Marvel’s Wolverine could end up utilizing some of the gameplay mechanics featured in Insomniac’s Marvel's Spider-Man series. The announcement of the new Wolverine title during September’s PlayStation Showcase was a complete surprise to fans, with many assuming that the only superhero game Insomniac was working on was the anticipated Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Excitement and speculation about the game rapidly escalated after its reveal, with many wondering what gameplay mechanics from both Spider Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales Insomniac could be planning to utilize in the Wolverine story.
One mechanic that Insomniac could translate over from the Spider-Man games into their Wolverine title is the ability to heal during combat at the press of a button. Spider-Man has the ability to build up Focus while hitting enemies that allows him to heal at any moment during a fight, which lets him continue to pound away at bad guys without losing too much momentum. Considering Wolverine has the ability to regenerate health after sustaining damage, it would make logical sense to incorporate the same type of instant healing mechanic in the game to allow him to recover quickly from attacks and maintain his attention on the fight at hand. His healing ability could be centered around how much damage he has dealt in a fight like Spider-Man’s as well, preventing players from spam healing through combat encounters and forcing them to play things a bit smarter.
There are several aspects of the combat system in Marvel’s Spider-Man that Insomniac could use in the Wolverine game, with one being the “Spider Sense” indicator to alert players to incoming attacks. Wolverine is a master at hand-to-hand combat, so giving the character his own type of incoming attack signal would make sense to showcase his situational awareness in combat situations. Considering this type of system has already been done in the Batman: Arkham series for a character without any sort of superhuman abilities, it’s not a stretch for the developers to utilize the same system for Wolverine as well, even though he doesn’t seem to have any form of power-based precognition like Spider-Man.
Marvel's Wolverine Could Have Environmental & Special Takedowns Like Spider-Man
Another aspect of combat from the Spider-Man games that would work within the context of a Wolverine game is the ability to use the environment to aid in enemy takedowns. Both Peter and Miles are able to web pothole covers, pull down scaffolding and throw car doors during fights in a seamless way that gives the impression of using everything at their disposal, and Wolverine having the same sort of choices in the upcoming game would play well with his more visceral type of fighting style. Imagine Wolverine pulverizing his enemies with beer bottles, pool cues, and wooden chairs during the Madripoor bar fight that was alluded to in the reveal trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine, and players should get a good idea as to how environmental weapons could work in the context of a Wolverine adventure.
Special Attacks in combat could also factor into the Wolverine game as well, allowing Logan to incapacitate enemies in one single move. Both Peter and Miles are able to execute such attacks in the Spider-Man series after building up their Focus Bar, and the natural progression in Wolverine is to tie these attacks to some sort of Rage Bar that channels the underlying anger of the character. There’s also the possibility that Insomniac incorporates a unique take on the Suit Powers from the Spider-Man series that would grant Wolverine Ultimate-like abilities to absolutely demolish his foes, which could also tie into a Rage build-up like Kratos’ Spartan Rage in God of War.
It’s also a fair assumption that Marvel’s Wolverine will feature different types of enemies, like shield-bearing foes and enemies with guns/knives in the same vein as the Spider-Man games, providing variation in combat encounters to keep the game fresh throughout. It’s all speculation at this point, as Insomniac hasn’t shown any type of gameplay for Marvel's Wolverine and could have something completely different in the works. However, the Marvel’s Spider-Man series does provide some enticing stepping stones for the developers to build off of, and Marvel’s Wolverine could showcase a natural evolution of gameplay mechanics that should provide an experience both familiar and fresh to fans.