‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ Review Scores Reveal Mixed Reception Compared to Spider-Man Games

Insomniac Games has dedicated nearly a decade to establishing one of the most reliable superhero franchises in gaming, transforming ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ into a flagship title for PlayStation. This success set an incredibly high standard as the studio gears up for its next major project, centered around a hero known more for his brutal claws than web-slinging.

That project is ‘Marvel’s Wolverine,’ set to launch on September 15 exclusively for PS5. It has been positioned as the first installment in a planned X-Men trilogy, following revelations from a 2023 security breach that uncovered Insomniac’s broader Marvel roadmap. With Sony’s licensing deal now confirmed and the game just days away from release, review embargoes have finally been lifted.

The review scores depict a game that has been solidly received but does not quite reach the near-universal acclaim that Insomniac’s Spider-Man titles have garnered. Currently, ‘Wolverine’ holds a score of 78 on Metacritic and between 80 to 81 on OpenCritic, earning a “Strong” rating with about 79 percent of critics recommending the game, according to OpenCritic’s aggregated data.

Scores from individual outlets have varied significantly based on how reviewers assessed the game’s more focused combat compared to its emotional narrative. IGN, GamesRadar+, and GameSpot each rated it 6 out of 10, while CGMagazine, PS LifeStyle, and ScreenRant landed in the middle with 7 out of 10. On the higher end, Destructoid, Push Square, and TheGamer each awarded 8 out of 10, with DualShockers and Wccftech giving even higher scores of 8.5 out of 10.

This divide largely stems from critics’ responses to the game’s more linear structure compared to the open-world web-swinging of Spider-Man. In a four-out-of-five review, TheGamer’s George Foster praised the emotional depth of the game, stating that “Marvel’s Wolverine gets its claws in deep with a memorable, emotional, and high-stakes story, wonderful interpretations of Logan, Jean, and the rest of the cast, and brutally satisfying combat that distills the core of the character down to every snikt and claw pop.” Foster also noted that the game feels like a genuine first step toward a broader Insomniac X-Men universe.

Wccftech’s Alessio Palumbo also offered a positive review, albeit from a different perspective. He described ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ as a very different experience from Insomniac’s Spider-Man adaptations, but praised the developer for truly understanding this hero, giving it an 8.5-out-of-10 rating and commending the engaging story from start to finish.

However, not all reviewers were as impressed. Some pointed out repetitive combat and limited player agency as recurring drawbacks, with a few outlets suggesting that the game’s pacing dips in the latter half, despite Logan’s compelling character work sustaining much of the experience.

Context is crucial here, as Insomniac’s Spider-Man trilogy set an exceptionally high benchmark. The original ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ achieved an 87 on Metacritic, ‘Miles Morales’ scored 85, and ‘Spider-Man 2’ reached an impressive 90. Therefore, ‘Wolverine’s’ 78 indicates a notably cooler reception, even while still qualifying as “generally favorable” according to Metacritic’s standards.

For a franchise that has generated this much anticipation leading up to its launch, a strong but not spectacular critical reception isn’t necessarily a negative outcome, especially with two more X-Men titles on the horizon. Whether ‘Wolverine’ can maintain momentum for that trilogy in the same way Spider-Man did will likely depend on how player feedback aligns with these early critic scores once the game releases on PS5 later this month.

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