Marvel's Wolverine Is One of Sony's Worst-Reviewed PS5 Exclusives
Overview & Key Takeaways
Marvel's Wolverine is a rare critical misfire for Sony and developer Insomniac Games. Critics bashed the PS5 game's linear gameplay and narrative.
After the huge critical and commercial success of Insomniac Games' Spider-Man series — especially Marvel's Spider-Man 2 — the studio's bubble has been burst by Marvel's Wolverine, a limited and mediocre action game despite its slick visuals.
That's according to critics, who have given the new title a distinctly lukewarm, if not exactly negative, reception. As of this writing, Marvel's Wolverine sits at 77 on Metacritic and 81 on OpenCritic: ratings that are objectively not that bad, but definitely below par for this studio, for AAA productions at this level, and for marquee PlayStation exclusives.
Marvel's Wolverine review scores are low for a PS5 exclusive
While there are glowing reviews from smaller fan sites out there, most mainstream game critics seem underwhelmed. IGN's Simon Cardy sets the mood in a 6/10 review. Echoing many reviewers, Cardy is taken by the story but finds the "initially slick and satisfying" combat wears thin by the game's conclusion. "Marvel's Wolverine is okay," Cardy writes.
Kotaku's Kenneth Shepard musters more enthusiasm, but only so much more. Shepard acknowledges the game as a welcome break from overstuffed AAA design, and funds that its story effectively touches on the X-Men's sadly timeless theme of oppression. But he says that both the action and the treatment of Logan's personal struggles can be one-note. "It feels like a structural throwback to a simpler time when games didn’t have to consume your entire life," Shepard said. "I just hope the inevitable sequel doesn’t feel as stagnant as this one."
One of the harshest reviews comes from YouTube critic Skill Up (Ralph Panebianco). "I do not recommend Marvel's Wolverine," Skill Up says, and delivers a devastating summary of his video in the description: "Marvel's Wolverine's uneven story and sub-par combat are not enough to carry the game's 20-ish hour run-time, but it's the obnoxious, hand-holding game design that makes Marvel's Wolverine so objectionable; patronizing the player with constant guidance, pop up reminders, GPS pointers, audio pings and sign-posting." For Skill Up, Wolverine represents the nadir of those much-satirized AAA game design trends.
Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Computer Entertainment
Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell broadly agrees that Wolverine follows trends by rote, especially those of other first-party Sony action games like God of War. But, in his three-star review, Tapsell notes that the characterization of Logan himself is surprisingly less dour, and quite appealing. "This Wolverine is openly vulnerable, emotive, apologetic, kind," Tapsell writes. "He's a straight up action hero, despite his own protestations, and a totally charming one."
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Polygon's own Giovanni Colantonio sums up Marvel's Wolverine as "the biggest disappointment of the PS5 era." "Marvel’s Wolverine too often comes across as a forced attempt to engineer an award-winning game," Colantonio writes. "Visceral combat and impressive blockbuster spectacle can’t rescue a melodramatic comic book story that tries to run as many emotional bases as possible in 15 blood-soaked hours."
You can see if you agree when Marvel's Wolverine launches exclusively on PS5 on Sept. 15.
