Wolverine, The Hypocrisy of Games Media & When You AAA Too Hard

Back in June, I shared my impressions of the upcoming Insomniac Wolverine game in my E3 Special post and they weren’t exactly glowing.

But I certainly wasn’t alone in my reaction, as social media was soon flooded with similarly mixed opinions. And that’s fine – it’s marketing material designed to sell people on the game and people have a right to express their opinion on if said material was successful or not. This is the way it’s always been and yet . . .

‘Marvel’s Wolverine Is Another Victim Of The Internet’s Endless Gaming Negativity’

That was the headline on a Gamespot article that I found rather laughable, not because I disagree with the general premise that there’s an online negativity machine – social platforms like X and YouTube reward outrage and toxic engagement and that’s been a growing trend for years. But games media is just as guilty of perpetuating toxicity and profiting from it.

More subtle about it, perhaps, more reliant on snark and sarcasm than outright abuse, but toxic just the same. I’ve written about this before – about games media tearing games down relentlessly for clicks. Participating in the very same engagement economy they’re suddenly so determined to criticise.

Which brings us back to Wolverine. I’ve not played Wolverine. I can only share my opinion on what I’ve seen and what I’ve seen has disappointed me. Does that make me yet another cog in the ‘hate machine’? I don’t think so.

The big issue I have with Wolverine is that it doesn’t look like the game trusts me to play it. It looks designed to provide an experience that’s as frictionless as it is accessible to all and I think the feeling of disappointment I have isn’t really about Wolverine, but about how I’ve come to feel about many modern AAA games – and that’s what prompted me to write this post.

Not because they’re badly made or, indeed, bad games! But because they’re increasingly frictionless. Cinematic. Polished. Accessible. Heavily telegraphed. Carefully choreographed and constantly reinforcing what the developer wants you to do. None of which, when appropriately proportioned, are necessarily bad design choices, but when you sand down every rough edge, what are you left with?

You’re left with games designed around eliminating opportunities for the player to fail, experiment, get lost, make a mistake or – most importantly – express themselves. Spectacle without agency. That’s the heart of it, I think. And that’s where games like Wolverine have increasingly lost me.