Speaker A
Stop laughing at Wolverine. Yes, you. How dare you laugh at this AAA game? This is exactly what a $200 million budget game is supposed to look like.
A critical discussion on the backlash and criticism faced by the upcoming Wolverine PS5 game, analyzing gameplay, combat, and developer responses.
Key Takeaways
- Wolverine PS5 is facing harsh criticism for generic gameplay and uninspired combat.
- Developer responses to criticism have been seen as dismissive and focused on mental health concerns.
- Boss design and cinematic sequences are considered outdated and clunky compared to current standards.
- Social media negativity is amplified by algorithms, but reflects genuine fan disappointment.
- Constructive criticism is important and developers should use feedback to improve future games.
What the video covers
- The video addresses the widespread negative reaction to the Wolverine PS5 game despite its AAA $200 million budget.
- It critiques the gameplay as generic, uninspired, and outdated compared to other modern titles.
- The combat system is compared unfavorably to Insomniac's Spider-Man and other recent games like Phantom Blade.
- The video highlights the poor design of boss fights, especially the Sentinel fight, as embarrassing for a top-tier studio.
- It discusses the developer and publisher responses to criticism, including complaints about negativity affecting mental health.
- The video examines the role of social media and algorithms in amplifying negative feedback and the tension between fans and journalists.
- There is skepticism about the story quality, referencing past issues with PlayStation narratives and insider leaks.
- The video encourages developers to learn from the criticism and improve future projects.
- It touches on the broader cultural context of criticism in gaming and the passionate nature of the gaming community.
- The video concludes with cautious optimism that the game could still be good upon release.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Defense of Wolverine Game
- 00:33Public Reaction and Criticism Overview
- 01:27Social Media Backlash and Journalistic Response
- 02:14Nature of Gamer Criticism and Budget Expectations
- 03:08Algorithm and Engagement on Negative Feedback
- 03:50Developer and Corporate Reactions to Criticism
- 04:24Gameplay and Boss Fight Critiques
- 04:56Combat System and Comparisons to Other Games
- 07:05Story Concerns and Industry Context
- 09:10Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
You're making the devs sad. You're not a true gamer. [laughter] Let's be honest, this is hilarious.
Speaker A
I had a pretty rough week last week, but this, this puts a smile on my face.
Speaker A
Beautiful. The Wolverine game is a month from release and everyone is clowning on it.
Speaker A
Let's talk about it. Yes, boys, it seems a lot of people have finally joined us on the dark side. More gameplay of Wolverine is getting released and people are calling it generic, calling it trash, AAA slop. All the things we were
Speaker A
saying months ago from the extended gameplay trailer. And how does Insomniac respond to that criticism? Well, stop saying hurtful things.
Speaker A
[laughter] Like, like it looks generic. It doesn't. It's hurting my mental health. Can HR do anything about the internet? I'd tell them to cry about it, but it looks like they already are. So, cry more. It's a relentless onslaught. Wolverine PS5 dev
Speaker A
responds to unprecedented criticism. I cannot believe this is good for anyone's mental health. Like a moth to a flame, journalists spring into action, probably put on their Spider-Man pajamas, and came to the defense of Insomniac. I'm not exactly sure how and why it's
Speaker A
happened, but Marvel's Wolverine has become the butt of all social media jokes. Its crime? I'm honestly not entirely sure. It looks pretty good in the first round of previews have largely matched that sentiment. But social media is awash with absolutely brutal
Speaker A
commentary right now, and predictably, it's not of the constructive kind. Honestly, boys, we shouldn't be surprised that journalists don't understand criticism. I mean, it is their job. They haven't understood games or gamers for over a decade. And more
Speaker A
importantly, they're the ones who decide what games are good and bad. They're the ones that decide what criticisms are valid. Not anymore. Now, you can absolutely love this game, but not all criticism is toxic and should be ignored. It has never been easier to let
Speaker A
your feelings on a game be known. And we gamers, well, we're a passionate bunch.
Speaker A
We're not just going to say, "Oh, dear fellow, good effort, but I think it needs a little tinkering." Uh, no, no, no, no, no. No. How many hundreds of millions of dollars spent? We know how big the budgets for these games are. We
Speaker A
know that the devs hate us because we don't think like them. We know everything. So, when we criticize a game, it's more like this. Looks like greasy old man ass, bro. Like the dev team forgot how to think. Like it was
Speaker A
bring your kid to work day and they just let the kid make the whole game. This apparently gets under their skin. I think the wild way this algorithm amplifies and forces negativity upon you has me reconsidering my philosophy on
Speaker A
telling devs to look or post here. It's a relentless onslaught that I cannot believe is good for anyone's mental health, nor representative. People really need to stop lying about this negativity gets pushed in the algorithm stuff. If people didn't agree with them,
Speaker A
they wouldn't be such popular posts. If I posted Big Trouble in Little China is a terrible film, the only engagement I'd get is people calling me an idiot because that movie is a masterpiece.
