Before it was superseded by Batman: Arkham Asylum a few months later, many held up Raven’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine as the platonic ideal of a superhero game.
It was brutal, bloody action that strung together cameos from Wolverine’s most famous faces into a fun, but not spectacular action game.
When Marvel’s Wolverine was first announced, Raven’s effort was often cited as the bar to clear for the character’s definitive video game experience. It’s perhaps ironic, therefore, that in the almost 20 years since Wolverine’s last starring role, so little has progressed from a gameplay perspective in his newest, extremely shiny outing.
Marvel’s Wolverine is a third-person action game that follows Logan before his time with the X-Men. This isn’t an origin story per se, but it clearly attempts to set up a universe for Insomniac’s X-Men to exist. Wolverine, alongside Sabertooth, Mystique, and other familiar faces, are on what they believe to be a gallant quest to protect their fellow mutants.
Marvel’s Wolverine’s strongest asset is its characters. It would be daunting for any game to introduce so many huge personalities while still attempting to tell a cohesive story, and the game achieves that. Logan and Jean Grey’s relationship throughout the game is a particular highlight, as is Troy Baker’s portrayal of Nathanial Essex.
Where the game begins to fall down, however, is what you’re doing between those very tightly crafted and emotive story moments. Marvel’s Wolverine’s gameplay is very dated. The third-person hacking and slashing is fine, but it barely evolves from hour one until hour twelve.
Wolverine has a few abilities that do more damage, allow him to lunge at enemies across the room, or regain some of his health. The issue is that I never felt all that more powerful at the end of the game than I did at the start. You’re limited to four abilities out of the six, but I’d have happily only taken two, considering how ineffective they felt compared to my standard moveset.
Enemies are repetitive, and even though their outfits may change, they fall into the same small group of archetypes, making every fight feel or maybmonotonous. There are large enemies that are so spongy that fighting them is only ever a chore. I found myself saving up my abilities for when one of these guys would appear so I could just unleash them all and save the tedium.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/marvels-wolverine-review-uninspired-gameplay-leaves-logan-feeling-declawed-despite-a-strong-narrative/
