All right gamers, let’s dive into Wolverine, the latest superhero game by Insomniac Games. First, I want to say I don’t understand why this game is getting so much hate. I admit it’s not a great game and it won’t be game of the year, but Gamers need to cool it with the hate because even average games can still be fun. The biggest problem for any superhero game is it’s always being measured against what is ultimately considered the greatest superhero trilogy, the Batman Arkham games. That’s a tough act to follow, but there have been really good superhero games, and Insomniac has made two of them. Both of the Spider-Man games are great. Yes, I will admit that Wolverine does not measure up, but this is a game still worth playing. From an engaging story to a fun hack-and-slash format with one of the best superheroes in any genre, this is a fun game, but should you buy it at full price? Well, we’ll get to that!
Let’s talk about the story. The world that Wolverine is set in is before the X-Men have been created. We haven’t been introduced to Professor Charles Xavier and any of the major X-Men. Wolverine is working for Team X, with its benefactor being Dr. Nathaniel Essex, also known as Mr. Sinister. Along the way, Logan will meet an older Jean Gray who is on her own and trying to help mutants who are being hunted by Trask Industries. The bulk of the story is them teaming up to stop the real enemy behind everything, who wants to subjugate mutant kind under their control. No spoilers here; you’ll just have to play the game and finish it to find out what happens unless you choose to get spoilers on the internet. And of course you can read the description of the story online. Now, there’s been a bit of controversy surrounding the story from so-called comic book nerds who think that this story really can’t exist. Well, here’s the thing: Marvel is filled with lots of multiverses, so this is just one Earth where the X-Men don’t exist while Wolverine and Jean Gray team up with one another. That’s the beauty of multiverses; there’s not one defining storyline. The story is good and very cinematic. One of the highlights is Liam McIntyre, who plays Logan / Wolverine. He is more well known for having to take over the role of Spartacus in the Starz series after the original actor passed away. If you’re a fan of the series, yes, it’s easy to see him basically playing Spartacus but as Wolverine, but that’s not a bad thing because he was amazing as Spartacus for the last two seasons of the show. And for anybody complaining, remember the Wolverine’s Origins movie; even though they completely screwed up Deadpool, they did introduce us to Team X. But as I said before, you can have different origin stories for characters in a Multiverse. And for me, the performances were great; Troy Baker, who is well known as a gaming actor, knocked it out of the park as Nathaniel Essex.
The gameplay is fine for the most part. It’s a straightforward hack-and-slash game, and sometimes those can be the best kinds of games. If you’re a fan of Wolverine, you’re going to love killing enemies as Wolverine, and that’s where the game keeps it simple, especially by giving us the traditional X-Men yellow outfit. Does the gameplay get repetitive at times? Of course, that is one of my criticisms, but that happens with a lot of hack-and-slash games. But the best parts are when Logan and Jean Gray team up together. The big boss battles are really for Wolverine, and they can be tough at times. The boss fights are not easy, and they’re not meant to be, but I think my biggest criticism is the parrying. The timing could use some work, and I don’t like games where you have to switch between difficulty levels just to get through the game. Unfortunately, I found myself doing that too many times. However, like with any video game, you have to learn the mechanics and get them down to fully immerse yourself within the gameplay. If you’re in a rush just trying to get through the game, yes, that can be annoying, but it’s also part of playing a video game. My timing got better towards the end, but it can still use some work, especially at times during the boss fights where it didn’t always work and I found myself having to dodge more than block, or it took a few tries to finally defeat the boss. But the many ways that Wolverine can kill, especially a lot of bad guys at the same time, does make up for it. Insomniac’s superhero games don’t always have the easiest controls; there’s a lot that you kind of have to remember, especially when you’re in big battles, but I will admit that sometimes this game was easier than flying around as Spider-Man and learning how to pick up things to hit the enemies. However, these things can be fixed with updates. That’s one of the advantages of playing a game like this a month or two after it comes out compared to us critics who review it at its release date. Sometimes the game was more challenging than it needed to be, but still a fun story, and there’s a lot to like about the game. Plus, it’s one of the best-looking Marvel games that we’ve ever had. I remember playing The Avengers game that came out a few years ago and thinking that while it was fun, the graphics could have been better. This game looks really good and more cinematic, just like Spider-Man 2
