PlayStation 3
XBox 360
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Product Features

Genre
Other
Publisher
Activision
Release Date
November 20, 2015
Available Platforms
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, XBox 360, XBox 360, XBox One

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Deadpool

Deadpool is a kick-butt, butt-kicking new video game based on the awesome-ing-ist Super Hero ever known to man ...(and woman, if you know what we're sayin') - starring yours truly, ME - DEADPOOL. I know, I know...I pee'd myself a little with excitement just now too (you call that 'a little?'). Some of you may know me as the Merc with a Mouth, (or the mercenary for hire) - what can I say; I have skills! (You know who else has skills?) High Moon Studios has skills, and I hired them to make my game, because they're awesome, and so am I. But they're not as awesome as I am, if that's what you've heard. (Who'd you hear that from?) (Wait, listen...you smell something?) Anywho, where was I? Oh yeah, ME, and my game Deadpool! With some cashola I 'borrowed' (ha!!! riiight...'borrowed') from Activision...

  • Dave Wallace July 22, 2013 PS3
    ****

    Deadpool has always been one of Marvel's oddest superheroes. An unusually self-aware comic character (in both senses of the word) who knows he's in a comic, his adventures are often filled with oddball ramblings, post-modern fourth-wall-breaking self-commentary, and buckets of gratuitous violence (and other 'adult' content to boot). I was therefore surprised when it was announced that such a 'niche' character would be getting his own game, given that most franchises tend to focus on the big A-list superheroes. But High Moon Studios have justified that decision by making the Deadpool videogame just as crazy, bizarre and downright entertaining as the comics it's based on.

    First of all, the game takes the bold step of making the comics-character-who-knows-he's-in-a-comic into a videogame-character-who-knows-he's-in-a-videogame. This gives Deadpool the opportunity to make all sorts of comments and jokes about the conventions and mechanics of videogames, making fun of the kind of commonplace game elements that experienced players will be aware of from other, more run-of-the-mill titles. In fact, the game is so forthright about being a videogame-about-videogames that it even starts off with a plot that revolves around Deadpool kidnapping the developers at High Moon Studios and forcing them to make a videogame about him, before branching out into a wider storyline that involves a lot of other heroes and villains from the comics.

    The sharp, funny script is probably the best thing about this game, with a constant barrage of jokes, insults, and random mutterings ensuring that things don't get boring - for a while, anyway. It's very rare that a videogame can truly make you laugh (I can only think of Portal 2 as another similar example) but Deadpool is guaranteed to crack you up at least once every few minutes with his constant onslaught of gags. Yes, there are some occasional misfires, but the game throws enough mud at the wall in terms of humour to ensure that a lot of it sticks.

    Sadly - as you might guess from my less-than-perfect star-rating - the rest of the game doesn't fare quite so well. Because at its core, Deadpool is a very generic and straightforward action game, albeit one dressed up in fancy clothing. Whilst it tries to excuse its derivative nature as being a parody of the derivative nature of videogames, there's only so long that this excuse can be used before it starts to wear thin. For me, that point was around halfway through the game, at which point the novelty of Deadpool's humourous elements begins to wear off and you start questioning whether you're really enjoying the game itself.

    There's nothing absolutely terrible about it, but at the same time there's nothing particularly great or original either. It's just the same combination of repetitive action and third-person-shooter/hack-and-slash elements that you could probably find in 1,001 other bog-standard games. Every once in a while you might find something unexpected that makes you sit up and take notice - for example, a fun section in which Deadpool is told that the game's budget has been cut, and it suddenly turns into an incredibly cheap-feeling old-school 8-bit console game - but for the most part it's business as usual for the action-adventure genre.

    Fans of the comic or of the character can probably add an extra star to my rating, as they'll probably be more entertained than most by the witty one-liners and bad-taste humour that Deadpool constantly comes out with (this is certainly not a superhero game for youngsters - tell them to check out Lego Batman 2 instead!). But for anyone looking for a truly great game in its own right, you can probably do better elsewhere.