The new Wolverine game is fine, but it's definitely not the best there is at what it does.



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Insomniac's long-awaited Wolverine is out, and, well, it's not great. I mean that in the very literal sense: It's fine—good, even, at least in some ways—but it's not great, and that's a problem for a game that was positioned as one of Sony's biggest PlayStation 5 exclusives of the past few years. The bar was high, and the ol' Canucklehead didn't quite clear it.

This is especially unwelcome news for PlayStation right now, given that its plate is already pretty full with other bad news. The platform's live service travails have gotten so far out of hand that it's managed to kill Destiny 2, and there's a reasonable expectation that Bungie itself might not be too far behind.

More recently, it pulled a massive botch with Hideo Kojima's Physint that led to the auteur partnering with Xbox on the project instead. Sony may have had its reasons for pulling the plug, but strictly from a PR perspective, that's the kind of self-own that leaves a deep scar. Similarly, the company is taking heat for its decision to end physical disc production in 2028, a move that may be rationally defensible but is nonetheless really pissing a lot of people off.

And now, this: A major PS5 exclusive that's landed with all the grace of an egg chucked at a school bus. Because of its platform exclusivity, we can't tell you what we think of the game, except that we're feeling a little better about not getting it. We can, however, tell you what other sites think of it, so let's do that.

GamesRadarGamesRadar: 3/5

GR's Leon Hurley says Wolverine's mid-game feels like the game Insomniac wanted to make: "It's lively, layered, and just a fun place to be." Alas, "the rest of the game feels thin, and largely consists of boxy corridors that top and tail Tokyo with shallow combat luges broken up by cutscene checkpoints and little else."

IGN: 6/10



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IGN reviewer Simon Cardy found much to like in Logan's character: "Liam McIntyre’s performance grants Logan a personality to match his trademark blades – a sharp, surprising hidden depth, housed in a bulky, blunt instrument of a body. He delicately balances the shadows of his past with the future of mutantkind, all while managing his Jekyll and Hyde nature, as animal instincts sometimes break through the compassion he strives to show." Actual gameplay, though, "wears thin well before the conclusion."

Shacknews: 8/10

Donovan Erskine at Shacknews said Wolverine "does an excellent job adapting the iconic mutant," with "some excellent character moments in what is otherwise a fairly standard comic book story." As others noted, he said combat became "repetitive" as the game progressed, but found it "deeply satisfying" despite that.

DualShockers: 8.5/10

Christian Bognar provided one of the more upbeat takes on Wolverine for DualShockers, writing that Insomniac's portrayal of the character is "a success," thanks to its "deeply personal story that explores what it means to live with trauma, loss, and regret." Christian also felt the combat in Wolverine was a step up from that of Insomniac's previous Spider-Man game, despite lacking Spidey's "freedom and versatility."

GameInformer: 8.5/10

GI's Matt Miller is clearly a fan, writing that "the high speed, brutal slashing, and unstoppable force of Wolverine are captured better than any film or game to come before." And where many other reviews found the game wore thin before its conclusion, calling it "an intense and unrelenting ride" that "doesn't wear out its welcome."

TechRadar: 4/5



Writing for TechRadar, review Matt Cabral said Wolverine's fighting mechanics "suffer from a lack of meaningful depth," but praised the game's production values: "Supported by visceral, varied, and extreme...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com

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