Insomniac Games Wolverine – Is This The Best Superhero Game Ever?

0:00Marvel's Wolverine has been one of my biggest games of the year. I've been really excited to check this thing out because X-Men is one of my favorite comic book sets of characters. Wolverine is my favorite comic book character. I'm really hyped about seeing what Insomniac can do with a character like this after seeing all the goods that they've been able to put out into the world with Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. and in this review, I get a chance to talk through my gameplay, my thoughts, and what it was like to play over the past 20 hours of checking out one of the dopest games I've got the chance to play this year.

0:31So did they knock it out the park or did they fall on their blades? We're gonna check that out right about now.

0:54In this review, I don't want to go into a bunch of spoilers, but I do want to go over some overarching kind of discussion points that I think are really important for my review. We're going to break it down in a couple of different parts. We're going to talk a little bit about narrative. We're going to definitely talk about gameplay. We're going to definitely talk about systems, graphics, and all the other kind of pretty parts that go along with a game like that. And I think for me, as a person who is really looking forward to this game, one of the things that I really was hyped for was to see this kind of reimagined retelling of a story of almost the origins or origins, the origins of Wolverine.

1:27We don't necessarily get the full Weapon X conversation in there, although there is a really cool skin in the game that that represents what that is. But what we do get is this really cool kind of beginnings of what we see the X-Men being formed. We have Team X, which is made up of Wolverine, Sabretooth and Mystique. and you wind up seeing them be kind of led by Nathaniel Essex, which is almost kind of like Professor X in this particular part of the game, or at least in this storyline, which again is a reimagined version of the X-Men Wolverine story. What is really cool about it is you go to all of these foreign lands and you're looking to kind of help all of these characters find a little piece of themselves.

2:17You know, most folks who are big fans of Wolverine know he's a loner. He is not really trying to play by the rules. His rage is going to get the best of him. And what you wind up seeing in this game is a cool retelling of how those pieces come together for him as a character. The trauma that he goes through in multiple ways that actually has a really dope game mechanic tied to it. And you have this foundational layer of the story between he, Jean Grey, and what winds up being this really dope, just like expression of feelings and love and affection for a character that we all know we're trying to get together for a hot minute.

3:02And now we get a chance to see a little bit of the sparks starting to kind of come together for them within the story. I really loved the way that this that this tale kind of came together. I think it broadened out for me who Wolverine was as a person. We never really dig into outside of the movies, really, you know, what this character's motivations are and seeing some, you know, some harm come to people that he took that he really cared for drives him in a way that I think is really important for what this game is trying to show, which is a more human side of him, a more kind of relatable side of him, and a character that is always, you know, shrouded in mystery and always, you know, kind of punch first and ask questions later.

3:51It was nice to see Insomniac dig a little deeper into not only his backstory, but some of the secondary characters that you wind up finding throughout the game, not only in the enemies that you fight, but in the hero group that you wind up finding yourselves in. I thought it was really smart. I think that they nailed a lot of the parts of it. It didn't feel disparate in any ways that I felt were like, oh, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Or, oh, you know, there isn't a lot of canon here that doesn't really kind of connect to what we already know. They nailed a lot of those parts with some great Easter eggs that are thrown out throughout most of the game and pieces of writing that you wind up finding and some of the world that you see.

4:32And they really just, like, knocked that part out of the park really well. It does really feel like they are incorporating some things that they found within the Spider-Man universe in which they built in those games. And they really have kind of honed in on some of the specifics of why are we really excited about playing these characters? I do think within this game, and this will be a running theme throughout the review, is I kept finding myself comparing this game to Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. two of their biggest games that they have made, two of the best games that have come out of Insomniac.

5:12And you wind up trying to figure out like, oh, does this feel like Wolverine in the ways that I have an expectation for him to feel? Does this feel like this in the combat? Does this feel like this in the way that they're portraying him? You know, the way that he's modeled in the game is perfect. They did everything. They got the short stubby dude who's hairy, got the facial hair, uh liam who who did did the the face capture and motion capture for for the character did a fantastic job the pcap performance capture for him did a fantastic job um but it always felt like i was doing this comparison between the two and what i like about this story is it is a very grounded one in a fantastical world where we're talking about mutants and big robots and and and you know monsters you know mutants with arms made out of metal you know it felt like a very grounded story, which I thought was really refreshing to see kind of come through.

6:07And I think they've nailed that through the games that they've made in the past couple of years in the superhero genre in a way that was really, really dope. It kind of culminates in some really fun boss moments. It showcases a little bit of cheekiness from Logan himself, who throws out a couple of dope lines here and there. And I think overall, the acting across the board was really good. Like I think so many of the characters kind of left with an impression of feeling like, oh, wow, Jean was really cool. Mystique had some layers to her that I didn't expect. Sabretooth had some layers to him that I didn't expect either.

