So I finished the campaign for this game last night. I am posting a full spoiler free review below. There will also be a TL:DR at the bottom.
Graphics 8/10:
There is nothing spectacular in the graphics department. They are average to what you see in other games. Oddly there were times I found the in game graphics to be better than the cut-scene graphics. Everything kept a very cartoonish look and feel to it. There was also a lot of artwork used in scenes that all had a good comic zaniness feel to it. The environments were very well thought out and unique to each other.
Game Play 9/10:
If you've played Devil May Cry or God of War you are already set and ready to play this game. It's your standard adventure hack & slash. There is an upgrade system for new weapons, making your weapons stronger, and for making Deadpool more effective. The combos are easy to execute and very unique. They even worked in the ability to use multiple weapons in a combo through Gunkata. It does a good job at also at getting progressively more challenging and steadily introduces new enemy types to keep the combat fresh. There were some collision issues in which Deadpool might get stuck trying to turn a corner or go up an uneven ramp made by rubble but this happened very rarely and very briefly. There other problem I had was as I got further in the game there wer some fights with a ton of ranged combat enemies and they would tear me apart extremely quickly while I'd struggle to take them down. With no cover system you have to stand in the open to even try and shoot them. Now granted part of that problem was likely that I used the starting Katana and Pistols the entire game but fully upgraded.
Sound 8/10:
Every enemy and action has it's own unique sounds to help you differentiate what's coming at you. The background music is....different. It's clearly Deadpool. Lots of combat dialogue. It remains decently varied but you will start hearing the same things a lot but not to often to get grating. An INSANE amount of non-combat dialogue. The two big issues I had with sound were that while exploring levels there are scripted audio conversations that will end up getting cancelled out if you explore to far to fast or will end up having combat dialogue playing over them if you end up in combat while it's still going. The other is a good chunk of what makes this game is the out of combat dialogue. There are times you have to enter a command to progress the game but if you don't enter it the characters will keep talking and saying different lines. You'll find yourself wanting to listen to it all. You'll also find yourself thinking they are done and press the button to advance only to have a new line start at the same time so you miss it.
Story 9/10:
This is where the game truly shines. I couldn't even begin to tell you the plot of this game as this game IS Deadpool. He is fully aware that High Moon Studio's is making a game about him and constantly references the script and not following it. The game never gets dull and always does something to keep you laughing or shaking your head in befuddlement at his actions. I really don't want to say to much as this is the meat of the game and point of playing it. They do reference other Deadpool story lines from the comics in this. Some subtle and some not so subtle but if you haven't read his comics you'll probably miss all of them. If the story wasn't as well done as it was this game honestly wouldn't be anything special.
Replay-ability 6/10:
Honestly there isn't that much replay-ability to the game. You can play through the Campaign again with all the upgrades you've purchased and in the process purchase new ones. There are Challenge Maps (think Arkham Asylum and Arkham City) but not to many of them. It does appear your upgrades from Campaign carry into the Challenge Maps to give incentive to keep playing the Campagin to get stronger to make the Challenges easier. This game is also FULL of level/event specific achievements so as to promote Campaign replay. Luckily you can choose a specific level to start from for hunting for these rather than have to play from start to finish again.
Price 9/10:
With a campaign about 6 - 7 hours in length and what appears to be 10 Challenge maps there isn't a lot to the game. However, clocking in at just $39.99 on Steam I definitely feel like I got my money's worth and more. Especially when some similar games have come out lately with only a Campaign that's double the length of this but feels like it is dragging about half way through the game or levels and being full price of $59.99 (I'm looking at you Alice: Madness Returns) it helps this game out even more in the money's worth department. It is $49.99 on Consoles though so I am unsure if there is enough there to warrant that price for the Console players. I'd think so as it is similar to Arkham Asylum in base content but not as unique game play.
TL;DR
Overall 8/10:
It's actually really well put together. It's simple in it's game play execution but brilliant in it's design which is all that a Deadpool game should care about. I highly suggest checking it out.