Now here’s the skinny on why it’s not a great game, and it’s a big problem with video games that do get too repetitive. I like games that are very linear and tell a cinematic story. But one of the things that open-world sandbox games do really well is provide lots of different Adventures that are not repetitive. There’s a main quest, and then there are side quests that keep everything fresh. Not every game can be an open-world game; we do need very linear games. There’s room for both of those kinds of games within the superhero genre. For me, I think this story needed to be linear, whereas that Avengers game could feel more like an open-world game since you got to play different characters. Even the Guardians of the Galaxy game had a bit of that. Unfortunately, with a linear story in this game, it’s bound to feel repetitive at times. I think the overall story and the ending make up for it, but when you’re putting a lot of hours in one sit down to play this game, it can get kind of boring, so my recommendation is to play one chapter at a time and don’t try to complete this game all at once if you don’t want it to feel repetitive. I know it seems like I’m harping on this one thing, but if you’re a gamer and you play a lot of games throughout the year, you want stuff that’s fresh that’s going to keep you playing. Boring games make you want to quit and not complete them. I admit that I felt that way despite the fact that it had an engaging story, but it helps to play a little bit here and there to make it more fun. One thing I think they could have done better is that some of these small tasks back at headquarters were unnecessary because, as gamers, we just want to get to the action. That’s the best part of the Wolverine game, when you’re getting to play this awesome character and kill the bad guys with his claws. I didn’t need unnecessary and tedious tasks.
Overall, I think Wolverine is a fun game, and if you like what Insomniac Games has done, then this is worth playing, but no, it’s not worth full price. This is a good game to pick up at a discount during the holidays. It’s not as good as the Spider-Man games, but still quite engaging with a lot of room to grow within this particular universe. The story is engaging and sad at times, but very cinematic. Liam McIntyre, Troy Baker, and Krizia Bajos, who plays Jean Gray deserves a lot of accolades for their performances. It truly felt like a Marvel movie. Despite some glitches when it comes to defending yourself and taking on some of the big bosses, as well as the repetitiveness of the game, it’s still fun to play. There’s no denying that Wolverine is one of the best superhero characters to play. Of course, this character should be featured in a video game. And just like the Wolverine game that came out in 2013, this is actually one of the best video games to feature the character. Let’s give credit where it’s due. In my opinion, it’s not going to win Game of the Year. Whether it makes the top 10 games of the year, I can’t say for sure, but there’s a lot of unnecessary hate when it comes to the game, and as we always talk about, the amount of money you spend also helps determine your enjoyment of a game. I think Gamers would enjoy this game a lot more if they’re not having to pay $70 for it, but more like $30 to $40. Wolverine is an average game, but I still enjoyed it and can see myself playing it again someday. That may be one of the other things this game has going for it; there’s definitely some replay value and also room for DLC. But if you ask me, the best part of the game was the casting. I’ve always been a big fan of Liam McIntyre ever since Spartacus, and he was perfect for Wolverine. I really enjoyed his performance, just like Troy Baker; I would love to see him do more games. If you think that you can’t have really phenomenal performances in a video game, well, Troy Baker has some of the best performances, from playing Joel in The Last of Us games to taking on Indiana Jones, and that’s definitely not a small feat when you have to follow Harrison Ford in the role. Even if this game doesn’t win any major awards, I would love to see Liam McIntyre at least get nominated for his performance, and I could definitely see him playing a version of Logan in a Marvel movie. My final verdict: yes, the game is definitely Nerd Approved, but not for its price tag. Buy it when it’s on sale and enjoy it for what it is, because hacking and slashing your way through bad guys playing Wolverine is always pure joy!
