If you’re here, you’ve probably already pre-ordered Marvel’s Wolverine, or are perhaps holding off to see how it performs before you decide on nabbing an early copy and diving in. Either way, we’ve put Insomniac’s latest superhero title through its paces, and we can tell you that it holds up as well as Logan does under pressure. It’s a different beast than what the studio created before it, but its increased focus on cinematic presentation and a more linear trek through controlled environments have helped this one shine in its own way.
Of course, there is the PS5 Pro’s extra firepower, and the question of how much it improves the experience over its rather skinnier sibling. We’re diving into it all, claws out and roaring a challenge as we tell you all about what it feels like to watch Logan’s latest adventure unfold.
Let’s begin with all of the graphical modes on offer.
Graphical Modes
On the base PS5, Wolverine comes with a Fidelity Mode that runs the game at 30fps with an improved resolution for those among you who want the best possible visual fidelity from the game. However, we must note that the Performance Mode is no slouch, running the game at 60fps with ray tracing enabled. With only minor differences from the Fidelity mode in terms of the details we could see without actually stopping to look closer, we’d say that it’s a great default option to have.
It’s worth noting that performance was excellent across both options, with only minor frame drops that you really need to be looking for to catch. When you’re making your way through a level or tearing through enemies with your claws, these minor issues are not going to be a problem in the slightest.
Things get more interesting on the PS5 Pro, where both Fidelity and Performance Pro Modes retain the same frame rate targets as their PS5 counterparts, but with a higher rendering resolution and more visual effects. The Performance Pro mode is the highest possible performance you’re going to get out of the game, and with the improved resolution, anti-aliasing, and graphical enhancements that come with the Pro, it looks and runs like a charm.
Indeed, it does so well that we found ourselves gravitating to it since the Fidelity Mode’s cleaner image was only a slight improvement, and didn’t feel worth sacrificing the extra frames for considering how blindingly fast fights can unfold when this game gets going. We’re going to talk more about how the base PS5 and the PS5 Pro versions measure up against each other again, but it’s a good idea to get the ball rolling on all the good stuff that Insomniac has brought to Logan’s latest.
Character Models And Animation Quality
Let’s begin with how the cast looks and feels in action, beginning with the main man himself. Logan’s facial model is fantastic, conveying a gamut of emotions on a journey that pushes even him to his limits. The hair and clothing on his model and all of the other important cast members is phenomenal, and Sabertooth’s long, golden locks wave gently in the breeze, lending an ironic beauty to his grizzled visage.
We expected special attention to be paid to the costumes and uniforms that characters in such worlds tend to don to stand out, even more so since this was a game that required its visual identity to retain easy distinctions between friends and foes in battles where you only get a split second to decide where to point your claws.
Of course, swinging those claws around, or using your battle momentum to unleash their destructive potential in efficient and spectacular ways is a pillar of the experience, and we’re happy to say that it looks as good as it feels. Wolverine feels agile in your hands, his ability to leap astounding distances between foes made believable by how the game handles those jumps. His claws connect with satisfying brutality, and the blood flows generously to make the entire experience feel as visceral to lend a sort of primal, feral ferocity to the combat.
Enemies respond with great realism to your attacks, and it’s all so fluid that it almost feels like the game is doing the heavy lifting for you, requiring only that you tell Logan whom to attack, and how. Unleash his claws in any given direction, and you’re going to see who it isn’t just enemies who respond well to the stimuli he provides.
Destruction, Physics and Environmental Detail
Wolverine is a violent romp through varied environments, the story taking Logan to many places with varying infrastructure laid out for him to make use of in a fight. Explosive barrels, electric containers, debris, breakable objects, and combat that’s appropriately reactive in a physical sense further drive home the sense of violence that Logan’s ferocious attacks are meant to invoke.
Watching the world break down in real time as Logan and his enemies duke it out made us marvel (pun intended) at how Insomniac has managed to make the entire experience feel so naturally reactive to Logan’s chaotic presence while managing to make the game perform as well as it has. You can see a lot of polish in how environments are detailed, and how those intricacies are actually tied into the gameplay in the form of interactions that you can take advantage of in clever ways.