Speaker A
Masterpiece. If people didn't agree with me about Lieutenant Williams in the new Halo game, it wouldn't have got 40K views.
Speaker A
Thanks for that, by the way. Appreciate you. What they actually mean when they say this is they wish the algorithm put a stop to negative feedback. Just stop it from gaining traction so they don't have to see it. Instead, all they have
Speaker A
to see is the corporate bootlickers posting positive stuff about the—I'm sorry. I'm trying to think of something positive to say about Wolverine.
Speaker A
The suit looks nice. Oh, no. People are saying negative things about PlayStation's Wolverine. This might impact Sony's bank account. Time to shill.
Speaker A
Look, it can't be easy to see something you spent years working on be clowned on.
Speaker A
The solution is simple. Make a better game. Got them. But my actual advice to the devs would be this. That feeling of feeling [ __ ] because people have clowned on your work, take it, bottle it up, and make
Speaker A
sure that whatever it is you do next, you don't feel the same way. Look at all the criticism, all the jokes, all the memes, and learn from them.
Speaker A
People would not be saying these things if they thought the game was amazing. The Sentinel boss fight looks awful.
Speaker A
It's being compared to Ben 10. Honestly, the Ben 10 one looks more fun. The reason people are clowning on this is because we're so far past this kind of boss design, it's embarrassing.
Speaker A
The influence the FromSoftware games have had on boss design this generation is kind of insane. Insane move sets and animations that make boss fights feel good and, more importantly, look like boss fights.
Speaker A
Even for a triple-A studio, this is bad. God of War 2018 had you fight a dragon.
Speaker A
Yes, it was a cinematic boss fight, but it was better than this. This isn't good enough from a studio that's meant to be one of the best studios around. It's just not.
Speaker A
I got an idea for a boss fight. A giant that slams his arms on the ground. Yeah.
Speaker A
PlayStation executives will love that. You look at the chase gameplay and as you're chasing the enemy, there's a red line to make sure you don't get lost.
Speaker A
How thoughtful. Look, I understand that PlayStation users mainly play Madden, FIFA, or NBA all year, but I think even they know how to run in a straight line. It also just looks clunky and not fluid at all. Oh,
Speaker A
and speaking of running in a straight line, here's the epic triple-A cinematic running sequence that we desperately need in our games.
Speaker A
Nothing like running forwards with zero effort and zero stakes. The main thing for me is the combat just looks completely uninspired and about as generic as it gets for a PlayStation game in the year of our lord Cody Rhodes
Speaker A
2026. People are comparing it to Batman. No, that's sacrilege. It reminds me of God of War. I played it again recently and it's almost identical. You attack, you dodge, you parry, you have the special moves you can do in the bottom
Speaker A
corner. It's just safe, using a formula that's been proven to work. And while I was replaying God of War, I enjoyed it, but I did think this combat has aged pretty poorly. Especially compared to what we have now. Phantom Blade released
Speaker A
some more gameplay the other day and my good god, man. Looks incredible. That looks like a game where combat and gameplay is the priority. They've taken risks and the game looks amazing because of it. Even the cinematic chase had you fighting for
Speaker A
your life. And yes, even comparing it to the Wolverine Origins game, it looks nowhere near as fun. That's a movie game. Come on, man. What are we doing?
Speaker A
There were leaks early in development of this game that had way more interesting ideas. Even simple ones that right trigger was right claw and left trigger was left claw. So, you could use each claw independently and make some
Speaker A
interesting combos. Let's take all our interesting ideas and put them to the side and use things we know that worked on a game 5 years ago. Then, my mom can play it. I really don't know what happened with the development of this
Speaker A
game, but honestly, even as much as I hate Insomniac, I thought they'd nail the combat because they did in Spider-Man. The combat is great in that game and even made it into the new Spider-Man film. I thought that the
Speaker A
biggest issue with this game would be the story and it looks like people are finally fed up with the PlayStation slap stories. Confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past. Get to know the man behind the claws when Marvel's
Speaker A
#WolverinePS5 releases on September 15th on PlayStation 5. People are reading this and immediately rolling their eyes.
