Marvel's Wolverine review: An epic adventure, light on trimmings

“I’m not the guy that saves cities,” Wolverine grumbles in his shiny new video game, and that line cuts like a claw right to the heart of the experience.

The developers at Insomniac Games are the best at what they do, and what they do is cinematic action-adventure games with great combat. If that's what you're looking for from Marvel's Wolverine, that is exactly what you'll get.

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Until now, however, Insomniac had also been known for hugely enjoyable open worlds - the player could freely swing around New York in its previous three Marvel collabs, the hugely successful Spider-Man games that have dropped since 2018.

Wolverine, as he rightly points out in the game, is not that guy. He isn’t associated with one city in the same way as Spidey, forcing the developers to think outside their usual box of tricks. If he’s not the guy who saves cities, who exactly is he?

When you think of Wolverine, one of the things you think of are brutal action scenes with blood flying everywhere. On this power fantasy, the Wolverine game definitely delivers.

The fights are really brutal. The combos you can build up are very satisfying. And with multiple difficulty levels to choose from (you can change your choice at any moment), there's an extra challenge here if you want it.

But even on the easier difficulties, you’ll feel every bit like the clawed antihero of the silver screen as you tear through enemies and dish out damage like it’s going out of style.

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The story is strong, too. It keeps you guessing up until the end, with the decision to surround Wolverine with potential enemies (Sabretooth and Mystique are his best buds at the start of the game) really paying off. You don’t know who to trust, or where the next boss fight is coming from, and that does keep you on your toes.

The game builds to a satisfying end, with the stakes ramping up and your action options increasing, with some big swings in story landing with just the right amount of surprise (you don’t want to be guessing every twist correctly, after all).

The performances are really good, as well. Liam McIntyre is an excellent Wolverine. He can play the brooding lone wolf, and he can play the big-hearted hero underneath the tough exterior. He can hold his own in moments of humour, anger and romantic vulnerability.

Jean Grey plays a prominent role in this, with Krizia Bajos putting in a star-making performance as Logan’s potential love interest. She deserves to book a lot more video game roles off the back of this, as she does fine work here anchoring the story in some sort of emotional truth. She holds her own, and goes on a fairly meaty arc, whilst having to carry a lot of the exposition and plot-servicing beats along the way.

Also deserving of a shoutout is Troy Baker as Nathaniel Essex, the leader of the team that Wolverine is on. The video game legend tries to steal every scene that he's in, and he does really well at that. He’s sneering, mysterious and, yes, sinister. We’ll be stunned if he’s not nominated for awards at the end of the year.

If there's one thing that lets this game down, which is the reason why I'm not giving it full marks, it would be the level design.

As I mentioned up top, Insomniac has opted not to do an open world this time, and that does make sense for the character. However, the developers haven't really replaced that open-world scope with enough depth elsewhere.

Marvel’s Wolverine feels like a PS2 game at points, or like one of the old LEGO games. Allow me to explain what I mean before you fly off the handle.

In each level of the main quests (which are strictly linear affairs with no branching choices), there'll be a small handful of collectables to look for and find.

A chest containing nondescript ‘materials’ might be hiding around a corner, or a whisky bottle could be sitting on the side, but that’s about all you can expect in terms of extracurricular activities.

There's no such thing as a side mission in this game, either. You’re always trapped in a main mission, even when you’re just walking around at Wolverine’s home.

The only sideshows available are the ‘Nightmare Doors’ that pop up in every mission - cross the threshold and Logan can try to unlock one of his long-lost memories.

I do feel like Insomniac has slightly cut a corner with the Nightmare Doors. The idea of unpacking a load of Wolverine's forgotten moment makes sense for the character - it's quite appealing, even - but the way the developers have realised this big idea is basically just by reusing assets.

To unlock a memory, Wolverine will have to do a traversal challenge or a combat gauntlet, the latter of which are always against the same enemies you're fighting in the main game. You’re not going to unlock a World War 2 chapter from Wolverine’s past, for example. Instead, you’re just fighting the same enemies as usual, now in a foggy mind palace.

When you return to reality, the unlocked memories are short, vague audio logs that you can listen to in a menu. This is underwhelming. It would have been cool to actually see more of Logan’s past. Or, better yet, to play those past moments ourselves. This is a game, after all.

The game’s skill tree and progression system also feels a bit underbaked. If you do a decent job of collecting XP, you can unlock every upgrade in the skill tree long before the final mission.

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Similarly, I only had a couple of outfits left to collect by the time I’d rolled the credits, and I didn’t feel like I was trying particularly hard to find the necessary materials for them. This feels like an easy Platinum trophy, which, to be fair, will be music to the ears of some people.

Not everything needs to be a 100-hour slog. Despite being brisk, this game feels epic, especially when you’re focusing on the action and the story (not so much with the measly serving of trimmings on the side).

And I do want to stress that I loved the story, along with the combat and the performances. This felt like a fresh Wolverine story, and I’m more than happy to sign up now for the heavily-signposted sequel. Plus, the musical score was great, with its central guitar riff still rattling around in my mind now. And the graphics are top tier.

If you're looking for a superhero movie as a game, that's what Insomniac is great at, and that's what this is.

Wolverine might not be the guy that saves cities, but he is the guy that just fronted a really fun game. Bring on the inevitable sequels, bub.

Marvel’s Wolverine launches 15 September, exclusively on PS5. You can order your copy now.

Read more:

• Marvel's Wolverine preview: Claw-some action with some cloying moments
• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 console live stock updates: Where to pre-order

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