There is a moment early in a high-octane chase sequence where you race to rescue a group of kidnapped young mutants. After tearing through an armoured transport door following a ferocious fight, a terrified young mutant looks up at you and asks, “Are you a superhero?” Logan looks back and replies, “No, kid. I’m Wolverine.”
It’s a chilling, goosebump-inducing beat that sets the tone for the entire game. Iconic lines like “I am the best there is at what I do, and what I do isn’t very nice,” aren’t just fan service, they are the core DNA of this experience.
However, Marvel’s Wolverine is not a flawless game, largely due to the massive expectations placed on Insomniac Games. Having delivered a remarkable run on current-gen hardware, including Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Man Remastered, and Spider-Man 2, this marks their fifth major title on PlayStation 5.
Before diving in, setting expectations is key: Marvel’s Wolverine is a single-player, linear, story-focused action-adventure game. If you are expecting an expansive open world like Spider-Man or wide open-area levels like Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy, you will be disappointed. This is a tight, corridor-driven action game that propels you from one explosive set piece to the next, pitting you against hordes of enemies across globe-trotting locations including the Canadian Wilderness, the crowded streets of Tokyo, and the crime-ridden island nation of Madripoor.
Table of Contents
Narrative & Characters: A Gritty, Standout Mutant Story
The narrative presentation is where Insomniac truly shines. The voice acting is stellar across the board, with Logan’s growls and grunts carrying the same heavy authority as Kratos in God of War.
The game presents an original narrative distinct from past comic arcs or movies. Set thirty years after Nathaniel Essex (voiced by Troy Baker) rescued a feral, blood-soaked Logan in the wilderness, Logan remains haunted by amnesia. The story kicks off with Logan back in Team X alongside Sabretooth and Mystique on a mission to save Essex. Unlike traditional X-Men lore where mutants align strictly with Magneto or Professor X, this story carves its own path in a world where mutants remain hidden and vulnerable. The main narrative centres on human supremacist Bolivar Trask, who is actively hunting and kidnapping mutants to eradicate them.
Jean Grey plays a pivotal role in the narrative, creating fantastic character dynamics during co-op combat sequences. Furthermore, the game introduces a fascinating plot device involving the detection of dormant mutant genes, posing deep thematic questions about identity, humanity, and survival. Logan’s backstory feels fresh, serving as an exceptional origin story that ranks alongside Hugh Jackman’s silver-screen portrayal.
Combat & Gameplay: Visceral, Hack-and-Slash Brutality
Combat feels like a glorious throwback to classic PlayStation 2-era action games like God of War. On standard encounters, a simple Square-Square-Triangle combo can slice through basic grunts. Yet, beneath that accessible surface lies a rewarding combat framework with unlockable moves, active parries, and directional leaps.
As you progress, you unlock:
- Area-of-Effect Spin Attacks: Excellent for crowd control.
- Stagger Kicks: Crucial for opening up heavily armoured foes and bosses.
- Long-Distance Leaps: Instinctive gap-closers to impale ranged attackers.
- Passive Adaptations: Including bullet deflection while sprinting or health regeneration on special finishers.
Logan’s healing factor is tied directly to combat engagement. You feature three Rage bars. As they fill, your aggression and attack power skyrocket. If your health drops to zero, Rage is consumed to immediately restore your health. Fall in combat without full Rage, or miscalculate a traversal jump, and you will die.
While early footage showed basic encounters against Sentinels, the enemy variety evolves significantly deeper in the campaign, challenging you with Bolivar Trask’s mercenary Reavers, Sentinels, and iconic supervillains like Omega Red. You also utilise Logan’s animalistic tracking senses to stalk and ambush target groups. The action is unapologetically mature, featuring decapitations, dismemberment, blood-splattered environments, and explicit language.
Presentation, Audio, and Performance
Graphically, Insomniac once again demonstrates their technical mastery over PS5 hardware. The visual fidelity on base hardware is enhanced further for PS5 Pro features active Ray Tracing, high refresh rate support, and dynamic destruction. Logan’s outfits tear dynamically in real time during combat, exposing wounds that heal before your eyes.
The sound design is equally impressive:
- Tempest 3D Audio: Provides precise spatial awareness, allowing you to hear enemy strikes from all angles.
- DualSense Haptics: Adaptive triggers deliver weight and resistance with every claw swipe and bone-crunching takedown.
- Accessibility: Features an extensive, industry-leading suite of accessibility options.
Pacing and Side Content
Clocking in at roughly 17 hours for a standard difficulty playthrough, the main path maintains a relentless tempo. However, the side content leaves room for improvement.
Throughout the corridors, you encounter Nightmare Trials, optional traversal or combat memory challenges. Completing these unlocks audio logs and souvenirs detailing Logan’s past from the 1800s onward. While the lore is engaging, the delivery feels under-baked due to the lack of fully rendered, cinematically animated scenes for these memories.
On the cosmetic front, Insomniac excels, offering a massive array of unlockable suits and claw variants ranging from classic brown/yellow comic suits to film-inspired designs. Additionally, New Game Plus is available immediately upon completion, letting you carry your upgraded abilities into a fresh run.
Verdict
Marvel’s Wolverine doesn’t reinvent the action-adventure wheel, but it delivers precisely what it sets out to achieve: an authentic, mature, and cinematic Wolverine experience. If you want a deep open-world RPG, look elsewhere. But if you want to unleash full adamantium rage in a high-octane linear adventure, Logan’s latest outing is essential playing.
Editor’s Rating: 8.5 / 10
Pros
- Gripping Narrative
- Satisfyingly Violent Combat
- Technical Showcase of the PS5’s abilities
- A tight, 17-hour linear campaign that rarely wears out its welcome
Cons
- Repetitive Combat Dynamics
- Nightmare Trial memory rewards rely on audio logs rather than full cinematic flashbacks
More
- Developer: Insomniac Games
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Platforms: PS5
- Price: Rs. 4,999 on the PlayStation Store
We played a review copy of Marvel’s Wolverine provided by Sony.
