Marvel’s Wolverine is something of an old school, AAA action game packed to the brim with hacking, slashing and carnage. And though X-Men purists may balk a bit at some of the story’s creative license, the superhero game itself is pretty much as expected.
The story kicks off with a mutant geneticist named Nathaniel Essex—who eventually becomes the villain Mister Sinister—recruiting James “Logan” Howlett into Team X, a mutant-protecting squad. Initially, Logan is a feral beast with very little memory of his past. How did he get that way? What horrible event caused this? Why is our hero part of a seeming group of bad guys? That’s to be revealed.
In the meantime, Logan, now codenamed “Wolverine,” joins Sabretooth and Mystique in a struggle against Bolivar Trask. Trask is a scientist who’s abducting, studying and experimenting on mutants in an effort to develop massive weapons (Sentinels) that will potentially wipe mutant-kind from existence.
Marvel’s Wolverine also explores Logan’s romantic feelings for the super-telepath Jean Gray. They battle Trask’s forces together and fight opposing efforts who’re using something called a “Helix Engine”—a machine that can activate dormant mutant genes but kill people who lack those genetic features. The struggle rages on, and along the way, Logan will confront his violent nature and piece together his forgotten past.
The X-Men? Well, they’re not in this game. But there’s always a sequel.
Gameplay wise, the focus is on a lot of very fast-paced combat filled with aggressive slashing and destruction, special parries and brutal finishing takedowns. There are new techniques and passive abilities to upgrade. Logan can scale walls with his extended claws and leap across large distances. He also battles foes in some high-octane motorcycle chases.
Marvel’s Wolverine is a single-player, narrative-driven action-adventure made exclusively for the PlayStation 5. It does not offer any multiplayer or co-op play. The game can be purchased as a physical copy on disc and does not require an online connection to play.
For all of his savage rage and bloodletting, Logan has a moral code. He works to control his animalistic rage and tries to do what’s right. He may not always appear to be heroic, but he balks against evil choices and chooses to protect the innocent, sometimes in selflessly painful ways.
This game features Logan literally cutting loose in savage, raging battles against groups of foes at every turn. The combat is aggressively frenetic and fast. Logan jams his long metal claws up through jawlines and temples, he brutally hacks and slashes, he forcefully tears victims apart. Limbs are lopped off and gore spews freely. Sabretooth rips off heads, gouges out eyes and jams a broken bottle into someone’s jugular.
And that’s only a tiny sample of the fleshy carnage on tap. In fact, the game rewards players for being hyper-aggressive in their bloodletting. Along with the many superpowers on display, someone is also killed and resurrected from the dead.
There is quite a bit of flirting between Logan and Jean Gray. The two kiss, and it’s implied that they were once in a physical relationship. Mystique is in a same-sex marriage with a female character (revealed through wedding photos). There are some brief shots of bared backsides (non-sexual).
The language can get very foul at times, with many uses of f- and s-words, as well as “b–tard,” “a–,” “d–n” and “h—.”
(It should be noted that there is an option to turn off the gore and tone down the foul language of the game in the game menu. Unavoidable mess in cinematic scenes is subsequently blurred.)
Marvel’s Wolverine is a straightforward adventure game packed with selfless heroics but a whole lot of blood-spewing carnage. Don’t come expecting supers in clean yellow suits.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
