Deadpool review for PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Deadpool is one of those Marvel Comics characters you either love or hate. His appearance in various comic series like X-Men and X-Force, or even his own series, has garnered a legion of fans as well as a legion of haters. HIs appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sparked the beginning of an outcry for good old’ Wade Wilson to get his own game. Fans love his level of humor mixed with the outrageous violence, while haters just love to see him get dismembered. Now, thanks to High Moon Studios and Activision, Deadpool finally has a Video Game to call his own, but is it any good? Read on.

Just like the Deadpool comics, this game not only breaks the 4th wall, it smashes it with a hammer and then dances on the rubble! Right from the beginning you are thrust into a wacky world where your first mission is to screw around in Deadpool?s apartment. Messing around with everything gets you used to the controls and the overall silliness you are about to experience.

It seems that Wade set up a deal with High Moon Studios to make a video game starring him, but when they back out of the deal Deadpool sends them an offer they can’t refuse (with a bunch of explosives and time bombs). After his offer, High Moon is “thrilled” to work with Deadpool and sends over the script to his game.

From here, you?re thrown into a wacky story where DP is hired to capture a crime boss, only to have villains from the Marvel Universe, Arclight and Vertigo, interrupt and capture the guy DP was supposed to grab.  At this point you?re introduced to Deadpool?s world of Mutants, mayhem and the occasional budget cut, necessary to complete his contract and get paid. I could go on with what happens in the story, but I don?t want to ruin anything here. I’ve actually already said too much, so let’s just say the story will keep you entertained all the way through.

However, the actual gameplay is a whole different bag. You?ll be spending all of your time moving Deadpool through linear mazes and fighting a room full of enemies. After about the 15th or 16th fight, things start to get stale. Thankfully, the fighting is broken up with the occasional puzzle that is somewhat easy to solve. There are some short shooting sequences thrown in to spice things up, but these are few and far between. Mix these elements in with the occasional boss battle, and you’ve got an experience that’s pretty mediocre. Even sneaking up on a bad guy and performing a silent kill is fun to watch the first few times, but after you do it enough, the sequences that follow get tired and you tend to just run into a room guns a blazing’ just to get through the fight. But thanks to the awesome writing and the overall wackiness of the world of Deadpool, the somewhat stale gameplay will seem like a mild issue, since there?s something funny or entertaining around almost every corner.

Controlling Deadpool can be a bit of a chore, since you?ll spend a large amount of time fighting the camera and the awkward targeting system. I took unnecessary damage and died many times, thanks to the camera getting stuck in a wall or not being able to line up a shot in time to take out a faraway enemy. Speaking of the enemies, some you?ll encounter are just plain difficult and annoying to face. Like the group of enemies who are protected by Mister Sinister’s shield, or 2 giant mutant monsters that just trap you in a corner and wail on you, among other annoying groups. It’s these instances that even the comedic writing cannot save, and unfortunately they are plentiful, which can lead to a rage quit.

Graphics in Deadpool are great. Each environment is rendered smoothly and mesh with the setting well. Occasionally you may notice a lazy texture, or something that doesn’t look quite right, but not only are these areas few and far between, but Deadpool and the voices in his head will point them out. So, you never really know if any glitch or bad texture you find wasn’t put there on purpose. There’s even a sequence that is reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda, and a joke where an entire section of the level was affected by budget cuts and you need to download a quick patch to fix it.

Audio is on par with the typical action game, and all of the gun blasts and explosions fit well, with the sound of Deadpool?s own subconscious theme song and his own jumping noise rounding out the audio department. There really isn’t much music to be heard except in a battle, and while not very memorable, doesn’t sound out of place. Both audio and visuals complement each other, and really make the strange world that Deadpool inhabits come to life.

Deadpool isn?t the perfect action game, but you?ll be entertained throughout. Despite the camera issues and the difficult battles you?ll face, a good time can be found by everyone. Even if you don’t read comic books, and your only experience with Deadpool is his portrayal in the X-Men Origins Movie, (Spoiler: it was horrible) you will find something to have fun with here. Comic fans will love the humor, and fans of action games like DmC and Ninja Gaiden will find a great challenge. On the flip side, take away the main character and the over the top humor and you?re left with a straightforward action game, so some players may want to wait until the price is discounted before picking this one up. Deadpool and comic book fans will get it right away, while others will be left scratching their heads. Love him or hate him, Deadpool is here, and his video game debut is almost exactly what fans were expecting.