Marvel’s Wolverine captures just how angry its lead character is. The latest PS5 exclusive from Spider-Man developer Insomniac, Wolverine is a straightforward action game that is at its best when you’re (literally) slicing through enemies or thrust into a sequence pulled from a blockbuster movie, like climbing the fuselage of a plane as it careens toward land or racing a motorcycle across rain-slicked city streets. It’s the kind of game that can really get your heart rate rising, and keeping Logan mad is a key part of the strategy. In many ways, it’s a throwback to straightforward action titles of the past — and it’s a refreshing change of pace in a medium saturated with live-service and open-world games.
Though it comes from Insomniac, Wolverine is very different from Spider-Man, which thrust the web-slinger into an open-world version of New York City. Instead, this is a much more linear experience that feels like a combination of two other PlayStation staples: God of War and Uncharted. Rather than follow Wolverine as a member of the X-Men, the story instead has him as an often reluctant member of Team X, a mercenary group with similar pro-mutant aims but a much more violent approach. Instead of heroes like Cyclops and Professor X, Wolvy is joined by more villain-adjacent characters like Sabretooth, Mystique, and Nathaniel Essex, before eventually connecting with Jean Grey. The story pulls Logan and his companions across the globe, but it starts out relatively simple, as they investigate a rash of mutant disappearances connected to a billionaire arms dealer.
The most important thing about both Wolverine the character and Wolverine the game is fighting. This is a hairy little dude who loves to scrap, and his mutant powers — healing and sharp claws — make it so that he is very good at it, able to both take a huge amount of damage and dish it out. And the best part of the game is how Wolverine-specific the action is. The combat is fast and violent and forces you to be aggressive. Wolverine can leap huge distances to take out foes and use his claws to both repel attacks and slice at enemies, often with very gruesome results. (At the end of a battle he’s usually coated in blood.) An important part of this is Wolverine’s rage level, which increases the more you fight. As his rage grows, it allows you to do two things: go absolutely berserk and kill a rash of enemies with a single blow, and use your healing power as a sort of extra life in case your health depletes. It’s a clever system that means you can’t sit back and play it safe. Wolverine isn’t chill, and you can’t be either.
That’s the God of War side of Wolverine. The Uncharted side comes in the form of all of the over-the-top set-pieces you’re thrown into. I’ll refrain from detailing some of the best ones for spoiler reasons, but I’ll say that, just like in Uncharted, these moments make it feel like you’re playing out a wild sequence from an action movie. There are chases across the rooftops of Tokyo, massive boss battles against some iconic comic book villains, and scenes where Wolverine is literally being ripped apart as he fights for survival.
The flip side is that, because of this setup, Wolverine is also much more restrictive than most of its contemporaries. In some ways this is a good thing; it’s refreshing to play a game that isn’t trying to do everything. But there are still some awkward elements. For instance, much like in Spider-Man, there are lots of collectibles that will reveal new bits of story or unlock new suits for Wolverine to wear. But exploration outside of the main path is extremely dull, so the only reason to track these down is if you have a completionist mindset. It’s also disappointing that Wolverine’s closet of outfits is much less fun than Spider-Man’s, and they often feel out of place with the game’s attempt at a more gritty tone.
Making matters worse is that, despite a promising start, the story ends up in a largely forgettable place, with few surprises, particularly if you have an even slight knowledge of the X-Men universe from comics or the animated series. Outside of combat and set-pieces, Wolverine skews generic AAA game; the voice acting, the cutscenes, and even some of the missions feel like standard video game fare, many of which seem out of place. Wolverine is amazing when you’re surrounded by ninjas trying to kill you. But when Logan is in a tux trying to spy on a fancy party? Not so much.
All that said, Wolverine’s return to a simpler and smaller style of action — I beat the game in around 13 hours — is still notable, particularly from Sony, which has had a rough few years after placing many ill-fated bets in the live-service space. But much like last year’s Ghost of Yōtei, Wolverine shows that PlayStation is still capable of the single-player blockbusters the platform is best known for. It’s also launching at perhaps the busiest video game release period in recent memory, going up against major titles including Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Control Resonant, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, Gears of War: E-Day, Silent Hill: Townfall, Star Wars: Zero Company, and, soon enough, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Grand Theft Auto VI.
In that company, despite occasionally skewing generic, Wolverine’s bloodthirsty focus on action is something that makes it stand out.
Marvel’s Wolverine launches on September 15th on the PS5.
