Insomniac's Wolverine Slammed as Too Conservative by Critics

A DualShockers op-ed argues Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine plays it too safe by reusing the Spider-Man combat framework, wasting a universe full of potential.

Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine is catching heat, and not the kind Logan usually dishes out. A new op-ed from DualShockers is calling the game's design too conservative, arguing it wastes a universe bursting with potential.

Writer Michael Manning starts by looking back at the beloved Marvel's Spider-Man series. His take? Insomniac basically slapped bloodier finishers and a few different special moves onto Wolverine, while keeping the same overall combat skeleton from Spider-Man. For fans hoping a solo Wolverine game would feel distinct, that's exactly the sore spot.

The piece argues that Wolverine's centuries of combat experience and near-monstrous close-quarters savagery could support a completely different rhythm. With his deep well of experience and raw physical power, most grunts should be cut down like paper, with only the big bosses demanding real care. The overall combat experience, in his view, should lean more toward the Dynasty Warriors series.

Manning also points out that Wolverine is a hunter by definition, yet the game skips mechanics like investigating battle traces and tracking opponents. Instead, it uses guided scent-tracking, which he sees as lowering the barrier rather than letting you truly play a hunter.

The critique then zooms out to Marvel games as a whole. After the success of Marvel's Spider-Man, the author argues, Insomniac leans toward copying the formula rather than giving each hero their own genre. He throws out a few simple pitches: a Captain America crime thriller where you peel back layers of a massive conspiracy, a Hulk psychological horror game about balancing Banner and the big guy, and a Thor game in the style of PS2-era God of War but with a lighter tone. He also holds up Square Enix's Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as a counterexample, noting how it made each character play a different role.

He wraps it up bluntly: the game is far from perfect, but it shows every Marvel hero or team deserves special treatment. They can have their own unique experiences without copying each other's mechanics. Insomniac struck gold with Marvel's Spider-Man, but it's disappointing that they seem to have mined that vein dry and keep digging anyway.

So what do you think? Should Wolverine get his own genre entirely, or is the Spider-Man formula still worth building on? Let us know in the comments.