Introduction: Five Years of Expectations
I’d been looking forward to Marvel’s Wolverine for nearly five years, ever since Insomniac announced it at the 2021 PlayStation Showcase. After what the studio achieved with Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, I was convinced Wolverine would be a game for the ages. Or so I thought.
As a huge fan of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, I went into Wolverine with high expectations and few doubts. The release date falling the day after my birthday only made the wait more exciting. In my head, the plan was simple: settle in, shut out the world, and spend some quality time doing what I love – playing games.
I wasn’t expecting perfection. I never do. But I expected the same feeling that made me fall in love with the Spider-Man games: the sense that the studio understood both the character and what made them exciting to play. With Wolverine, I wanted to see how that understanding would translate to a very different kind of hero.
Story: Left Wanting More
The game opens with a flashback set thirty years earlier, introducing us to a wild, feral Wolverine. An unknown figure approaches him cautiously and introduces himself as Mr Essex. It’s an intriguing first glimpse of Logan, far removed from the familiar image of him standing alongside the X-Men, and it sets up a story full of potential.
That potential is why I wish the story had been longer. I wanted more time with the characters and more room for their relationships to develop. By the end, I wasn’t ready to put the game down, yet the story had already run out of reasons to keep me.
The supporting characters also deserved more attention. I would have liked missions where we stepped into the shoes of someone like Mystique or Jean Grey, similar to the perspective shifts between Mary Jane and Miles in the Spider-Man games. Their abilities could have altered the pace of the action while helping us connect with them beyond their interactions with Wolverine.
Combat: Unleashing Wolverine
Combat is where the game shines. There’s something incredibly satisfying about letting Wolverine loose, and the rage features make those moments even more exhilarating. When I was caught up in the action, I got exactly what I’d hoped for.
Playing it also took me back to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a game I spent countless hours on years ago. Certain moments reminded me why I enjoyed it so much, only now with better graphics, modern gameplay, and a story that isn’t tied to a film adaptation. That familiarity was welcome. It brought back memories of a game I loved while still giving me a new Wolverine experience to sink into.
Exploration: Missing That Freedom
I would have preferred an open world similar to the Spider-Man games. Exploration was a huge part of my enjoyment of those games, and I missed that freedom here.
Getting around as Wolverine would obviously be a very different experience, but I would have loved the opportunity to wander off, discover things for myself, and spend more time in the world beyond the main story. I couldn’t scale most buildings or move beyond certain areas, which made the world feel restrictive. That extra freedom could have made a real difference to how much time I wanted to spend with the game after finishing it.
Verdict: Enjoyable, but Not Everything I’d Hoped For
Ultimately, Marvel’s Wolverine didn’t fully deliver on what I had hoped for. My anticipation may have set a high bar, but deeper storytelling, greater freedom to explore, and better use of the supporting cast would have made the experience feel more complete.
I enjoyed playing it. I just wish there had been more of it to love.
7/10