Speaker A
These sections will have you play through a small combat section and your reward will be some trauma. Just what I wanted in a Wolverine game. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
He might be able t
Speaker A
be about the Jean Grey relationship. Find it hard to believe our boy wants anything to do with Aster Crossing Disguise, but sure. And the other half will be a struggle about his trauma or some [ __ ] like that. Oh, but save 10%
Speaker A
for the plot, too. That's kind of important. Yeah. I think we're finally at the point where gamers are done with this sort of crap. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch a movie. Logan is right there. I can watch that. The game
Speaker A
does have the spec ups to line writer, so who knows? Maybe it will actually have a good story. But if I know my AAA studio, HR wrote at least 20% of this game. I'm going to need a moment where
Speaker A
we discuss our feelings and diversity. Can we make any references to the current political climate? SmashJT found out that this person was a writer for Wolverine and is now no longer working for Insomniac since 2025. She wrote a
Speaker A
book called Slay. Fair play for writing a book. That's an achievement, but I don't think someone who writes a book called Slay should be making a game about Wolverine.
Speaker A
Just just a hunch. Come on, it's Wolverine. Wolverine? Slay. [snorts] [laughter] That's like getting a fat man to do a 100 m sprint. Like getting George R.R.
Speaker A
Martin to write a new Twilight book. It's such a strange choice. You're making a superhero game. Why would you hire someone like that? A book called The White Guy Dies First is also apparently the coolest. That's a good
Speaker A
title. So, the story is probably cooked. Look, this game is doing nothing for me.
Speaker A
The suit regenerating immediately after spamming square is embarrassing from a Sony studio. Mystique still looks like she wants to speak to your manager. This part of the game is being clowned on as a girlboss section. I'm not so sure,
Speaker A
boys. I'm going to be fair here. Looks like a plan being put into action to me.
Speaker A
And I've got no problem with Mystique absolutely messing guys up. I would even say a small level with Mystique would be cool. A stealth level where you can change your skin to get to your target.
Speaker A
That's cool. It is a full Wolverine game, which I do like, but I wouldn't have hated that as much as the Mary Jane levels. I don't like the Spider-Cuz regen as Wolverine, either. I just don't think he's very good. Troy Baker is also
Speaker A
in this, which makes me like the game even less. Bro, Frank Cuss, please. Can we get some new talent in games? He's like the Zendaya of gaming, except he's actually talented. It's a Wolverine game. I should be excited for that. I
Speaker A
love watching the Wolverine movies, even the ones that suck. There's just nothing about this game that remotely makes me want to play it. And do you know what all the defense to these criticisms is?
Speaker A
Are you sitting down? Why do you care? Let's call it, boys. It's over. I'm done. I've been proven wrong. There's nothing left to do. It's time to delete the channel. Consume product and be happy about it. Now, this article
Speaker A
by Push Square also says that they think a lot of the backlash comes from the negative sentiment towards Sony right now, which is somewhat true. I see that.
Speaker A
If you go on Wolverine's most recent trailer, all the top comments are about physical. But to me, two things can be true. People are mad about physical games, but also their game looks terrible.
Speaker A
The new Spider-Man film just dropped and is about to be one of the highest-grossing films ever. I don't hear anyone blaming the movie for Sony sucking ass. No one is going after Phantom Blade. [music] They're not taking clips of it and clowning on it
Speaker A
because it looks awesome. All these modern devs want is toxic positivity. They just want to be told their game looks amazing, even when it doesn't.
Speaker A
Criticism is not welcome. It's seen as toxic because how dare you question anything they do. How dare you be passionate about a character that you've been playing, watching, and reading about since you were a kid. Don't you know that by having thoughts and
Speaker A
opinions and criticisms of this game, you're ruining the developers' lives? This whole situation perfectly encapsulates modern AAA gaming. People criticize my game on X.
Speaker A
I'll have to see the studio therapist after this. So, boys, keep the jokes coming, keep the criticism going because if they're going to raise the prices of games, [music] consoles, and services, they better be making better games than
Speaker A
this, especially if that game also happens to be based on a very loved character. Actually, there is one thing I like about this game. It's not open world. Slap.
Speaker A
Hallelujah. Thank the gods. Look, the game could come out and be good. We'll find out.
Speaker A
But each time they reveal something, it looks worse. So, naturally, when the entire game is revealed, it could look even worse than it already does. But it could be good, I guess. You know you're in trouble when even Greg Miller isn't
Speaker A
excited for this game. Damn, you messed up. Anyway, that's it from me. I'll see you in the next one.
Topics:Wolverine PS5Insomniac GamesAAA game criticismvideo game combatgameplay analysisgame developmentsocial media backlashgaming communityPlayStation 5game criticism
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