Deadpool: The Video Game

Greetings, Deadpool is a video game from 2013 that stars Marvel Comics anti-hero Wade Wilson, also known as the titular Deadpool. It is a brawler game and was developed by High Moon Studios, a fact that is referenced several times in the narrative when the script breaks the fourth wall. While I was not overly familiar with Deadpool before playing the game, I was aware that he was a zany character that suffered from split personalities. Womanizing, outlandish humour and hyper-violence are also aspects of his unique personality that the writers bring across into the video game as well. In true superhero fashion, Wade also has special powers such as immortality and his ability to teleport was incorporated into the game by the developers to escape enemy attacks or for jumping puzzles. Despite his immortality, Deadpool can still die in the campaign and while his teleportation is useful, it has a short range.

The plot begins with Deadpool’s apartment in which he gets a phone call from High Moon studios who are creating a video game around the Deadpool character. Wilson wants to make it the best game of all time by forcing the developers to make it exactly as he sees fit. Therefore, Wade ignores the script that was given to him and begins making up his own random story in which he is hired to assassinate media mogul Chance White. After fighting through hordes of Chance’s men, Deadpool reaches the entrepreneur but is stopped by mutant villainesses Vertigo and Arclight before being able to kill White. The two mutants are part of the Marauders, an army of mutant clones that are under the command of Mister Sinister, and bring him to the aforementioned villain. Mr Sinister then kills Chance when he reveals that the mogul’s satellites are under Marauder control. Deadpool seeks revenge on Mister Sinister as his target had been killed by the antagonist and sets up one of Wilson’s motives for going after Sinister.

Deadpool was knocked unconscious by Sinister and is wakened by several members of the X-men. The marauders are gone by the time Wade has come to, however he and the mutants discover that Mister Sinister had moved to Genosha. As explained in the game, Genosha was a mutant hideout before the Sentinels massacred them and it now serves as a Marauder base. Deadpool being his usual self decides to fly the Blackbird, the x-men’s private jet, and crashes it in Genosha. Wilson manages to knock everyone into unconsciousness including Wolverine. Wilson comments on how it was almost as if the level was designed for him to be the sole character in it and continues his pursuit of Mister Sinister.

As already noted Deadpool is a character that if aware of the fact that he is fictional and much of the game’s comedy comes from that meta-humour. For instance, Deadpool will often playfully insult the player with profanity when he is killed and mock the player’s skills. There are plenty of enemy AIs to keep the game play fresh but as it is a brawler game, most hostiles are challenging because they attack in numbers. I really enjoyed Deadpool even though the campaign quite short and only has a handful of varied locations for the player to explore. I wouldn’t be surprised if another Deadpool game was created when considering the recent success with the movie.

Plot=8/10

Characters=9/10

Graphics=8/10

Overall=9/10

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