christmas party entertainment: Deadpool Video Game Review

deadpool_game When it comes to comic book and superhero video games, things got off to a rocky start. That?s putting it lightly. I?m a bit too young to remember the first Superman and Spider-Man video games for the Atari 2600,?but I played or tried to play every superhero game since the original NES days, and it was pretty depressing there for a long while. There were a few glimpses of brilliance like Spider-Man:?Maximum Carnage, but nothing special.

Then suddenly things got better. Worthwhile games begun to sprout up like?X-Men Legends, Spider-Man 2, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and then?the greatest superhero game ever came into play: Batman: Arkham Asylum.

It changed how not only superhero video games were designed, but it?s safe to say it changed the industry in general. It was because Warner Bros. allowed Rocksteady Games, a young enthusiastic developer to take the beloved Dark Knight and create their own interpretation of his world, without being bound to a particular movie franchise, cartoon or comic book run. They hired Paul Dini to write a phenomenal Batman story, took the best elements from all Batman?s lore and created one of the best-selling video game franchises in recent memory.

Acclaim, a video game publisher that has been working on Marvel Comics games for quite some time now, saw this?and have begun the quest to create a franchise just as popular. The latest attempt is with Deadpool, Marvel?s insane Merc with a Mouth!?

And while it sure is no Arkham Asylum or City, the game definitely stands out in its own unique fashion, using twisted humor, ultra-hardcore violence and easy-to-learn mechanics.

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High Moon Studios, the developers behind the last few Transformers games put this one together, and (thank jeebus) realized that ?Deadpool is not just another sword wielding ninja. The character in the comics is certifiably insane, has multiple personalities, breaks the 4th wall ?and never stops throwing out one-liners.

Not just anyone can write a Deadpool story that will satisfy the character?s ever growing fanbase?so they hired the expertise of Daniel Way, a writer who is no stranger to Wade Wilson?s twisted psyche, he wrote 65 issues of the comic.

He was one of the few guys around that could help them catch the feel of Deadpool comics.

The plot itself is quite simple. Deadpool gets a job to kill a crooked media mogul, and ends up running into Mr. Sinister and his Marauders:?Arclight, Blockbuster and Vertigo (No Sabretooth as far as I know of! Bummer!). The evil geneticist ends up killing Deadpool?s bounty before he has a chance to.

2427256-mkh4go8 Deadpool at first wants revenge but then finds himself in an adventure with The X-Men (consisting of Wolverine, Domino, Rogue and Psylocke?it feels like I personally put that lineup together, I know), and he runs into his old partner in crime?Cable (pretty badass character model they put together for Nate) as well.

What turned out as a simple vengeance mission for Wade ends up with him once again being a hero and saving the world.

It may seem like the sort of thing comic book heroes do on a daily basis. To Deadpool, being a hero is a chore?an unprofitable chore. The heroes have to lure him into being useful with promises of groupies and mexican food.

But all the while Deadpool is fully aware that this is a video game he is in, and he is constantly checking (or ignoring, rather) the game?s script and getting phone calls from High Moon execs, complaining that he keeps blowing stuff up and overshooting the game?s budget!

What separates the game from anything else is well?DEADPOOL, Marvel?s cult favorite and his warped view of things! There are elements and jokes put into the game we?ve simply never seen before, and frankly, like DP standing in a line with Sinister?s thugs to go on to the next level (giving the player the option of having patience or trying to bump ahead in line), or he even will go for a pee in a bathroom urinal between two enemies, and crack a few jokes before taking them out (I wanted to see how long it will take for Wade to either stop talking or the comments would loop?it went for about 3 minutes straight with fresh comments!! Awesome stuff). And yes, his multiple personalities are present: one an intellectual, the other a juvenile idiot that finds poo poo and pee pee jokes hilarious. They ?help? you throughout the game.

DeadpoolScreen_BathroomBreak And don?t get me started on the first level. It?s Deadpool?s apartment. That?s all.

Someone is knocking on his door, but gamers first can wander Wade?s apartment and interact with all sorts of things. Watch TV, update his status on social media, make him go for a nap, make pancakes and even go for a dump (as gross as it sounds, you guys gotta do it?it is hilarious).

I love this sort of stuff, so I spent 20 minutes in Deadpool?s apartment before answering the door, and it made Deadpool look like the king of jerks right at the beginning of the game.?I loved it, but action junkies will be annoyed, ?and will just want to shoot things.

The fighting mechanics are?okay. What works is that we can develop our own button combinations between slashing, shooting and teleporting around. ?As you do combos you build up momentum (usually by ?juggling? enemies in the air)?and are rewarded with a choice of some proximity attacks that come in handy when surrounded by enemies.

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You can upgrade Wade?s arsenal, damage and health bar by collecting ?Deadpool coins? dropped by defeated enemies in-game.?So as you play he gets cooler guns and stabby-weapons, and his fighting style changes with the different combinations.

