Format: PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Raven
Price: 39.99
Reviewed by: David Valjalo
A tie-in to the Marvel Comics film, Wolverine is a game that sets out its eccentric, explicit stall early. A stunning opener that hurls our hairy anti-hero out of an aircraft and into a full-on, parachute-less sky-dive towards a jungle of unwitting mercs sets the bar a little too high for the rest of the package.
The meat of Wolverine’s meal is the action, ripped straight from the best of the hack-and-slash genre (see God of War, Ninja Gaiden), Soldier of Fortune developer Raven aren’t afraid to use something borrowed to up their ante. The experience of brutalising the limitless hordes of enemies, or taking down some of Logan’s nemeses in scenes taken straight from the film, is a blood-filled ballet of slicing and dicing. The combat system is intuitive and responsive, providing fans with the most satisfying entry into the
characters roster of videogames to date.
It’s not all fun and slaying, however. As is expected of a title timed to coincide with a movie release, there are issues that needlessly infuriate – boss battles that rely on joyless repetition and puzzles that frustrate rather than pace – almost smothering the game’s core attractions.
As inconsistent as Logan’s regenerative vest, Wolverine is a title that at its worst delivers a buggy, passable action-adventure but at its best reaches an adrenaline high that the motion picture itself never managed to achieve.