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"[Review] Deadpool"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'Deadpool'.
Sun 04/08/13 at 14:51
Regular
"Ghosts Can't Die!"
Posts: 774
Deadpool is one of those comic book characters that you either love or you hate. The character’s inner demons, crude sense of humour, constant one liners and often hilarious breaking of the fourth wall splits opinions but for those in favour, these traits help create someone so unique and different especially in the comic book world (at least as far as I’ve read). While heroes like Batman and Spiderman look to save the city with minimal casualties, Deadpool is all about the chaos. The blood soaked kills. He is a crazy mercenary and definitely not one to be messed with and it’s often a refreshing change of pace in the Marvel and DC universes.

So now that the merc with a mouth has his own game, should fans be excited? In the past we’ve seen superheroes succeed and fail at making the move to video game but with a ridiculous character like Deadpool you’d fully expect him to fall in the former group. Unfortunately the red and black assassin lands somewhere in the middle with some great ideas plagued by severely average gameplay.

If anything High Moon studios have to be praised for perfectly capturing the essence of what makes Deadpool who he is. From the bickering voices in his head and constant winks and nods to the audience to the actual storyline itself, everything about this game drips with that unique Deadpool flavour. The game is very self aware and for the most part it works often to hilarious affect.

Take the plot for example. Sitting around and scratching his junk, Deadpool receives a voice message from developers High Moon who have decided to make a game based on him (with a little help from a bunch of explosives and heavy threats). The anti-hero then takes it upon himself to create his own script after being unimpressed with the amount of words in High Moon’s attempt. What then follows is a series of battles across eight chapters with plenty of moments that poke fun at High Moon, other cameo-making super heroes including Wolverine and even video games in general. Sure it’s simple but merely serves as a vehicle for the game’s humour.

Like I said most of the time the gags in Deadpool work really well and often I found myself laughing aloud courtesy of a well timed joke or smart quip. One stand out moment sees Deadpool calling up Nolan North (who actually voices the character in the game) to offer him the role of himself since people think the pair sound alike anyway. It’s these little nods that make trudging through the sometimes dull campaign feel worth it. The more offensive moments strangely end up being much weaker in comparison but thanks to the rapid fire rate of comedy, the hits far outweigh the misses.

Sadly it’s the combat – the real meat of the game where Deadpool starts to fall apart. While the character is known for his combination of guns and blades, the way the game handles the two weapon types feels clunky and unintuitive at best. Switching between pistols and katanas in a more fluid manner has been done successfully before (just look at Dmc) and it’s disappointing that the same can’t be replicated here, especially with a game that relies so heavily on battling waves of enemies.

And that’s another problem with Deadpool, is that it can feel repetitive at times. A large percentage of your time will be spent dispatching waves upon waves of copied enemy types that as you progress through the game receive nothing more than a quick pallet swap. The fighting feels competent enough with some truly over the top executions and manoeuvres up Deadpool’s sleeve and plenty of upgrades and weapons to purchase, however it’s neither too deep nor exciting enough to hold up through the six hour story. Throw in a wildly unhelpful camera and some messy stealthy sections and it becomes clear more time needed to be spent in order to iron these things out. Fans of the series will likely want to power through eagerly anticipating the next hilarious cut scene or super hero encounter, however gamers indifferent to the antics of Deadpool, may find the odd joke here and there simply isn’t enough to justify grinding through.

That isn’t to say Deadpool doesn’t have its moments. You’ll find plenty of action fuelled sections involving helicopters and of course plenty of explosions. These events are cool and do help in breaking up the constant arena style battles. There are also a number of clever call-backs to other video games including a section where Deadpool literally blows most of the game’s budget and suddenly the action takes a Link to the Past style turn complete with retro sprites. There are even 2D platforming areas to tackle too. It’s these points of the game that give Deadpool the variety it sorely needs and it’s just a shame there aren’t more like it.

While Deadpool ultimately feels like a generic third person actioner, the humour alone should be enough to please fans of the comic book mercenary. With genuinely laugh out loud moments, Zelda inspired dungeons and a general feeling of self-awareness there are definitely things to like about this game. It’s just a shame the overall package feels a bit bland and lacking.