All of that keeps things fresh, but you find yourself ?just button mashing through most of the game. I would have preferred a more controlled block and parry fighting system in the vein of Arkham or Assassin?s Creed, I feel more in control of the hero in those games. You can also switch DP into shooting mode, but I find it distracting at first to switch into it. I got the hang of it, but in the first half of the game I preferred melee fights.?Sometimes it is fun to end a fight by shooting a guy out of mid-air, though.

Deadpool also has some cool land mines and bear traps to throw down if you see a swarm of baddies coming your way. They also can get you out of a sticky situation if you?re low on health. Deadpool is the one superhero that doesn?t look wimpy running away from a fight.

3032117-deadpoolscreen_sneaky And yes, getting someone stuck in a bear trap is such a euphoric feeling? you have no idea.

There are stealth portions in the game, but don?t expect to clear a room without being detected like Batman. These are usually visual jokes where Deadpool sneaks up behind a guy and you are prompted to either loudly kill him with a firearm or ?quietly? spilling his entrails onto the floor with a stabby. I have not idea how many different random animations there are with each weapon, but I have rarely ran into a repeated one. ?Stealth mode? in this really does feel like a dig at stealth modes in video games.

Now for the game?s flaws: first of all, certain characters are well designed like Deadpool and Cable, other characters?especially the female ones, look plastic and unrealistic.

There?s a part where Deadpool is made to think he is in a club (he?s sporting J. Scott Campbell?s D. Pooly costume), and all the girls in there look like mannequins. I?m not sure if it?s on purpose or not!

Wolverine?s costume design could have been better, he looks like he?s wearing a uniform from the X-Men: First Class movie, and the X-ladies? uniforms have all been ?sluttified? for the game, I?m not complaining about that a great deal, but those three characters did not need to be made sexier. Domino, Rogue and Psylocke are three of the sexiest characters around without changing their costumes at all.

Sinister is the classic version, not the latest long-haired ?Anne Rice? inspired Sinister we?ve recently seen in the comics. Old-school fans will enjoy that nod, and he looks very cool, but I just wonder why High Moon updated everyone?s look except Sinister?s. Daniel Way definitely used the recent ?Sinister clone? storyline to explain why Wade is fighting multiple enemies that look alike, though. Sinister?s clones all have similar looks and powers of X-Men characters like Gambit, Havok, Blob and Lady Deathstrike,?but all created in Sinister?s image. Nice touch. And a perfect scenario to use in a video game.

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Generally the game is well made and the environments look decent and serve their purpose. But it seems much of the first half of the game is spent in the sewers or underground, and it comes off generic. The best visual portions of the game are the ruins of Genosha, which are littered with Sentinel body parts in the rubble and you?ll notice landmarks like ?Erik Lensherr Science Research Center?. Very cool visuals there for awhile, but soon enough you are thrown back into the catacombs somewhere. Deadpool visiting a few more ?exotic Marvel locales? would have been nice. A few more non-X-Men cameos would have been fun too, like Bullseye, Taskmaster?maybe even someone like The Hulk! Hopefully High Moon will release some DLC goodies. Deadpool attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier would be a fun extra mission!

Another thing: no online multiplayer?! I don?t really care for online play?I feel that a game needs a solid solo campaign?over online, but there are other gamers that won?t buy a game based solely on THAT! Even if it?s a shabby multiplayer mode, it will sell a few units just because of the feature.

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The main technical flaw I found in the game was that sometimes Deadpool has poor environmental detection and he will sometimes get stuck ?for a second behind a pillar in the corner or look as though he is standing or falling in thin-air. There is a ?ledge grab? ?feature for long jumps, but I found he doesn?t grab the ledge as easy as he should.

I suppose I have been spoiled with the AC video games, where free-running mechanics have been perfected. A lot of games have these problems, and as long as it doesn?t make you reset your game, it?s not a big issue.

High Moon did a great job with keeping the game fresh with non-repetitive jokes, fun gags and even little details like costume damage. Deadpool?s costume doesn?t seem to rip the same way twice and he can get so damaged that you can see muscle-tissue and even bone! His healing factor is implicated into the game though, and he will ?heal up after a few seconds. The costume miraculously repairs itself too?doesn?t make sense?but I guess it?s just a video game.

All of the game?s aesthetics cover up its flaws pretty well, and it provides a lot of entertainment. It could have been better, gameplay-wise, I would have preferred more Batman and less Devil May Cry,?but the game could have turned out a whole lot worse. It deserves to be noted as one of the better superhero adapted video games?but that?s not saying very much.

Hardcore gamers that are looking to simply KILL KILL KILL will find the jokes and storyline lame and weird. Deadpool comic book fans will definitely enjoy it though. It feels authentic and made specifically for them. L33t gamers will give it a play through and sell it back to the video game store?ready to move on to their next digital conquest, comic book fans like me that will keep Deadpool?s first-ever solo video game in their collection for awhile. It?s kind of a big deal to us.

I don?t know if it warrants a sequel, but I would be on board?and it gives High Moon a reason to tweak a few things. That being said I hereby recommend the Deadpool game to Bleeder Nation?just don?t get chimichanga sauce on the controller. I learned that lesson the hard way.

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