The Merc with a Mouth gets a PS4 port…
…which is almost identical to the PS3 version that came before it. There’s no real differences other than a seperate trophy list. But if you haven’t played the past version, then this is all the more reason to pick it up now.
Deadpool is crude, sassy and downright badass in a style that would put the likes of Conker and Duke Nukem to shame. He isn’t afraid to say what he (and the voices in his head) whatever they are thinking, be it perving over several of the women characters and even attempting to motorboat one “fan’s” chest.
The gameplay tries to take elements from Batman’s “Arkham” series with fast-paced fighting with counter attacks, but it also adds in guns to take care of enemies from further away or close-quarters with effective results from a shotgun or laser rifle. There are a few stealth sections chucked in, but these are mostly optional and can still be done all guns blazing, in fact there was only one area where the game reset if you got caught.
The story itself is comprised of only 8 levels and will take you a few hours to do, but getting all the specialist trophies like levelling up all your abilities and getting a 300 hit combo may take a while, there is an Ultra-violence difficulty mode which is essentially the game’s Hard mode and I found it a breeze once all my upgrades were done, so I’d recommend playing once on Easy/Normal and then tackling the game on Hard for those trophy hunters.
The humour is the game’s main selling point, with appearances from the likes of X-Men characters Wolverine and Rogue to his doomed romance with Death as they sing Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” on a loveboat. Deadpool isn’t afraid to drop one-liners either with comments like “We’ve got a guy inside us and not in the fun way” and “Hey that’s great, talk to my dick”. The combat itself can be a little clunky and although it becomes second nature towards the end, starts to feel repetitive. The game even pokes fun at the player with the names of its trophies, for instance the Platinum one is called “Okay, you can sell the game now” which goes to show that High Moon expects most players to trade in the game once they’ve finished it.
There are a few challenge arenas where you have to simply defeat waves of enemies in a set time, these are also pretty easy once fully upgraded and sadly offer little incentive to return, as with the main game apart from trophies.
The visuals are a bit hit and miss, while the character models are great and hilarious to look at. The levels look a bit bland and basic in design, the framerate also drops now and then but overall the performance isn’t too bad. Voice-acting is brilliant with Nolan North’s version of Deadpool, while the music is also pretty good and amusing too. The PS4 version looks identical to the previous PS3 version that I played.
The Verdict
While not nearly in the same league as the Dark Knight’s Arkham series, Deadpool does an admirable job in providing a hilarious tale through a short campaign. The humour is its strongest point, while the combat isn’t that bad but it does get repetitive towards the end. It would have been nice to see a bit of polish added to the PS4 port, or even a few extras…but overall though, it’s a decent game and I personally hope for a sequel that takes place after the upcoming film. To quote Deadpool, “We’re done here, roll the credits”.