Wolverine on the PS5 goes back to a simpler (and bloodier) style of action game

PS5《金刚狼》回归更纯粹（也更血腥）的动作游戏风格

Marvel’s Wolverine captures just how angry its lead character is. The latest PS5 exclusive from Spider-Man developer Insomniac, Wolverine is a straightforward action game that is at its best when you’re (literally) slicing through enemies or thrust into a sequence pulled from a blockbuster movie, like climbing the fuselage of a plane as it careens toward land or racing a motorcycle across rain-slicked city streets. It’s the kind of game that can really get your heart rate rising, and keeping Logan mad is a key part of the strategy. In many ways, it’s a throwback to straightforward action titles of the past — and it’s a refreshing change of pace in a medium saturated with live-service and open-world games.

《漫威金刚狼》精准捕捉到了主角那股愤怒的特质。作为《蜘蛛侠》开发商 Insomniac 为 PS5 打造的最新独占作品，《金刚狼》是一款直截了当的动作游戏。当你（字面意义上）切开敌人，或是被抛入如同好莱坞大片般的场景时，这款游戏表现最为出色——比如在坠向地面的飞机机身上攀爬，或是在雨水湿滑的城市街道上骑摩托车飞驰。这是一款真正能让你心跳加速的游戏，而保持罗根（Logan）的愤怒状态正是游戏策略的核心。在许多方面，它让人回想起过去那些纯粹的动作游戏，在如今充斥着“服务型游戏”和“开放世界游戏”的市场中，这是一种令人耳目一新的节奏变化。

Though it comes from Insomniac, Wolverine is very different from Spider-Man, which thrust the web-slinger into an open-world version of New York City. Instead, this is a much more linear experience that feels like a combination of two other PlayStation staples: God of War and Uncharted. Rather than follow Wolverine as a member of the X-Men, the story instead has him as an often reluctant member of Team X, a mercenary group with similar pro-mutant aims but a much more violent approach. Instead of heroes like Cyclops and Professor X, Wolvy is joined by more villain-adjacent characters like Sabretooth, Mystique, and Nathaniel Essex, before eventually connecting with Jean Grey. The story pulls Logan and his companions across the globe, but it starts out relatively simple, as they investigate a rash of mutant disappearances connected to a billionaire arms dealer.

尽管出自 Insomniac 之手，《金刚狼》与《蜘蛛侠》却截然不同——后者将“蜘蛛侠”置于开放世界的纽约市中。相反，本作是一款线性体验更强的游戏，感觉像是索尼另外两款招牌作品《战神》与《神秘海域》的结合体。故事并没有让金刚狼以 X 战警成员的身份登场，而是让他成为“X 小队”（Team X）中一名心不甘情不愿的成员。这是一个雇佣兵组织，虽然有着与变种人类似的诉求，但手段却暴力得多。金刚狼的伙伴不再是镭射眼或 X 教授这样的英雄，而是剑齿虎、魔形女和纳撒尼尔·埃塞克斯（Nathaniel Essex）等更接近反派的角色，直到后期才与琴·葛蕾产生交集。故事带领罗根和他的同伴们奔波于全球各地，但开篇相对简单：他们正在调查一起与某位亿万富翁军火商有关的变种人失踪案件。

The most important thing about both Wolverine the character and Wolverine the game is fighting. This is a hairy little dude who loves to scrap, and his mutant powers — healing and sharp claws — make it so that he is very good at it, able to both take a huge amount of damage and dish it out. And the best part of the game is how Wolverine-specific the action is. The combat is fast and violent and forces you to be aggressive. Wolverine can leap huge distances to take out foes and use his claws to both repel attacks and slice at enemies, often with very gruesome results. (At the end of a battle he’s usually coated in blood.) An important part of this is Wolverine’s rage level, which increases the more you fight. As his rage grows, it allows you to do two things: go absolutely berserk and kill a rash of enemies with a single blow, and use your healing power as a sort of extra life in case your health depletes. It’s a clever system that means you can’t sit back and play it safe. Wolverine isn’t chill, and you can’t be either.

无论是对于金刚狼这个角色还是这款游戏而言，最重要的就是战斗。这是一个热爱打斗的毛茸茸小个子，他的变种能力——自愈和利爪——让他在这方面天赋异禀，既能承受巨额伤害，也能造成毁灭性打击。游戏最棒的地方在于其动作设计极具“金刚狼特色”。战斗节奏快且暴力，迫使你必须保持进攻性。金刚狼可以跳跃极远的距离去消灭敌人，并利用利爪格挡攻击或切开对手，过程往往极其血腥（战斗结束后，他身上通常会沾满鲜血）。其中一个重要机制是金刚狼的“愤怒值”，战斗越久，愤怒值越高。随着愤怒值增长，你可以做两件事：进入狂暴状态，一击秒杀大片敌人；或者在生命值耗尽时，将自愈能力作为一种“额外生命”使用。这是一个巧妙的系统，意味着你不能坐以待毙或保守行事。金刚狼从不冷静，你也不能。

That’s the God of War side of Wolverine. The Uncharted side comes in the form of all of the over-the-top set-pieces you’re thrown into. I’ll refrain from detailing some of the best ones for spoiler reasons, but I’ll say that, just like in Uncharted, these moments make it feel like you’re playing out a wild sequence from an action movie. There are chases across the rooftops of Tokyo, massive boss battles against some iconic comic book villains, and scenes where Wolverine is literally being ripped apart as he fights for survival.

