Beat. I started off on the hardest difficulty and it was insanely hard. The sheer amount of damage from enemies, how many hits they take to kill, the awkward controls and finicky hitboxes made me have to save state scum for every single enemy and most actions. I hated the controls and moves so much. Most annoying of all was the inability to move backwards while jumping, which made the platforming and trying to be evasive in combat far more difficult than necessary. Add to that the ponderous way that he moves and turns, the delay to recover from a fall, pointless teetering on edges and needing to first duck before jumping in order to get good height. And the damn double press direction to run, a control scheme that I detest because it is too easy to pull off accidentally when trying to do short precise movements, while also being awkward to pull off when you really need it. I found him to often stumble around awkwardly while trying to hit enemies, moving through them and completely missing. The basic downward slash was the most useful attack, but it has a slight delay and a very precise hitbox that requires the enemy to actually touch the pixels of the claw. It was obnoxiously easy to miss because the enemy was too close or slightly too far away. The running slash was good, and the best way to deal with groups, but wasted a lot of time. Next was the ducking upper slash, which could hit higher than the other slash, but was even more awkward to pull off because you can't move while ducking. The super claw jump was a great way to deal with high up enemies, but the timing of when to release the claws was incredibly precise. Not being able to move backwards during the jump made it awkward to aim. The fury slash did not seem to have any benefit over the standard slash. The T pose move was a bit awkward with the required 2 button press and wind up; I didn't find it useful outside the 1 boss that required it. The jump kick had such a ridiculous wind up that it was useless. And the punch and backhand, which seem like pointless moves without any kind of mechanics to support non lethal play. Otherwise why would you ever use fists over claws? Given how many enemies fly and/or use ranged attacks, and how frequently everyone bounces around when taking damage, Wolverine's moveset was woefully inadequate. The game needed instant claw attacks in all directions with generous hit boxes, easy to use aerial claw attacks, and a block. Cool brutal finishers and instant kills would have been nice too; like pulling enemies off from below, impaling an enemy to use as a shield, decapitations and limb severing, cutting guns etc. As it stands, the game is so awkward that it is pretty much impossible to avoid taking significant damage, forcing you to rely heavily on the healing factor.

The 1st level was incredibly awkward and I ended up using a walkthrough. Who thought it was good game design to require killing X enemies, but let some respawn and not contribute to the counter any more? The floating bot spawners were in very awkward positions and very difficult to hit and run without getting shot to pieces. I got the sense that you want to find the easiest enemies to kill while skipping the most difficult fights, as most stages contain more enemies than needed. I beat the 1st boss by jumping to take his shot to the foot for less damage and no knockback. The 2nd level ninjas were not bad. The triple tag team boss fight was a cool mechanic. I needed the walkthrough for Lady Deathstrike because how else would I know to use the specific T pose move to electrocute her? I almost killed her normally by camping high up and getting cheap hits when she jumped, but the time limit ran out. That was the only time during the entire game that I seen the robot girl. The soldier enemies of the 3rd level took bullet sponge to the extreme, to the point where the claws felt like plastic. I mean adamantium claws should be a 1 hit kill for any regular enemy. Maybe 2 to 3 hits if they have good armor. Not 10+! The cyborg boss was where I had to lower the difficulty because it was impossible to avoid damage with the boss, soldier and chopper all shooting. Each shot hit me for almost 20% damage while I only hit the boss for 3% each slash. Lowering the difficulty did not make the enemies less spongy, but at least I did not have to save state scum as much to avoid damage. The game was still plenty difficult though. I did not like the mechanic for beating Cyber; only being able to hurt him at the edges of the screen. The Black Queen boss was cool with it being all about avoiding damage while she wore herself out. The only boss where reading the info from the title screen helped. I absolutely hated the switch maze and didn't even realize the switches were interactable until a fair ways in. Then I had to backtrack and figure out what to do. And how many times did I screw up climbing and fall all the way to the bottom! That stage must not have had a time limit. The rat boss was incredibly annoying because the rats were the most difficult to hit thing in the entire game; come on give me a sweeping low strike. How embarrassing is it for Wolverine to get his ass kicked by rats? Final boss was not bad. I did hide in the upper corner to heal, which seemed necessary given how much damage I took in the previous area, and how his lightning attack seemed unavoidable.

I liked the presentation of the game, and how Wolverine actually had his most important power in a way that did not trivialize combat. But the game was simply too awkward to be fun.

6.0/10