The new game from the makers of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has proven unexpectedly controversial, as we go hands-on with the new PS5 exclusive and speak to its director.
There’s a good chance you’ve already read a hands-on preview for Marvel’s Wolverine, as some of the bigger gaming sites played it recently at developer Insomniac’s offices in the US. That’s not unusual as, ironically, it’s often the bigger titles that publishers limit access to, more than the smaller ones they’re less certain will be a hit.
What is unusual though, is that Sony organised essentially the same event in London just a few days later, including an interview with the game’s co-director Mike Daly. It wasn’t a reaction to the initial previews, as it was organised several weeks ago, but that created an awkward situation where we already knew that not only were some journos not convinced by the game, but fans had seemingly turned fully against it, ribbing it mercilessly for its perceived lack of interactivity.
Knowing this before going in for the hands-on, we were more than a little surprised that we actually liked the game, especially as we’re largely indifferent to the character of Wolverine and the X-Men in general. It’s almost certainly not game of the year material, but it absolutely doesn’t deserve the drubbing it’s been getting online.
The fan response is no doubt fuelled by general dissatisfaction with Sony right now, thanks to their abandoning of physical media on PlayStation 5. None of that is Insomniac’s fault but a first party game is going to be an especially big target for those that are, quite understandably, angry with Sony’s anti-consumer policies.
For those that have no prior knowledge of the game, Marvel’s Wolverine is very easy to get up to speed with. Made by the same studio as Sony’s Spider-Man games, it takes place at the beginning of Wolverine’s career, when he’s befriended by Nathaniel Essex – who comic book fans will know becomes Mister Sinister.
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Obviously, with a name like that, he’s a bad guy but in world where the X-Men do not yet exist, Wolverine is part of Team X, which is composed of traditional baddies Sabretooth and Mystique. As the game begins Essex has been kidnapped by his human counterpart-in-evil Bolivar Trask, creator of the giant robot Sentinels.
This leads to some light stealth and the disarming (in the ripping limbs from bodies sense of the word) of an endless army of hapless soldiers and Reavers – the cyborg mercenaries that were also featured in the film Logan. It all looks and feels exactly as you’d expect from the makers of Spider-Man, with top notch graphics and very easy to grasp controls. Although, it’s not open world and is instead reminiscent of Uncharted, with linear sections and a number of small, more open-ended areas.
Having read some of the previews, we struggle to connect their complaints with what we played. We don’t want to name names but the talk about a lack of ‘fluidity’ to the combat (a word which Insomniac is very keen to associate with the game) are hard to understand and reading between the lines it seems fairly obvious that some of those playing the preview just weren’t very good at parrying. Which seems odd because Wolverine is not a particularly complex or difficult game. Sekiro, this is not.
Wolverine isn’t necessarily easy, it just feels like the difficulty is well judged in terms of making you feel like a man with an unbreakable metal skeleton that’s almost impossible to kill. In gameplay terms, the game is pretty shallow, both in terms of the controls and the characters’ abilities. The linearity makes it feel strangely old-fashioned, despite the graphics, and while there’s new moves and abilities to unlock, and customisable buffs, there’s not really a skill tree… barely even a skill potted plant.
What there is instead is simple, accessible but still surprisingly distinctive combat that feels more like a modernised scrolling beat ‘em-up than a Devil May Cry style action game. There’s really only one main action button, plus a leap attack that can also serve as a combo finisher. You have special moves on a timer (the tornado spin is very useful for creating space in a crowd) but that timer takes quite a while to run, so they’re only an occasional treat.
We may not be experts on the Wolverine character but we’re not really sure what else could be done with him, if not a game like this. Especially as what depth the game does have is in its storytelling. This is a younger version of the character than is usually portrayed, hanging around with people of dubious moral standing, but even the ones that seem more one note, like Sabretooth, are portrayed in a manner that does make them seem somewhat human and relatable.
The only complaints we have is the Nightmare Door sections, which are a series of optional time trials used to unlock Wolverine’s dormant memories. They’re really not very interesting, with the three we played including two very dull assault courses and a combat challenge.
Of more note is the main boss battle in the preview, against a legless Proto-Sentinel that looks and acts like the Terminator from the end of the first film. It also acts like something out of a PlayStation 2 game (or earlier, it’s very reminiscent of Big Fuzz from Contra 3), with heavily telegraphed attacks that you learn in the first few minutes and then endure for what seems like forever, as the whole thing goes on for far too long.