5/10
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Sun 04/08/13 at 14:51
Regular
"Ghosts Can't Die!"
Posts: 774
Deadpool is one of those comic book characters that you either love or you hate. The character’s inner demons, crude sense of humour, constant one liners and often hilarious breaking of the fourth wall splits opinions but for those in favour, these traits help create someone so unique and different especially in the comic book world (at least as far as I’ve read). While heroes like Batman and Spiderman look to save the city with minimal casualties, Deadpool is all about the chaos. The blood soaked kills. He is a crazy mercenary and definitely not one to be messed with and it’s often a refreshing change of pace in the Marvel and DC universes.

So now that the merc with a mouth has his own game, should fans be excited? In the past we’ve seen superheroes succeed and fail at making the move to video game but with a ridiculous character like Deadpool you’d fully expect him to fall in the former group. Unfortunately the red and black assassin lands somewhere in the middle with some great ideas plagued by severely average gameplay.

If anything High Moon studios have to be praised for perfectly capturing the essence of what makes Deadpool who he is. From the bickering voices in his head and constant winks and nods to the audience to the actual storyline itself, everything about this game drips with that unique Deadpool flavour. The game is very self aware and for the most part it works often to hilarious affect.

Take the plot for example. Sitting around and scratching his junk, Deadpool receives a voice message from developers High Moon who have decided to make a game based on him (with a little help from a bunch of explosives and heavy threats). The anti-hero then takes it upon himself to create his own script after being unimpressed with the amount of words in High Moon’s attempt. What then follows is a series of battles across eight chapters with plenty of moments that poke fun at High Moon, other cameo-making super heroes including Wolverine and even video games in general. Sure it’s simple but merely serves as a vehicle for the game’s humour.

Like I said most of the time the gags in Deadpool work really well and often I found myself laughing aloud courtesy of a well timed joke or smart quip. One stand out moment sees Deadpool calling up Nolan North (who actually voices the character in the game) to offer him the role of himself since people think the pair sound alike anyway. It’s these little nods that make trudging through the sometimes dull campaign feel worth it. The more offensive moments strangely end up being much weaker in comparison but thanks to the rapid fire rate of comedy, the hits far outweigh the misses.

Sadly it’s the combat – the real meat of the game where Deadpool starts to fall apart. While the character is known for his combination of guns and blades, the way the game handles the two weapon types feels clunky and unintuitive at best. Switching between pistols and katanas in a more fluid manner has been done successfully before (just look at Dmc) and it’s disappointing that the same can’t be replicated here, especially with a game that relies so heavily on battling waves of enemies.

And that’s another problem with Deadpool, is that it can feel repetitive at times. A large percentage of your time will be spent dispatching waves upon waves of copied enemy types that as you progress through the game receive nothing more than a quick pallet swap. The fighting feels competent enough with some truly over the top executions and manoeuvres up Deadpool’s sleeve and plenty of upgrades and weapons to purchase, however it’s neither too deep nor exciting enough to hold up through the six hour story. Throw in a wildly unhelpful camera and some messy stealthy sections and it becomes clear more time needed to be spent in order to iron these things out. Fans of the series will likely want to power through eagerly anticipating the next hilarious cut scene or super hero encounter, however gamers indifferent to the antics of Deadpool, may find the odd joke here and there simply isn’t enough to justify grinding through.

That isn’t to say Deadpool doesn’t have its moments. You’ll find plenty of action fuelled sections involving helicopters and of course plenty of explosions. These events are cool and do help in breaking up the constant arena style battles. There are also a number of clever call-backs to other video games including a section where Deadpool literally blows most of the game’s budget and suddenly the action takes a Link to the Past style turn complete with retro sprites. There are even 2D platforming areas to tackle too. It’s these points of the game that give Deadpool the variety it sorely needs and it’s just a shame there aren’t more like it.

While Deadpool ultimately feels like a generic third person actioner, the humour alone should be enough to please fans of the comic book mercenary. With genuinely laugh out loud moments, Zelda inspired dungeons and a general feeling of self-awareness there are definitely things to like about this game. It’s just a shame the overall package feels a bit bland and lacking.

5/10

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