Ever since Marvel’s Wolverine was revealed at last week’s PlayStation Showcase, I’ve been thinking about how the game could play. There’s definitely an argument for it having an open-world like Marvel’s Spider-Man does, but I think it might be too much for a character like Wolverine. You’re messing with the source material if you give him the ability to dash around a city, or fly, or basically have any way to travel faster than a human. He can run, that’s it. That’s why I think the game might end up being more linear, close to God of War, and I actually think it’ll work quite well.
In God of War, Kratos travels between huge areas in cutscenes. He’s not moving around an entire open-world in any supernatural kind of way. In the latest entry, he uses a boat, and that allows him to explore the more open areas of the game. I like the way the game remains pretty linear whilst also giving you the power to turn around and go back, or explore every side path you want if you’re so inclined. It’s a fantastic solution to removing restrictions linear games put on the player, making them feel much less like platforming or puzzle games.
Wolverine would work extremely well if it was built like this. Story can be explored in very small spaced, deliberately designed for story to be shown in them. Then, the game can leave the player to freely explore the areas around these story beats. Enemies can spawn, puzzles can be presented, but it would all fit within the world of Wolverine. There’s a feel that the world is larger, and you could travel anywhere, but the story is keeping you on the right path and you can’t divert from it.
To make this work, the story needs to be gripping though. This has to be a focused tale on Wolverine that players don’t want to ignore in any way. Collecting items for cosmetics and upgrades is great, maybe even a few weapons can be scattered around, but I want this game to feel like God of War. I don’t think there’s a better example of what Wolverine should look like in this day and age.