If there ever was a comic book hero synonymous with “anger issues”, it would be Wolverine. Across all of his appearances in multiple forms of media including games, comic books, TV, and movies, there’s always been one constant: Logan’s struggle with his troubled past, and what that means for him going forward. Insomniac Games understands that to a T, and Marvel’s Wolverine features an original story that deals with Logan’s character tenets in ways that are often messy, but always earnest and sincere.
Contrary to what we’ve come to expect from most X-Men media, Marvel’s Wolverine travels off the beaten path and opts to frame Logan’s story with characters rarely seen in the mainstream. Instead of starting off at Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, for instance, Marvel’s Wolverine puts us in control of a version of Logan who’s part of Team X. This particular version of Team X isn’t led by the notorious William Stryker, however; it’s led by Nathaniel Essex, AKA Mr Sinister himself, so you can already imagine how this is going to end.
In the supporting cast, we have familiar faces like Sabretooth and Mystique, as well as a dormant mutant named Walter, who largely serves as the brain of Team X, often working behind the scenes to improve Logan’s gear and help Essex with the more technical stuff. When I initially previewed Wolverine, I was instantly enamored with the fun Suicide Squad-like dynamics of Team X: a bunch of rogue misfits who can barely get along, all working towards some tenuous common goal while also taking shots at each other. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Logan’s relationship with Sabretooth, whose scenes together always involve some version of a dick-swinging contest, if not a straight-up brawl between the two.
Logan’s relationships with Mystique, Walter, and Essex are far more nuanced. They’re less combative, but packed with far more emotional story beats and small details that really inform how deep these relationships run. In particular, I enjoyed Logan’s scenes with Mystique, which often hinted at a closer friendship than the game’s story allows us to be privy to. With Mystique being one of my favorite X-Men characters, I was delighted to catch a glimpse of her more humanistic life outside of the action via notes and other optional interactions with side characters.
I’d be remiss not to mention Jean Grey, who essentially becomes a secondary protagonist about a third of the way into the story. As the story’s leading lady, Jean takes on the role of a kindly caretaker who’s just trying to look after her friends before getting caught up with Logan and Team X. Marvel’s Wolverine kicks off its story with Essex’s Team X attempting to stop Trask from eliminating all mutants — an admirable goal, but one that you can’t help but feel uneasy about simply because it’s a goal being spearheaded by a soon-to-be Mr Sinister rather than the heroic Professor X. As Logan assists Essex with this mission, he eventually comes across Jean and her friends, and they align to fight for a better future for all of mutantkind.
Speaking broadly, I found the story of Marvel’s Wolverine to be largely engaging and well-executed. Insomniac’s take on Logan is a lot softer than I expected, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he isn’t still the brutal killer that he’s known to be. The game cuts between the present-day story and optional Nightmare Trials that unlock snippets of Logan’s past, giving you quick glimpses of what his old life used to be like, and just what he’s trying to repress and escape from. Jean serves as the moral foil to Logan’s darkness, though she has an edge to her as well, and I found myself emotionally invested in the bond between these two as the story progressed.
However, the strength of the bond between Logan and Jean also means that many other characters end up falling to the wayside. Make no mistake; Marvel’s Wolverine is basically the Logan and Jean show, with very little space even for the aforementioned side characters, which I thought was a damn shame. Characters like Nature Girl, Callisto, and Leech are quickly pushed to the side in favor of fleshing out Logan and Jean further, and even Sabretooth and Mystique start to feel like afterthoughts about partway through the game. Essex is the only other character who gets any sort of love, and well, considering that he’s being set up as a terrifying force Logan has to contend with at some point, I guess that’s kind of a given.
But hey, if you really love Logan and Jean, then this game is perfect for you. Personally, I would’ve liked to see the other side characters get to share the spotlight a little more, but maybe next time.
In my hands-on preview of Marvel’s Wolverine, I came away feeling great about the combat, and for the most part, I still feel pretty good about it. The combat is extremely fast-paced, with Logan being able to leap halfway across the map to eviscerate an enemy, and the skills you unlock along the way also help to make you feel even more powerful. There are spinning slashes, stuns, barrages, and a healing ability to speed up Logan’s regeneration ability, just to name a few.
You’ll spend most of your time parrying yellow-coded attacks while dodging the red colored ones. Again, nothing new here, but that doesn’t stop the combat from being fun, at least for the first five hours or so. Then, you start to realize that that’s all there is to it. To its credit, Marvel’s Wolverine does introduce plenty of enemy types to keep you on your toes. There are guys with shields, guys with swords that can impale you, guys who can turn invisible, big guys who can pick you up and smack you around a little, and bigger guys who can use mutant-like powers to stop you in your tracks.
But it all comes down to the same thing: hit L1 to parry the yellow attacks, and hit circle to dodge the red ones. It doesn’t help that the game just loves throwing a crap ton of enemies at you in each combat encounter. I think if the enemy density wasn’t so high I’d be able to enjoy the game more as a power fantasy, but things definitely started to feel repetitive and a little tiresome once I got past the halfway mark.
It doesn’t help that the bosses all pretty much follow the same formula too. You’re mostly dodging and parrying at the right time, and occasionally pressing L2 or R2 when an interactive cutscene calls for it. It’s such a shame because from a visual perspective, these boss fights really do look quite impressive; there’s just not that much depth to the actual mechanics or gameplay.
The good thing is that Marvel’s Wolverine does try to break up the monotony with big, flashy setpieces too. A couple of motorbike sequences made me feel like I was playing an action movie, and I’ll never get bored of watching Logan rip through enemies in slo-mo. The game also does tip the scales in your favor by introducing adaptations, which are essentially passive perks you can equip. These do a variety of things like skill cooldown reduction, improved health regen, and more. That being said, some of the late-game combat encounters felt so drawn out that I did start to wonder if I’d have a better time by dropping the difficulty down a notch. At least then I’d clear the fights quicker and get to the story bits sooner.
The fast-paced, visceral combat of Marvel’s Wolverine, while fun, gets repetitive way too quickly, though it’s saved by its excellent characterization of Logan and a story that does justice to our favorite tortured anti-hero. I think there’s still plenty of untapped potential here though, and I hope to see Insomniac take another crack at the X-Men in an inevitable sequel.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on PS5.
