The X-Men’s most feral mutant finally unsheathes his adamantium claws in a globe-trotting, third-person adventure overflowing with blood, brutality and cinematic intensity in Marvel’s Wolverine (Insomniac Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment, reviewed on PlayStation 5, rated M for Mature, $69.99).
This original and extremely violent story takes place three years after James “Logan” Howlett (voice and facial capture of Liam McIntyre), aka Wolverine, abandoned Team X, only to return after billionaire Bolivar Trask launches a ruthless campaign to capture, experiment on and ultimately eliminate mutants.
When Trask captures Nathaniel Essex (Troy Baker), the mutant scientist responsible for assembling Team X, Logan vows to rescue his former leader and stop the evil billionaire.
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Helping him are the shape-shifting Mystique (Nicole Pacent), the uncontrollable Sabretooth (Brett Gipson) and Jean Grey (Krizia Bajos), a powerful telekinetic with whom Logan shares a romantic connection.
Their mission takes them from the dangerous jungles of Telambang to the frozen Canadian wilderness, the crime-infested streets of Madripoor and Japan. Wolverine battles Trask’s cybernetically enhanced Reavers, the deadly Omega Red, ninja assassins known as the Hand and leader Lady Deathstrike, and even a massive mutant-killing Sentinel.
Throughout, Wolverine balances brutally protecting others while being haunted by his extremely violent past. The emotional story balances the mutant’s struggle for survival with Logan’s search for answers about his origins.
The game’s main objective takes a solo player into a satisfying 15-hour movie played out over 30 main linear story missions, no matter the player’s skill level.
Too often, the game leads players by the nose, providing a glowing blue scent trail to follow while spectacular, heavily scripted action sequences offer little opportunity for failure.
Take the case of multiple interactive scenes of Wolverine riding a motorcycle, where the player needs barely any focus on driving while attacking enemies.
Sure, the action looks gritty and stunning, but, of course, that does not bode well for veteran gamers looking for the type of open-world exploration afforded by Insomniac’s Spider-Man game series.
However, the hard-core Wolverine fan will appreciate getting to the point in the mission that always ends with exhilarating close-quarters combat using those adamantium claws and will truly admire the ballet of violence executed over and over again.
Fast and deliberately savage, our hairy superhero delivers light and heavy claw attacks, kicks, evasions, pouncing ambushes and cinematic critical strikes while in constant motion.
Successful attacks, parries and kills build rage, powering stronger strikes and his nonstop regenerative healing factor. At the highest rage tier, the action erupts into blood-splattered, monochrome, stylized frenzy.
A player will routinely tap button combinations that can lead to severing an opponent’s head or appendages, leaving them scattered across the battlefield, pushing claws through skull eye sockets (delivered in slow motion), sneaking up on enemies to pierce claws through torsos and using specialty moves such as a Tornado Spin to slice through bodies.
Look to team executions to further dazzle in fights where, for example, Jean Grey can immobilize enemies telekinetically, setting them up for Wolverine’s deadly strikes, or where Sabretooth throws him in the air to land an attack on an unlucky opponent.
Yet the maelstrom of brutality can become repetitive, particularly when the game substitutes scripted encounters for satisfying challenges. Whether that matters depends largely on what a player expects: an expansive superhero adventure or a tightly choreographed celebration of Wolverine’s ruthless instincts.
What Insomniac really delivers on is the latter, a celebration of the iconic character and his universe. It begins with the ability to unlock and swap among 32 costumes representing a large swath of Wolverine’s appearances in comic books, movies and cartoons.
Some of the best include Age of Apocalypse (complete with his missing hand covered by a metal stump); the Classic Brown Suit (from artist John Byrne and writer Chris Claremont’s legendary comic-book run); Old Man Logan (sporting a brown duster coat and gray hair); Weapon X (lots of exposed skin, body hair and bizarre helmet gear); Yellow Variant Suit (from the movie “Deadpool & Wolverine“); and the wild X-Men ’97 Animated (yeah, he looks weird in the game’s realistic world but is still very cool).
Purchasing the Deluxe Edition ($79.99) unlocks more beauties, such as my favorite — the Incredible Wolverine, inspired by his first appearance in “The Incredible Hulk” comics.
Additionally, some masks and hats can be removed, and a variety of claw options are unlocked, including hooked, notched, curved, reflective and serrated styles, with more exclusive Deluxe claw designs available to start the game.
Worth noting, the suits and claws have no impact on his performance. They do contribute to health upgrades and, come on, they are just too darn cool not to swap out liberally and appreciate.
And, adding to the mythology are mysterious Nightmare Doors scattered throughout the adventure, offering optional combat and traversal challenges that test Logan’s vicious abilities.
These diversions temporarily take away from the main storyline and into nightmarish encounters that evoke the character’s tortured past with Wolverine visiting the darker corners of his universe, while rewarding a player willing to explore beyond the game’s largely linear path.
Wolverine will also find collectible whiskey bottles with a story attached to each and Easter egg moments such as looking at one of Gambit’s playing cards or Mystique’s wedding photograph with cameos by Sasquatch, Callisto, Leech, Sunfire and Tyger Tiger.
In general, the crisp and detailed visuals never stop dazzling.
Making Wolverine slide across a floor as his claws generate sparks as they drag never grew tiresome; removing an impaled sword from his chest and using it to skewer a deadly assassin made me smile; and selecting Insomniac’s original costume (called Accursed) with dark face paint across his eyes, crested hair, black tactical suit and bloodied bone claws just dripped with perfection in a 4K full-screen presentation.
In addition, the animations showcasing his healing ability from the excessive abuse are head-shaking. At one point, his flesh was torn off down to his skeletal remains before regenerating.
Ultimately, for all that Marvel’s Wolverine delivers in visual spectacle and extreme violence, its simplistic gameplay and restrictive, linear exploration may leave veteran gamers craving a more challenging adventure.
Still, for casual gamers and die-hard fans of Wolverine and his X-Men legacy, the sheer thrill of controlling this claw-wielding, pop-culture powerhouse and unleashing his savage fury will be worth the price of admission.
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