6:45And again, when you have folks like Troy Baker who come to the table, you know, portraying characters, and he's been doing so many evil characters of late that I just have an expectation that he's going to nail it. And he does a really good job with Essex as well in that space. The big thing about this game that I think a lot of folks are coming to this title for is the combat. Does it feel like Wolverine is playing like Wolverine? And the answer is yes. I saw a ton of scuttlebutt over the internet over the past couple of weeks about, oh, they showed this one fight with the Sentinel and he's only chopping on this dude's arm.

7:20And, oh, you got to use points to go expand your arsenal of abilities. And who wants to do that with a character who should have all of these abilities already? And you're not really doing anything different. There's a lot of nonsense that winds up happening in the industry, at least in the social media space. And it's always why I tell people, you got to start listening to people who actually were playing these games and actually reviewing these games. So many people are throwing out theories and ideas and stuff from seeing one clip of a game or two clips of a game that they don't like or they are confused about or they don't have access to go check it out.

7:59And I really feel like it does a disservice to so many folks who are going to be checking out these games. I felt like the combat was really great. I thought that the way that you chop up through these enemies felt really fun. The one thing that did kind of throw me off a little bit was there's a lock-on in this game, and it felt like you would consistently kind of lose the lock-on. And in a game like this, I think most people are having an expectation of when you have these kind of like open arena brawlers or kind of action games, everyone in their mama wants everything to kind of feel like Arkham, right?

8:35You want it to feel like those Batman games. Those are some of the best games in terms of combat, rolling from one enemy to another enemy and kind of doing that dance and that balance between fighting one person and going and fighting another one directly and having that kind of chain effect be in that space. There are moments in this game where it feels really, really good. And then there are other moments where it feels a little bit off or you're kind of caught in a really weird spot with a camera that's in a not great, not great space. or you're being shot off screen. And what I do like about this game in its totality is that the game does not play around when it comes to amounts of enemies to fight.

9:15So you're fighting in multiple levels of people who are rolling up on you on melee. You have people who are shooting and sniping at you. You have other folks who are kind of in the space who have all these other different kinds of abilities that will throw new wrinkles into a fight. All in all, the combat felt extremely competent and felt like a ton of fun. So again, I wonder how it's going to land for a bunch of folks who are in the back of their mind, and me included, was trying to feel like, does this feel as snappy as it needs to be? Does it feel as visceral as it should? And there's parts where you're chopping dudes up and cutting off arms and cutting off legs and all that stuff.

9:51So all of those pieces are in there. But does it feel as fluid as it possibly can? And does it feel as fun as it can? I'm still trying to figure out if I'm comparing it to Spider-Man. And I came to a couple of conclusions, which were, I think there are parts of the Spider-Man game where if you think about it from a just baseline level of what are you doing in each one of these fights, there isn't a lot different between what happens in a battle in that game and what happens in a battle in this game. I think the differences are you have a lot more mobility because you're Spider-Man and And you have a lot more freedom of movement because you're zipping around in the world, like you're attaching to other things and flying through.

10:33So you have a little bit more style in the way that you fight in terms of what you get in a Spider-Man game versus what you got in a Wolverine game. Because again, you have a character who is grounded on the ground, who is kind of leaping towards fights and then getting up close and battling there where you have that kind of CQC kind of space where you're in those close quarters. but you have a different expectation of what the fighting is supposed to be. So it feels a little bit awkward to say that the combat is as good as Spider-Man, but I think it's just a difference in terms of understanding the systems that you are given, understanding how those things are supposed to feel, and then feeling like they could be a little bit snappier in spaces that I was really kind of like looking for.

11:19Did I have fun? Absolutely. There were moments when I was like, yo, I'm running through these cats. And when you start to build your rage meter up to your berserker meter, where you're literally kind of just like one shot killing folks with these really stylish kills, it feels extremely satisfying and it feels like a lot of fun. I'm trying to always kind of think of, am I giving this the credit that it is deserving on its own? Or am I also kind of bringing some biases to the table? And I think that'll be a large part of the conversations that you wind up seeing across multiple reviews of this game when the game goes out into the wild and most players are playing it.

11:58I think people are going to be going into the game with some understanding and kind of like wants for it to be something else while not necessarily giving it all the credit for what it currently is. And I think that will be a really weird spot for a lot of people in there. I think there are some really good systems in there, too. I do like the way that you dole out new abilities, which were super fun stuff that lets you close the gap stuff that lets you break down some shields, things that give you some really dope, just like wild kind of movement and abilities that that feel really fun. And there are some that go along where you're almost kind of crafting this DNA augment system that will give you either more ability to kind of defend yourself.

