments of the game we find James “Logan” Howlett at his most feral, seemingly rescued from the wilderness by the enigmatic Nathaniel Essex. After some rehabilitation he becomes a founding member of Team X – an elite squad of mutants who make it their mission to find and recruit others bearing the superpowered “X Gene”. Of course, they’re not the only ones. Bolivar Trask is also on the hunt for mutants, employing cutting edge tech to find and capture them.
Already, if you’re vaguely familiar with X-Men lore, then you’ll have a sense for where this story might go, though this is set in a version of the world that lacks the X-Men team. However, this is far from your straightforward comic book caper or the kind of plot that gets neatly wrapped up during the runtime of a MCU flick. Wolverine is one of those characters who comes with such a tangled backstory that only a brave writer would take a swing at redefining, especially within the context of making a video game. Instead of glossing over Logan’s past, Marvel’s Wolverine dives right in, taking players on quite the journey with a string of satisfying payoffs.
What about the claw-wielding mutant himself? Having undergone numerous retcons and revisions, choosing which depiction of Logan to go with isn’t as simple as you might think, especially for a writing team that is no doubt eager to inject some originality and divorce themselves from Hugh Jackman’s decades long stint as the character in film.
Insomniac’s take on this Marvel legend has all the familiar hallmarks: the Adamantium skeleton, the hair, and a dark, twisted past he constantly wrestles with. However, this rendition is more vulnerable and sophisticated than the short-tempered lone wolf many would expect. There’s a good chance some players will be put off by this iteration of the character, at least to start with. He definitely grows on you, though. He’s full of heart, smarter, and far wiser than any other mainstream takes on Wolverine. In part, that’s thanks to Liam McIntyre’s performance, backed up by a worthwhile cast of supporting characters including Jean Grey and the aforementioned Nathaniel Essex. Hell, even Sabretooth has a meaningful stake in the story and, of course, there are some more niche cameos waiting for the many X-Men fans out there.
Where Spider-Man’s powers slotted seamlessly into an open-world game, Wolverine is a different beast. Expect linear level designs that occasionally present multiple pathways leading to the same objective or point of interest. It isn’t long before you fall into the game’s rhythm of combat sequences sandwiched between exploration, cutscenes, and playable set pieces.
Unsurprisingly, combat is the main focus here. Logan can unleash a flurry of attacks, leaping from enemy to enemy, tactically employing four slotted techniques to help turn the tide of battle. While parries and dodges are key to staying alive, Wolverine’s combat gameplay favours an offensive approach rather than a reactive one. In doing so, you’ll earn Rage – a resource that gradually fills three on-screen gauges – unlocking certain attacks and making Logan more lethal all-round. Not only that, but when your health bar drains, you’ll expend a full Rage gauge to get back in the fight, the game treating you to a gnarly button-bashing mini-game as Logan’s flesh regrows around his Adamantium skeleton.
Starting out, you only have a handful of basic attacks, and this does feel limiting and repetitive. However, as you level up, you unlock a variety of skills that help enrich your combat capabilities while also supercharging the four techniques you can assign and unleash. After a while, you’ll come to think more carefully about combat, knowing when to stun, when to use Critical Strikes, and how to take advantage of your surroundings. Even after the first dozen or so times, there’s nothing more satisfying than booting someone into a turbine, a molten pit, or out of a moving airplane.
At the same time, there’s just enough variety to the enemies you’ll face to keep combat encounters feeling fresh during Wolverine’s runtime, though it’s easy to find yourself relying on the same handful of moves throughout. Occasionally, certain enemy types will shunt you out of this comfort zone by using shields, armour, or punishing combos. While there’s a skillful way of handling these threats, spamming Wolverine’s techniques as a countermeasure is all too convenient, just as it is when playing Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Wolverine can tip the odds in his favour with a stealthier approach, especially in the more open sections, though it’s far more basic than his web-slinging counterpart and serves more as an optional preamble to larger combat encounters. Wolverine’s traversal and character movement is far less layered, but these comparisons aren’t super helpful when you consider just how different the movesets of these two characters are. Where Spidey is an all-rounder who can employ an arsenal of gadgets, ranged attacks, and aerial combos, Wolverine is more grounded, stripped back, and melee-focused.
In terms of visuals, however, Insomniac’s latest game comes out on top. There’s not much in it when it comes to fidelity – Spider-Man 2 is still an amazing-looking game – yet Wolverine has way more variety in its landscapes. Logan casually racks up the air miles as he jets from the Yukon and Montreal, to Madripoor, and Japan. It’s in these latter locales that players are treated to a shift not only in narrative direction but visual aesthetics too.
