Marvel's Wolverine Review: Near-Perfect Combat, TheGamer's Verdict

Marvel's Wolverine is worth buying if you're after a brutal narrative beat 'em up, as long as you can accept exploration on autopilot. Insomniac delivers its most mature game yet, and it shows in every swipe of the claws, says TheGamer.

The pitch is simple on paper: Logan tries to piece together memories scattered across decades, long before the Weapon X origin everyone knows. Insomniac swaps out the classic superhero tone of Spider-Man for something darker and more adult, carried by a Logan voiced by Liam McIntyre, less brash and angry than the Hugh Jackman version. Opposite him, Jean Grey (Krizia Bajos) holds a central place - their relationship becomes the heart of the story.

The combat, the promise truly kept

This was the point that absolutely had to work, and it does, the journalist admits. The fights are fast, bloody, visceral: Logan shreds his enemies, shoves them off ledges, pounces on his prey like an enraged skunk. The system starts out simple but quickly grows richer with special attacks, a rage mode with particularly gory executions, and tough enemies that force you to parry rather than charge in head first.

A clever detail: Logan's regeneration doesn't reset the visual damage to his costume, unlike what many players initially feared. And surprisingly, Logan remains fragile despite his adamantium skeleton - a player who neglects their parries can be punished severely. This real risk gives weight to every exchange of blows, far from a power fantasy with no stakes.

The story, for its part, hits hard. Insomniac takes narrative detours no one expected for Logan's first solo outing, and the entire supporting cast (Mystique, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Nathaniel Essex) is written with care. According to TheGamer, the ending lands as hard as the first Marvel's Spider-Man's did, which is no small compliment.

But it starts to feel repetitive

Logan's moveset barely evolves past the halfway point, despite an original mechanic kept secret. The result: fights end up repeating themselves, lacking new combinations to keep things fresh. Exploration suffers from the same issue - the levels don't really make you want to get lost in them, and the collectibles (crates, whisky bottles) slow the pace without adding real interest, since Logan's senses automatically point them out. The setpieces, meanwhile, overuse QTEs that you can't even fail, which somewhat kills the tension.

Verdict: if you loved Marvel's Spider-Man for its writing and are looking for a more technical, bloodier combat system, Marvel's Wolverine checks every box despite a lackluster exploration. For the exact release date and practical information, see our dedicated article.