12:42There are even some some some points you can throw in to kind of find things in the world in terms of collectibles. Whiskey bottles are a big part of that. You know, finding materials to build out some of your suits. and I think there's over 20-something suits and claws, claw sets in the game that I thought were pretty good. There were some that I didn't like as much. There were some that felt like they were not as cool as I expected them to be. And then there are some that are just mind-blowingly fun. You know, they already showed the Tokan one that I thought was cool. And some of them feel a little bit different in comparison to, again, a game like Spider-Man where you had that 2.5D animation one that is from the Spider-Verse, which felt very akin to what that game was, or that visual was trying to replicate.

13:27This game has a little bit of that too, but it's a little bit different in that way. But they did have some homages to the classic suits, some really, some fun stuff that came from other parts of his lineage. You know, there's some stuff in there I won't spoil at all. I want you to go check those things out and find them because they're a lot of fun. But overall, I think the total package in terms of how are you getting your movesets, how are you getting collectibles, all felt really consistent. And it felt like the game wasn't pushing you in directions that didn't make sense in terms of the games themselves, which is always a nice thing to have.

14:04It's always a little bit weird when you have to go like, oh, let me go all the way over here that has nothing to do with the mission that I'm on to go find this whiskey bottle. Most of those things you're kind of find on your route towards the main objective for that particular mission, which I thought was super, super fun. And they did a really smart, smart job of those pieces for sure. Before we switch to graphics and other stuff like that, I do want to talk a little bit about some of the boss battles. Again, I'm not going to spoil what they were, but we did get a chance to see some glimpses of some of the main baddies in the game.

14:33We saw Cyclocke, Lady Deathstrike in some of the promo material. Of course, we see folks like Omega Red in some of those pieces too. And there's some other layers of it. the Sentinel battle that I think a lot of people saw and got really upset about and fussy about that, that, that battle does get better, uh, in a lot of different ways, but I do like the fact that they have mixed in some really fun traversal in this game as well, which I thought was smart. There's some kind of on rails things that thought were cool too. Uh, they did a really good job of mixing it up in terms of where this game was kind of going, how it played and putting you in some fun scenarios that fit Wolverine kind of like being the character who is this assassin, right?

15:16He's just, he's just character who is going out and finding, uh, trouble in, in some really cool ways and using his body to go through some really gnarly stuff, uh, which I think which I thought was, was super dope. Um, there is a really fun battle in here that again, I will not spoil. but I do think one of the drawbacks from some of these characters is that you do have an expectation for there to be a lot of fodder and there are a lot of fodder in the in the game and you are worried to a certain extent of like do the mechanics feel a little samey across some of those battles and that does kind of pop up a little bit which is a little bit disappointing thing i wouldn't dock it like full points for that stuff i do think most games that have boss battles like this where you're kind of beating them up and taking down their health all kind of feel the same uh unless you're playing something that's like a souls like where you're having to worry about different kind of patterns and things like that i i think you know games like this have an mo and i think this one kind of follows suit with a lot of it um but i will say uh they were not easy in some spots.

16:30Like some of them really did some damage. There is a comeback mechanic in the game as well that I think has its purpose and kind of relays the lore of what it is. I know a lot of folks were like, oh, your suits regenerate and all this other kind of stuff, which I do want to talk about in a second. But I felt like overall those boss battles did feel really comprehensive and did leave me feeling like, oh man, this game is going to give me some more stuff that is going to be really exciting. So So shout out to the team for building those out across not only the lore, but also kind of showcasing the badass that Wolverine is.

17:03Alongside all of that stuff, I do want to say the kind of most impressive part of Wolverine is the visuals on this game. The way that they have modeled these suits, like you all know I'm a huge photo mode head and love spending hours upon hours taking pictures in photo mode. this has one of the coolest features in photo mode where you get a chance to showcase the destructive nature of Wolverine. And what I mean by that is there are toggles and levers and menu items that you can turn on and off that if you're in the middle of a fight and your whole body's kind of messed up, like you're scratched up, like you have half your mask off, you're like big scratches across your chest.

17:49You can see where the kind of model has those specific points of damage that you can kind of see in the deformation is in those spaces you can play around with how how little or how much you want to kind of showcase that in a shot so you can have a shot where you are pretty pristine and cleaned up and if you really want to show the kind of brutal nature of a fight or of a scene you can really go in and fine-tune some of those uh uh parameters and kind of make him look beat up and really chopped up and stuff, which is really dope. And it showcases, again, the technical marvels of that team where the deformation systems that they've built for this are unlike anything I've really seen before.

