Marvel is on something of a hot-streak in the gaming market as of late, with the announcement of their upcoming game,Marvel’s Deadpool VR, bringing another impressive title to the ever-growing roster of titles. There’s no doubt that the Merc with a Mouth is a risky bet for any venture, but our hands-on demo of the game at this year’s Summer Game Fest Play Days ensured us that this title is sure to do the character justice (in star-studded, fourth wall-breaking fashion).
Violence, Violence, and More Violence
This may be a VR game (which tend to pull their punches due to both computing and marketing restraints), but it’s the same crass and adult-oriented Deadpool that we all know and love. Heads and limbs are easily chopped off of bodies, curse words fly every other second and innuendos pervade the protagonist’s ever-present commentary over the entire experience.
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The main gameplay is, unsurprisingly, first-person combat, which mixes swordplay and gunplay with highly acrobatic movement. Deadpool is equipped with a grapple hook that lets him zip to high-up locations and is also able to jump high with a follow-up divekick at distant enemies. We aren’t the most experienced VR veterans in the room, so the game took a bit of adjustment (and nauseous breathing exercises) before getting into the flow of the movement-heavy gameplay.
The combat is standard VR fare, with Deadpool entering and then clearing rooms of enemies with his tools before moving on to the next walk between encounters. Swordplay struggled to connect with enemies and we spent a lot of time wiggling our controller around trying to find the right angle to slice off a head or even deal damage. Thankfully, the guns were a lot more responsive and we were quick to pick up on landing consistent headshots (which in turn created explosions of blood and bone).
There’s Still a Fourth Wall to Break in VR
The starring role is filled by newcomer to the character Neil Patrick Harris, who immediately shines as a perfect casting choice in the role of Deadpool thanks to his charming and sarcastic delivery. We also heard Deadpool’s Oracle-esque sidekick over comms, a currently-unannounced casting choice that sounded familiar next to the voice of NPH.
Heads and limbs are easily chopped off of bodies, curse words are let fly every other second and innuendos pervade the protagonist’s ever-present commentary over the entire experience.
Without being too cliché, the game captures the combat style and personality of Deadpool in perfect fashion. Every line is a joke or gag of some kind, annoying and confusing the surrounding characters who are caught off guard or worn down by the Merc’s constant pop culture references (which were leaned on especially heavily during the demo). Thankfully, the dialogue is only one part of the title, with the action and gameplay creating a fast-paced scramble of death and destruction as Deadpool scavenges, then empties, single-magazine weapons into enemies, chucking them at their friends' heads immediately after.
Marvel’s Deadpool VRplayed it safe in a lot of ways during the demo, but considering the execution of most large IP-forays into VR gaming, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What we saw was only the first level of the game, which seems to be a large-scale and epic adventure with tons of set pieces and twists along the way. We’ll be looking forward to seeing what else is in store for the mercenary when the game releases on Meta Quest 3/3S sometime in the near future.
Marvel’s Deadpool VR
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