Deadpool Review

Deadpool Review

So far, so mediocre. Now let's place Deadpool back in to this rather unappealing dish. Deadpool isn't your average comic book hero. He's a mercenary who managed to acquire Wolverine's power of self-regeneration, making Deadpool one of the only games to feature regenerating health in a way that actually makes sense. Unfortunately, he also went completely insane in the process, which often translates into sticking his foot through the fourth wall, speaking to the reader or commenting on his own stories.



So it is fitting that Deadpool is by far and away the main attraction of his own game. Developer's High Moon clearly understand the character well and have put a huge amount of effort into his digital incarnation. Deadpool's penchant for self-reference is used by High Moon to gently mock game design conventions and their own development process. Deadpool makes prank phone-calls to his own voice-actor and chastises his own developer for being tight with the purse strings, a tactic that could so easily be infuriating, but is sold, ironically, by Nolan North's fantastic vocal-performance. Meanwhile, objectives which would normally state "Defeat the boss", will read "Politely ask this gentleman to step aside."



High Moon also use Deadpool's tongue-in-cheek attitude toward reality to play with the level design. Separating the overlong areas of grey corridor are moments where they game switches to being a side-scrolling platformer or a top-down RPG. Deadpool's character even alleviates the more trying areas of the game: the best part of the horrible stealth system is the way Deadpool intermittently turns to the camera and places a finger over his lips, urging the player to be quiet.

Overall he makes for a far more entertaining lead than the vast majority of video-game protagonists. But High Moon's approach toward the character isn't perfect. Deadpool is extraverted even by the comics' standard, and some may find the more puerile side to his humour off-putting. In particular, it could do without Deadpool obsessing over every female character he comes across like a horny teenager. The game doesn't need it, and to include such gratuitous objectification in a game given the issues the industry currently has, even in a joking sense, is frankly a really dumb decision.



Because High Moon jump in with both feet in their representation of Deadpool, it becomes quite difficult to hate, despite the fact that the mechanics are generic, the environments are samey, and that Deadpool is ultimately a bit of a jerk. Yet at the same time it's impossible to recommend as so much of its bulk is uninspired. Deadpool's wacky antics might make the game bearable, but ultimately no amount of his manic hooting will distract you from the game's flaws.