这就是《金刚狼》中《战神》的一面。而《神秘海域》的一面则体现在那些被抛入的夸张大场面中。出于剧透考虑，我不会详细描述其中最精彩的部分，但我可以肯定地说，就像《神秘海域》一样，这些时刻让你感觉自己正在亲历一部狂野的动作电影。游戏中有在东京屋顶上的追逐战、与标志性漫画反派的史诗级 Boss 战，还有金刚狼在为生存而战时身体几乎被撕裂的场景。

The flip side is that, because of this setup, Wolverine is also much more restrictive than most of its contemporaries. In some ways this is a good thing; it’s refreshing to play a game that isn’t trying to do everything. But there are still some awkward elements. For instance, much like in Spider-Man, there are lots of collectibles that will reveal new bits of story or unlock new suits for Wolverine to wear. But exploration outside of the main path is extremely dull, so the only reason to track these down is if you have a completionist mindset. It’s also disappointing that Wolverine’s closet of outfits is much less fun than Spider-Man’s, and they often feel out of place with the game’s attempt at a more gritty tone.

硬币的另一面是，由于这种设定，《金刚狼》比大多数同类游戏更具限制性。从某种程度上说，这是一件好事；玩一款不试图“面面俱到”的游戏令人耳目一新。但仍有一些尴尬之处。例如，就像《蜘蛛侠》一样，游戏中有许多收集品可以揭示新的剧情片段或解锁金刚狼的新战衣。但主线之外的探索极其枯燥，除非你是强迫症收集控，否则没有理由去寻找它们。同样令人失望的是，金刚狼的衣柜远不如《蜘蛛侠》有趣，而且这些服装往往与游戏试图营造的粗粝基调格格不入。

Making matters worse is that, despite a promising start, the story ends up in a largely forgettable place, with few surprises, particularly if you have an even slight knowledge of the X-Men universe from comics or the animated series. Outside of combat and set-pieces, Wolverine skews generic AAA game; the voice acting, the cutscenes, and even some of the missions feel like standard video game fare, many of which seem out of place. Wolverine is amazing when you’re surrounded by ninjas trying to kill you. But when Logan is in a tux trying to spy on a fancy party? Not so much.

更糟糕的是，尽管开局充满希望，但故事最终走向了一个平庸且令人遗忘的结局，几乎没有惊喜，特别是如果你对漫画或动画系列中的 X 战警宇宙稍有了解的话。除了战斗和场面戏之外，《金刚狼》显得非常平庸，像是一款标准的 3A 游戏；配音、过场动画，甚至一些任务都感觉像是流水线产物，其中许多内容显得格格不入。当你被忍者包围并试图杀出重围时，金刚狼非常棒。但当罗根穿着燕尾服试图在高级派对上进行间谍活动时？那就没那么带感了。

All that said, Wolverine’s return to a simpler and smaller style of action — I beat the game in around 13 hours — is still notable, particularly from Sony, which has had a rough few years after placing many ill-fated bets in the live-service space. But much like last year’s Ghost of Yōtei, Wolverine shows that PlayStation is still capable of the single-player blockbusters the platform is best known for. It’s also launching at perhaps the busiest video game release period in recent memory, going up against major titles including Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Control Resonant, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, Gears of War: E-Day, Silent Hill: Townfall, Star Wars: Zero Company, and, soon enough, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Grand Theft Auto VI.

尽管如此，《金刚狼》回归到一种更简单、更小巧的动作游戏风格（我大约花了 13 小时通关）依然值得关注，尤其是对于索尼而言——在服务型游戏领域经历了几次失败的押注后，索尼度过了艰难的几年。但就像去年的《羊蹄山之鬼》（Ghost of Yōtei）一样，《金刚狼》证明了 PlayStation 依然有能力打造其最引以为傲的单机大作。此外，该作发布的时间点或许是近年来游戏发行最密集的时期，它将与《鬼武者：剑道》、《控制：共鸣》、《火焰之纹章：命运编织》、《战争机器：E-Day》、《寂静岭：城镇陨落》、《星球大战：零号公司》等大作同台竞技，不久之后还有《塞尔达传说：时之笛》和《侠盗猎车手 VI》。

In that company, despite occasionally skewing generic, Wolverine’s bloodthirsty focus on action is something that makes it stand out.

在这样的竞争环境下，尽管偶尔显得平庸，但《金刚狼》对动作场面那股嗜血般的专注，依然使其脱颖而出。

Marvel’s Wolverine launches on September 15th on the PS5.

《漫威金刚狼》将于 9 月 15 日登陆 PS5。