Two Hours With Marvel’s Wolverine
I GOT TO PLAY MARVEL’S WOLVERINE YESTERDAY!
PlayStation Canada and Insomniac Games invited me to go hands-on with Marvel’s Wolverine, giving me around two hours with the game and the opportunity to meet some of the developers behind it.
As someone who has been incredibly excited for this game, getting to finally sit down and play it was a pretty special experience.
And honestly?
I came away very impressed.
Starting With Logan
My hands-on began right at the beginning of the game.
I was introduced to Logan, his story and the controls before eventually being thrown into Team X, featuring Mystique and Sabretooth.
From there, the demo jumped me around to different sections of the game, allowing me to experience a much broader range of environments, encounters and level designs.
It was a smart way of showcasing the game’s variety without giving away too much.
The Combat Is Absolutely Awesome
Let’s get straight to the good stuff.
The combat is fucking brutal.
It’s fast, aggressive and wonderfully violent, with every slash and impact carrying some serious weight.
And yes, there is plenty of gore.
Thankfully, if that’s not your thing, gore can be turned off.
There are a ton of special moves available, but Tornado Claw quickly became my favourite. It’s absolutely fantastic for dealing with groups of enemies and made me feel like an absolute menace when I got into a rhythm.
I even got to fight a Sentinel.
And yes…
I died once.
Liam McIntyre IS Wolverine
Liam McIntyre absolutely kills it as Logan.
He’s managed to make Wolverine his own without losing the characteristics that make Logan feel like Logan.
His more feral moments are particularly fantastic. You can really feel the anger and animalistic side of Wolverine coming through in his performance.
And yes, Troy Baker is also here as Dr. Nathaniel Essex, aka Mr. Sinister, and once again delivers a fantastic performance.
But Sabretooth Stole the Show
This might have been my favourite part of the entire hands-on.
I’ve loved Sabretooth since I was a kid, but the character hasn’t always been given the attention or depth I think he deserves in games.
That’s definitely changing here.
There are some genuinely interesting layers to this version of Victor, particularly when it comes to his relationship with Logan.
There’s this wonderfully twisted brotherly love/hate dynamic between them, and I found myself wanting to see more every time they were on screen together.
I’m so damn happy to finally see my boy getting the attention he deserves.
Traversal Takes Some Getting Used To
Traversal is another area I really enjoyed, although it took me a little while to get comfortable with it.
Scaling walls vertically in particular took some adjustment, but once I started getting the hang of it, moving around the environments felt really satisfying.
It’s another area where I’m curious to see how the system develops across the full game.
Stealth Is Actually Really Fun
I wasn’t expecting stealth to be one of my favourite discoveries.
It is a genuinely viable option, and I had a lot of fun sneaking around and picking enemies off.
But importantly, you aren’t forced into playing that way.
You can approach encounters however you want.
And honestly, that feels very appropriate for Wolverine.
Sometimes you want to sneak through an area.
Sometimes you just want to rip through the front door and start throwing people around.
Both work.
One Thing I’d Change: The Camera
The camera is very close and heavily over-the-shoulder.
Most of the time, I actually liked it. It makes the combat feel incredibly intimate and puts you right into the action.
The downside is that when you’re surrounded by a lot of enemies, I occasionally found myself getting hit by something I simply couldn’t see.
I’d personally love an option to pull the camera back slightly.
It didn’t ruin the experience whatsoever, but after two hours, it’s definitely something I noticed.
If You Loved Wolverine: Origins…
I’ve got plenty more to say about Marvel’s Wolverine, but there’s one thing I feel pretty confident saying already.
If you loved the old Wolverine: Origins game, you are going to absolutely LOVE this.
That same feeling of playing as an incredibly powerful, violent Wolverine is here, but Insomniac is taking the concept much further.
There’s a real sense that this is going to be a proper Wolverine experience rather than simply another Marvel game.
Final Impressions
Two hours wasn’t nearly enough.
I left the hands-on wanting to play more, which is probably the best compliment I can give it.
The combat is fantastic, Liam McIntyre is brilliant as Logan, Sabretooth is shaping up to be something special, the environments are varied and the freedom to approach encounters through combat or stealth gives the experience some welcome flexibility.
This is easily one of my most anticipated games, and after finally getting my hands on it, I’m even more excited than I was before.
Huge thanks to PlayStation Canada, Insomniac Games and Marvel Games for having me. 🐺❤️
