Review: Deadpool

A Gloriously Absurd Mess

        It's a little surprising to me that a game featuring the insane anti-hero, Deadpool was even made. Before release, the tone for High Moon's Deadpool seemed to aim for the over-the-top, fourth wall-breaking lunacy seen in the comics with a ridiculous combat system to match. The end result is a mixed bag of hilarious craziness and shoddy gameplay.

        The game opens in Deadpool's apartment as he gets a call from High Moon Studios telling him that they are going to pass on making a game about him. They quickly call back as they realize Deadpool as rigged their offices with explosives and will pull the trigger if they don't make his game. A script arrives, and Deadpool spends just a few seconds reading through it before he decides to draw pictures of Wolverine and scantly-clad women all over it with Crayon. The player then begins playing the game as it is being developed. This kind of bizarre humor is what makes up most of the game and grows exponentially as each ridiculous scenario attempts to top the previous. 

         As the player plays through the game, Deadpool is constantly rambling on about the scenario at hand or having an idiotic conversation with the two other personalities inside his head. This is expected as he is known as The Merc with the Mouth, and it's somewhat impressive how much he goes on and on and on about each scenario. Pretty much everything Deadpool says is hilariously stupid or extremely profane and voice actor, Nolan North does a wonderful job selling the mercenary's voice and attitude.

        The story is nothing special and even a tad confusing since everything is viewed through Deadpool's eyes. It jumps back and forth between Deadpool's desire to be in the best game ever and his attempt at stopping Mister Sinister from building an army of X-Men clones on the mutant island of Genosha. However, within the story are an abundance of absurd and outrageously funny moments. My favorites involve an out-of-control Sentinel foot, a high-roller party inside a prison, a carnival ride inside Deadpool's head, and a shoot-out involving a "zombie". Almost every cutscene is an outlandish experience and are the greatest aspects of the game. 

         The biggest problem with Deadpool is its unpolished gameplay. The combat system is a combination of the Batman: Arkham series' close-combat and third-person shooter controls. Neither side is as fleshed out as it should be. Melee weapons involve traditional blades like his signature katanas as well as sledgehammers. Melee combat attempts to be deep and stylish by allowing the player to take quick pistol shots in the middle of a flurry of sword attacks or blast someone with a shotgun after throwing them in the air. These quick moments add a little variety to the combat, but the rest is shallow button-mashing. I never really bothered learning the combos, because I could make it through a fight by just alternating between X and Y. 

        Gunplay is equally problematic, but rather than being shallow and lacking, it's clumsy and inconsistent. The auto-lock system hardly works, precise shots are almost impossible to make, and switching between camera perspectives is awkward. It works when running around the environment unloading clips into giant enemies, but when attempting to pick off annoyingly precise machine gunners from across a room, it becomes frustrating. 

        Aside from the gameplay, other unrelated problems are abundant. The camera becomes unruly when small environments are packed with huge numbers of enemies and the chaos becomes too much to keep track of. Difficulty is inconsistent enough to the point where I would be slaughtering waves of enemies one second and nearly dead the next. Enemies are not very diverse and stupid enough to take cover behind chairs. Also, the last mission objective in the game is more of a test of trial and error and will power than skill.

        Deadpool isn't exactly the kind of game I was hoping for when I first saw its announcement trailer. It's just as hilarious and incredibly over-the-top as I was expecting, but isn't as fun to play. Although, I believe it is worth putting up with the mediocre gameplay to experience the totally bizarre story.


Final Verdict: 6.5/10