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REVIEW: Deadpool The Video Game

High Moon Studios could have had a huge hit on their hands. Wade Wilson, the merc with a mouth, aka Deadpool is a perfect fit for a game such as the one that High Moon have produced.  It should have been a case of following the template of the past two Arkham games that Rocksteady have created with great aplomb and adding the touch of spice that only Deadpool’s persona can bring.  They managed one half to great effect, it’s just such a shame that the other, more important half, that being the gameplay, feels like it was thrown together in a half-hearted manner.

It’s like Arkham Asylum done with Duke Nukem Forever production values.

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I wanted to love this game and I can forgive the gameplay to a degree, but very early on it feels like you’re going through the game travelling from generic action location to generic action location taking down generic replica enemies.  You do get bored even when it gets to the point where Deadpool comments on this regularly during the game. It feels less like a comedic insight and more like a scapegoat clause that the game developers are dropping in to excuse the laziness of the gameplay.

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The game itself is a third person melee/shooter that sees our “hero” Deadpool picking up a contract that goes awry. As you progress you pick up tokens that are dropped by enemies or are found through the limited scope for exploration, although the game itself is very linear.  These tokens allow you to upgrade Deadpool’s arsenal of weapons, be it bladed, guns or support weapons such as grenades, and combinations during fighting

The gameplay suffers from a combat system that just isn’t fluid, very similar to the Green Lantern and Thor movie tie-in games. It’s more manic than anything else and doesn’t allow you the studied approach and feel that you get from the likes of the Arkham games.  You find yourself button mashing through the game to try and take the enemies down and some of them are such a grind to take out that you find yourself weary of them when you see them appear.  Boss battles too throughout the game come across as very formulaic and feel more of a hindrance than the feel of accomplishment.

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Despite the negatives stated, the positives I can take from the game all come from the pitch perfect characterisation of Deadpool and once more some absolutely fantastic work from the gaming voice guru that is Nolan North.  High Moon Studios have nailed him perfectly, even if the game around him has been less than.  The totally off the wall nature of his character means you can get away with a MURDER… quite literally, especially when situations arise that allow him to break the fourth wall.  It’s entertaining, if juvenile, stuff indeed (which I have to say I love in most parts). One of my favourite moments is early on in the game when Nolan North phones up Deadpool and wants to talk to Wade about making the Merc more sympathetic and in touch with his feeling, to which Deadpool tells him to go forth and go f**k himself, to which I legitimately burst out laughing, and that was just the tip of the iceberg of the fantastic character one-liners in this game

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There are also some great cameos throughout the game as well from the X-Men and do help you at times forget the stale gameplay, but by the end it just all becomes far too much of a grind to be truly enjoyable.

If you’re a Deadpool aficionado you will likely love this game, he is to this generation what Duke Nukem was to kids and gamers in the 90’s,  for all its faults.  Deadpool himself is a strong enough personality here to get you through to the end, just.

Deadpool is out on PS3 and Xbox 360 now

What did you Think of Deadpool the Game? Did he keep you entertained or did you want the Merc with a mouth to shut his?

About the author

Phyll Perrins

Hi, Phyll Perrins here, The Thinking Mans Fan Boy
My background is in Film Production, having worked on a few high and low budget movies, I know my way around a film set.
I'm also a massive comic book fan, ever since I was a little lad growing up in England dreaming about one day putting on that red cape, battling evil and saving the day.
I cant do that now (well at least not in the forseeable future) but I can write about it.