@deehar's review of Marvel's Wolverine
★★★
Game 44 Wolverine. Price: 299 / 70 dollar ( I got it for a very decent price hence why I decided to pick it up Day 1) Rating: 3/5 or 7/10 With all this discourse, take away my review with a grain of salt since it’s MY EXPERIENCE . I just want to help people decide whether the game is worth of its price, but ultimately at the end of the day, it’s your money, not mine. Another disclaimer is that i’m not a die hard comic book fans who watched each and every one of Wolverine’s comic. I do know a lot about him though through many other entertainment. Wolverine is a good video game, but with a caveat. The game have lot of good things dumbed down by in my opinion, two things. The story and the level design. But first, I want to talk about it’s pros, the game is super clean, I had no bugs throughout the entire game. The graphics are crisp, I like looking at the scenery, the design of its landscape , buildings etc. Next up , is the movement, god you really does feel like a Wolverine in this game , no doubt. The slide animation with claws , the lunge, the run. Chef’s kiss. That’s about the graphics and movement. The combat progression however is so-so in my opinion, while one could argue , oh but it’s a Wolveri- no, I really think they could add more “spice” such as more combos or flashy skills like the one he did in MVC2 or Ultimate Alliance 3. Not to mention the way you can level up is by killing enemies and destroying xp cache which is very basic in my opinion, they could have implement some do this move x times and you get some xp instead. Not to say the xp cache is useless, it’s just felt very random and seems like initiative for you to randomly smash things. The repetitive starts to feel once you reached second half of the game, but still, it felt satisfying slashing enemies as wolverine with all the goriness and the sound of his metal claws. The performance is also top notch, while I do find this Wolverine is a little bit too nice and the face is a bit off, I think Liam McIntyre nails it as wolverine, the scream or the sound when he goes mad is very top notch. However , the man of the hour to me is Troy Baker as Essex. He imbues Essex with a captivating mix of charisma, warmth, and an underlying uneasiness which is perfect for the character While I enjoy looking at the landscape of the levels or things around me, it just felt really strictly linear and shallow, its baffles me that they decided to go with fully linear instead of making it semi open. People often compared it with uncharted or 007 first light. Wolverine doesn’t have sandbox or semi open where you could explore nook and cranny to find stuff or multiple ways to fight enemy. It is mostly generic space then going to the next point. Which I felt very wasted since they could utilise more of the way Logan traverse in the game. You have “freedom” in some areas of the game but with 0 incentives other than to search for a box that already had a radar on it or whiskey that had a scent lines once you get close to it. Then there’s comes the worst part of it all, story. The game's characterization of Logan demands scrutiny,largely because it is so frustratingly hollow. Instead of the fiercely independent mutant fans know, this version of Wolverine is relegated to the role of a compliant lapdog for the majority of the campaign. Adding to this annoyance is the game's baffling refusal to explore his origins in any meaningful depth. Rather than a cohesive character arc, players are handed a fragmented and disjointed timeline: we learn Essex saved him, he abruptly abandons Team X for vaguely defined reasons, and then, just as suddenly, he returns to the fold. It is incredibly jarring to watch such an iconic figure be stripped of his agency, leaving players with a protagonist who feels more like a passive passenger in his own game than the driving force of the narrative. The only way we got to a tidbits of his past is via lore bits after you finished the nightmare trials. Then there’s Logan and Jean… I can’t say much about this accept that while I don’t mind the romance between those 2, it felt incredibly forced with no proper buildup whatsoever, there is several moments that they get to spend time together, but with the way the pacing of this game goes, it just doesn’t make sense. Dare i say, the entire game pacing and writing feels convoluted. I like the Team X plot but then before you get to do more with them, you had to do something else because out of sudden this one “group” decide to ambushes Logan out of nowhere. Overall, Marvel's Wolverine is a title built on a foundation of massive potential, but it ultimately falls short of delivering the definitive experience I were hoping for.. Given the brief, linear campaign and the sheer lack of meaningful replay value on offer, it is incredibly difficult to justify its premium $70 / RM 299 price tag.
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