18:34I think this is probably one of the kind of most technically impressive games that have come out of Insomniac since Ratchet and Clank with the kind of, you know, SSD stuff that they were doing on a PlayStation 5. I played this game on PlayStation 5 Pro on the fidelity setting and the game ran buttery smooth. It was fun from top to bottom. I never had any hitches. I didn't have the game skip out on me. I didn't have it crash on me. Any of those things. I did wish that there were some other kind of special things that went along with the DualSense. I'm a big fan of using the DualSense in some fun ways.

19:11there is, you know, you can, you know, retract the claws and extend them when you whenever you want holding both triggers and stuff like that, which I think is a really fun kind of addition to it. But there was just some really intense moments that that you can see with just like the lighting, the the ways that they've, you know, modeled the faces of the characters and all of those things. They did such a really good job of making this feel like a again grounded, beautiful game that is kind of set in this realism layer for a character that is a comic book character which was super cool I thought that was one of my favorite parts of this game it is something that I will go back to once I've finished it I've already finished it I'm kind of almost on my I'm on my new game plus now but I'm gonna go back in for like another couple of hours and just take pictures of stuff it is that impressive it is that fun to be able to go in there so massive kudos to the team from Insomniac for building out something that I think is probably going to win them some awards at the end of the year.

20:10And I think is probably one of the kind of most impressive things about Marvel's Wolverine. So in conclusion, is this game a banger? Absolutely. I think this game is one of the best games of the year. I think it was one of the most fun experiences I've had in my time playing a superhero game. I think they have nailed the ethos of what Wolverine can be. What I'm the most excited about is where they leave the story off on and knowing that they are still kind of pre-X-Men, I really want Insomniac to go full bore with a full X-Men game. There were too many dope characters that got kind of referenced.

20:47Wolverine is just feeling really fun. And I feel like this is one of those games where it's almost like Assassin's Creed 1, right? And then going from 1 to 2. 1 was good. 2 was like a real culmination of learning what the character was, how cool it could be in all those ways. I really hope that they get to do a Wolverine too because I think that they will be able to not only bone up some things on the combat side and get those things feeling super, super tight. They already have nailed the narrative parts of building a game like this and I feel like they've done a really good job of that. So knowing that they'll have a good story going to a second game would be super fun.

21:29But also So I feel like they have an ability and a chance to really pull in some characters from the universe that I think are going to be dope because they already get referenced in the game. Some of them that, you know, never get screen time, but get referenced or talked about. And I'm like, man, the way they made Jean feel in the game and I'm not able to control her at all. Oh, that sucks. But I really wish I was. You know, some of the baddies are still alive and kind of around in those in those ways. you know, from outside of the universe and some potentially within the universe. And you just get a glimpse of what can be.

22:08And I think games like this are always really fun because it is almost like that Marvel cliffhanger at the end of a movie. You're like, oh man, if they only had done this or if they only incorporated this, this would add something even cooler to it. So I'm really happy with it. I probably give it around an eight. I think it's a game that is worth playing now. I think it's definitely worth playing so you don't get spoiled for it once it gets out and is available for you all to be able to play it. Absolutely spend time in photo mode and definitely spend time collecting pieces of material to go build out your character and get more skins into the game and get more outfits into the game.

22:51Also, they have the nightmare levels and challenges. those are kind of the only kind of weird layer of the game so far they do a really smart thing in terms of they kind of help build some of the backstory but i would have rather they be something where you're taking on missions that are related to the kind of backstory that is being shared as opposed to kind of just ornamental things that you find within your cabin which is a place that you go back to uh to either retry levels or to kind of um uh to to to kind of go back and get a space to be able to save um i would have much rather those be like mission-based things as opposed to almost like time-based trials or almost they call them gauntlets where you're kind of going through and and and trying to achieve a score um i they fit but they also don't they don't feel as interesting as most of the other parts of the game.

23:53It feels something that was not, I'm not going to say tacked on, but it did feel like a easier way to fill some gaps for some stuff that was in terms of content. I would have much rather that be narrative based stuff, uh, because that would have made a ton more sense for, for the rest of the game in lots of different ways. All that to say, this game is a banger, massive shout out to our friends over at Insomniac, massive shout out to our friends over at Sony for, for putting out another game that is awesome. I'm sad I didn't get them damn side plates. I want them side plates. I need them joints for my PlayStation.

24:25But overall, really happy with the game. I think this is another game for 2026 that is a banger. I think this is another game that is going to potentially get some Game of the Year award nods or potentially some recognition. And I really am excited for Asomniac to do more of these games in the future. So massive love to them. Massive love to you for checking out our review of Wolverine. and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. We have a couple of other games that are coming out very, very soon. I still have to share my Animusha review and some other games that I'm playing currently now that I can't talk about because I'm under embargoed.

25:03But all that to say, I hope you have a wonderful day. We'll see you soon. Peace.