There’s something inherently contradictory about Insomniac's Wolverine. Based on the early info we got on the game regarding the type of Wolverine story this was going to tell, it sounded enticing, telling the tale of a complex character with a mature tone.
Wolverine canonically has foot-long metal claws that emerge from between his knuckles on each hand. If that guy were real and got into a fight, it would be extremely bloody and gory. Frankly, it’s a wonder we have gotten so few versions of Wolverine that are willing to show the brutal viscera built into the character.
Thankfully, Insomniac followed Raven Software’s lead and decided to develop a Wolverine game with an M rating, seemingly giving themselves the freedom to explore a more adult side of him. The official rating mentions blood and gore, intense violence, drug references, partial nudity, and strong language.
This immediately creates an expectation for fans of the character that they'll get to play something tonally similar to James Mangold's Logan. In those darker Wolverine stories, violence serves as a storytelling device to examine the character on a deeper level, rather than something simply thrown in for the sake of fan service.
In Insomniac's Wolverine, the way that the dialogue is written and the gameplay is designed feel completely at odds with the seemingly mature content that was promised by the developers.
For all the blood and dismemberment, Wolverine consistently disrespects its audience, treating the player as if they are a child, not capable of understanding any nuance or complexity. Characters in the game constantly over-explain information the player has already been given, conversations repeatedly hammer home points that really didn't require any explanation, and the game seems to be terrified that the player might become lost or fail to follow the plot if they aren't constantly having their hand held.
It is also noticeable in the game's environmental design. Wolverine's heightened senses are obviously an important part of his character, but scent trails and visual markers can make exploration feel extremely unnatural and solely want the player to follow a predetermined, brightly highlighted path.
This sort of level design becomes even more frustrating when you consider what Insomniac was able to achieve with the level design in its Spider-Man games, which gave players considerably more freedom to explore their environments. Insomniac has launched a patch to fix this issue, so the studio itself has acknowledged the criticism.
This level of constant patronisation leads to a tonal disconnect that permeates the entire experience. The game seemingly wants to present Wolverine as a violent, dangerous, and mature character, but simultaneously treats the player as though they have the attention span of a child.
This contradiction leads to a bigger question: which audience is Wolverine actually targeting?
There is nothing wrong with making a superhero game which is accessible to a younger demographic. Nor does an M rating automatically mean a story needs to be as relentlessly bleak as a Cormac McCarthy novel. The problem comes when a project like this tries to combine graphic violence with writing that is unwilling to trust its audience to engage their brains.
Frankly, the 1990s X-Men animated series was able to tackle a plethora of complex subject matter while being specifically aimed at a younger audience. That show successfully explored themes like social prejudice, discrimination, death, political extremism, and moral ambiguity without constantly stopping to spell out precisely what its audience was supposed to be thinking at each moment.
Insomniac had the opportunity to tell a genuinely grown-up, deep story about a character whose entire existence revolves around an inescapable cycle of violence and trauma. It could have tackled the existentialism that comes with telling a story about a character who has been manufactured to be a weapon.
Simply showing a ton of blood onscreen doesn't make a story mature. If anything, it makes the contrast more obvious. Wolverine doesn't feel like a game made for adults, but it also doesn't feel like a game aimed at children either. Instead, it finds itself caught somewhere between the two, with the attached M rating claiming to provide a mature experience that the product itself never delivers on.
For many players seeking a more authentic version of Logan, maybe it’s worth checking out these five awesome X-Men games.
