With the Marvel’s Wolverine review embargo having been lifted, we’ve seen a steady stream of verdicts from games critics around the globe as they weigh in on Sony’s latest PS5 exclusive.
Collectively, these reviews don’t paint a disastrous picture for Wolverine though the folks at PlayStation were no doubt hoping for an aggregate score in the mid to high 80s instead of the OpenCritic rating of 79 the game is currently sitting on.
It more or less aligns with our own 8/10 review in which we praise Wolverine for its compelling story, intriguing characters, and stunning visuals. While we enjoyed the visceral, blood-soaked combat, we felt that Insomniac Games could have gone further in adding more enemy variety to help spice up the combat gameplay.
This seems to be the main point of contention among many other reviewers, including IGN’s Simon Cardy who scored the game a 6/10:
“Marvel’s Wolverine’s slick and satisfying combat wears thin well before its conclusion, so much so that even its strong character work can’t quite save it from being anything more than okay.”
Meanwhile, Gamespot’s Tamoor Hussain – who also scored Wolverine a 6 – states that “at worst, it shows that just because you can make really good superhero games with one character, that doesn’t mean you can make really good superhero games with any character.”
This echoes a point we made during our review. It’s nearly impossible not to compare Wolverine and Insomniac’s Spider-Man games though Spidey has a far more varied power set that includes ranged attacks and an arsenal of gadgets, whereas Logan relies on feral melee onslaughts and a handy healing factor.
Perhaps more damning are some of the comments made by Skill Up’s Ralph Panebianco who has a bone to pick with the game’s handholding which some players are seemingly more sensitive to than others. In his review, he says “playing Marvel’s Wolverine is like bowling with the kid’s bumpers on, but the bumpers are so narrow that it’s impossible to score anything but a strike. Oh, and the ball throws itself too.”
Again, some players will find the on-screen prompts and markers more invasive than others. As for being too easy, we found Wolverine to offer a fair amount of challenge on its second hardest setting (one above normal) which forced us to retry several of the boss battles as well as the horde-style survival gauntlets. Attempting a new game plus run on normal difficulty – with all of Logan’s upgrades unlocks – will definitely be a cakewalk for seasoned gamers though certain combat scenarios could create friction for casual players.
With the character having enjoyed an evergreen appeal – and with the X-Men coming back into favour – it will be interesting to see how Marvel’s Wolverine performs. The name alone has some weight, though no way near enough as Spider-Man, the game’s mature rating also potentially narrows its audience.
