Marvel’s Deadpool VR Review – A Stylish, Bloody Good Time With Flaws

Marvel’s Deadpool VR Review

Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a Meta exclusive from developer Twisted Pixel. The game follows the path of another Meta-exclusive superhero VR game, Batman: Arkham Shadows. I was very excited to play the full game, having played the previous two Deadpool demos. Now, having done so, the strengths and weaknesses become readily clear.

Twisted Pixel has a celebrated history in VR with such VR games as the Meta VR PC classic – Wilson’s Heart and the Meta VR undercover spy thriller – Defector. With two such highly regarded VR games, the anticipation level is high for what they can do with Deadpool. For the most part, Marvel’s Deadpool VR should satisfy its fans.

With any Deadpool product, be it a movie or a game, capturing the tone of the character is vital. All of you Deadpool fans can relax because Twisted Pixel has brought the Deadpool goods. It starts from the opening screen where you calibrate your VR controls. A dozy Deadpool stumbles onto the screen with a string of plushy tools around his waist. Once you calibrate, he turns around and stumbles off-screen, scratching his butt as he does so.

From the graphic style to the gameplay to the voice work, this is all of AAA quality. This is a very impressive work for a game running on a standalone headset. Graphically, the game looks great. The comic book-stylized graphics are sharp, colorful, and perfectly ape the origins of the character. Environments differ in detail from one location to another. The helicarrier contains more confined spaces and has an industrial/technological look. The mountain area differs in its natural environments, be they caverns or expansive outdoor areas. Confined areas focus on puzzle solving and platforming mechanics. All stages include sizeable areas where you engage in combat.

Combat and Gore

What stands out is the combat and the gore. Once again, in keeping with the Deadpool universe, the violence is over the top and R-rated. This applies not only to any enemies you dispatch but to Deadpool as well. The demos revel in showing an instant replay of your demise. One of the best examples is if you cannot dodge buzz saws. You’ll see a video with Deadpool’s body parts stacking upon one another. All replays feature the expected snarky Deadpool commentary. Baby arms make their appearance, too.

With enemies, their damage depends on the method of attack chosen. Your default arsenal includes the signature dual pistols and the katanas. If you use them as expected, they will also deal the expected damage. However, you have special moves, a la the recent Doom games, where you can dismember and/or behead enemies. Each of these actions comes replete with an abundance of gore and blood. Lots of blood.

The game’s shortcomings become apparent in combat, particularly in melee combat. With your katanas, it’s very easy to employ the waggle strategy and flail your way through battles. Once you realize this, it’s very easy to wade through such situations, which defuses a lot of the tension. The best use of the katanas is to throw them and stun enemies. You can also compensate for this by focusing on ranged combat with all the various weapons available for use.

As you battle, special weapons will pop up. Either an enemy death, opening weapons cases, or special treasure chests can accomplish this. Such goodies as throwing daggers, shotguns, and machine guns are available for a short duration. The more attacks you can chain together, the more power-ups become available. The game controls are tight and responsive. Vital in chaining attacks. You can also get inventive with your pistols and katanas in that you can throw them at enemies to stun them.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR Tie-Ins

Certain weapons are restricted to a particular stage and might feature well-known Marvel weapons. You can wield Thor’s Hammer or throw Gambit’s kinetically charged deck of cards. Such moments are fun, and the amount of damage you can inflict is a joy to behold.

After a fun opening prologue, which is a rail shooter, the action shifts to a stolen Shield Helicarrier. This section includes a training area and introduces the game mechanics. Then the action shifts to a mountain region that gives you a taste of chaining attacks to show you perks and bonuses. It also includes platforming mechanics. After introducing the game mechanics, the game reveals its true structure.

Deadpool becomes a participant in a YouTube-style streaming game show called the Mojo Games after being transported off-world. Mojo wants you to retrieve five Marvel bad guys to use in his deadly games. He aims to increase his social platform with these big-name participants. You’ll also be able to grow your own audience. You will receive Mojo Coins if you do so, and they will allow you to buy new weapons, outfits, and abilities.

The five boss retrieval missions make up the bulk of the gameplay. Taking part in Mojo Arena battles breaks up those missions. Mojo Arena battles are a thing unto themselves. You’ll be playing game types such as capture the flag, king of the hill, protect the VIP, or deathmatch. Because of the Deadpool twist, the death matches differ from the normal ones. In one, you use Headpool to run around the arena feeding him chim changers. Other death matches bring in different versions of Deadpool as The Deadpool Kid and Lady Deadpool.

Deadpool Dilemma

In a unique approach, the game doesn’t have a true ending. Instead, you can replay the Mojo Battles with different versions of Deadpool. You may or may not find that satisfactory. Each Deadpool will have access to areas that are locked out to the others.

The game’s unique charm comes from the irreverent tone. This turns out to be both a blessing and a strength. Deadpool never shuts up. Ever. So, there is a constant stream of dialogue from the titular character, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. In VR, this can be a real pace killer. You end up stopping and waiting for five minutes. The dialog stops before moving on. There is one especially egregious section where you have about twenty minutes of dialogue to wade through.

To be fair, most of the dialogue is funny and witty and rarely repeats. The devs must have recorded a ton of dialog. Some repetition inevitably happens, regardless of the amount recorded. You will find times you would rather play than stand around listening.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a beautiful game marred by some pacing and combat issues. You can sail through combat as long as you keep moving. The frame rate is steady mostly, but you may notice some frame hitching and detail dropping during intense combat sequences. In the end, though, it’s the pacing and combat that knock down the replayability of the game.

If you approach the game with the right mindset, you can have a lot of fun. It’s just too bad that you have to make that decision rather than having the game do it for you.

***Meta code provided by the publisher***