It also helps that each environment comes with a lot of detail, and elements that are constantly interacting with graphical systems to present a clean image and a very dynamic one. There’s always something happening around you to improve the immersion, be it those gentle reflections off of glass panels on buildings, or how shadows and reflections move along, responding to light and movement in ways that look ever so natural.
This is a world that’s believable from start to finish, and Insomniac’s usual polish is on full display, made even better by a more controlled presentation that has facilitated some incredibly detailed stages for you to tear apart.
Lighting, Shadows, and Reflections
We touched upon this briefly in our analysis of the environments, but the lighting system on offer in Wolverine performs well enough to merit a closer look. It’s excellent across the board, rays of light gently glancing off the first things they touch, behaving as they should to make outdoor environments truly shine, while indoor ones are also great at conveying the intended mood for a scene.
The reflections are fantastic, as are the shadows, indicating the level of quality we’ve come to expect from Insomniac while lending Wolverine the cinematic quality it needs to stand tall as a PS5-exclusive release worth its salt. That ray tracing’s present across the board immediately lends the presentation a layer of quality that you’d otherwise have to compromise on if you were playing on a PS5, and we’re glad to see studios making use of the console as well as they are in recent times.
Cinematics
We’ve saved the best for last, as the game’s cutscenes are where all of what we’ve talked about come together, and also allow you to see just how good this game looks without the action forcing your attention in another direction. They come in so seamlessly from the gameplay and transition out the same way, the quality never once declining in a way that was distracting or out of place.
It’s where the game’s polish is on full display, and it’s evident in the facial animations, character details, the sparks that fly between metal surfaces straining against each other as Logan pits his claws against equally ferocious opponents, and in the way the game never really lets up on the intensity of its battles or in the quality of its presentation. The set-pieces you’re going to witness are simply spectacular, and are definitely going to stay with you long after you roll the credits on the adventure.
PS5 Vs. PS5 Pro
From what we’ve already said, it’s probably no surprise that the PS5 Pro version of Wolverine has obvious advantages over the base version. But that’s even before we consider Advanced Ray Tracing, which can give you a vastly superior experience on a compatible display. If you’re in possession of one that can take advantage of these features, you’re looking at an uncapped framerate that doesn’t just chug along but actually thrives when things get intense.
But it’s in these features and the higher rendering resolutions that the PS5 Pro gains an edge, and the base version is more than all right for those of you who are looking to join Logan’s fight on the lower-specced system.
How Does It Hold Up Against Spider-Man 2?
We’re going to kick this section off by highlighting that Wolverine has an obvious advantage over Spider-Man 2 in that it doesn’t have to render and sustain an open-world, and as such doesn’t require the improved draw distance, or the need to render an entire city moving past you at blinding speeds. As it stands, it’s definitely better-looking than Insomniac’s last stab at a superhero, but the improvements are more noticeable up close rather than at scale.
More refined character models, more physical reactions to combat along with smoother animations, and denser environments with improved lighting and more destructible elements are all part of a package that aims to present a more visceral experience this time around. Those tighter spaces plant the scope for more detailed assets, better ray-tracing and anti-aliasing, and generally richer environments, textures, and materials especially on the PS5 Pro.
Spider-man 2 still has its own strengths, but they apply to an entirely different experience and they’re tied to rendering massive worlds, something that Wolverine simply doesn’t have the space to include.
And that’s a wrap on how Marvel’s Wolverine holds up in the graphical front. The PS5 Pro is the version to beat, and its Performance Pro mode was our personal choice to play the game. The superior image quality and visual effects make a significant difference to a title that’s often enjoyed up close and personal thanks to how fights pan out, and you’re in for a treat if you fire this one up on the beefier console although you’re going to be just fine even on the base PS5.
It’s almost time to throw on your most imposing grimace and clench your fists to lay some serious damage out for those who seek to harm mutants, and you can now go into the adventure knowing that it’s going to look and feel every bit as good as you’ve been hoping for.
