Marvel\u2019s Wolverine, the latest superhero action game from Insomniac, was released this week after getting a lukewarm reception from critics. Now that it\u2019s in players\u2019 hands, one aspect that\u2019s drawing particular criticism on social media is the game\u2019s no-fail QTEs. However, while this game mechanic deserves criticism and reevaluation, it\u2019s not the lack of a fail state that makes it bad. It\u2019s the lack of an open-ended, creative follow-through.<\/p>\n
Marvel\u2019s Wolverine launched exclusively for the PS5 on September 15. It is, by and large, a conventional arcade beat \u2019em up with gorgeous visuals. But you wouldn\u2019t know that from the online discourse, which has been heated<\/a>, to say the least. The most widespread critique of the game is that it\u2019s too easy\u2014that it assumes, as the default, that the player is a novice who cannot navigate a three-dimensional environment without killing himself or becoming hopelessly lost. <\/p>\n YouTube gaming critic Skill Up encapsulated a lot of these criticisms in his negative review of the game, which currently has over 3 million views:<\/p>\n Do we need to have a scent trail, a GPS pin, white-painted platforms, and a literal arrow sign to show us where to go in a linear game? Maybe not. But also, maybe? I\u2019m always reminded of this editorial that Kotaku alum Patricia Hernandez wrote<\/a>; we might not be as smart as we imagine ourselves to be.<\/p>\n Players also criticized Wolverine\u2019s motorcycle sequences, with good reason. Steer the wrong way and you can crash into a truck head-on, throwing you off the bike. But if you just let the controls go\u2014like Luke at the end of Episode IV\u2014Wolverine will negotiate the sequence on his own, surviving by ricocheting off obstacles and hugging the barriers on the side of the road. As someone who died at least twice trying to complete these sequences, I found this to be a hilarious indictment of my gaming skills. It was my good-faith attempt to avoid death that ultimately led to it. It would have been better if I had never picked up the controller at all.<\/p>\n Which brings us to the game\u2019s QTEs.<\/p>\n There are numerous moments throughout the game in which on-screen prompts direct you to press the shoulder or face buttons. Press the right shoulder button, and Wolverine will stab with one claw. Push the left shoulder button, and he\u2019ll stab with the other. Push both at the same time\u2026you get the idea.<\/p>\n If you press the wrong buttons, Wolverine will autocomplete the actions anyway. and you\u2019ll move on to the next sequence. Press no buttons, and Wolverine will still advance. There is no way to \u201close,\u201d in the traditional sense, so long as we define losing as \u201crestarting from the last checkpoint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It begs the question: What was the intent of having these sequences in the first place? I think it\u2019s important to establish some necessary context to show there was a better way to have implemented this.<\/p>\n The first time I ever encountered QTEs was while playing Resident Evil 4,<\/a> which popularized their implementation. The villagers pushed a boulder down the hill, and I had to tap a button to run from it. I had to push two more buttons to dodge, last minute, out of the way. Fail to do so, and the boulder would crush me.<\/p>\n Two things about this sequence stand out to me. The first is that the button actions are contextual. The running is done by mashing a button rapidly, which makes sense; it\u2019s a frantic, hurried motion. The final dodge roll is done by pressing two buttons simultaneously, which also makes thematic sense, as it\u2019s a sudden, complex, acrobatic move.<\/p>\n The second is that there are two different outcomes for the sequences aside from death. If you press the final prompt early, you\u2019ll dodge behind the rock. If you press it late, you\u2019ll dodge behind the tree in front of the rock. In a functional sense, the result is the same, but the narrative surrounding that outcome changes.<\/p>\n Later in the game, you face Krauser in a knife fight. It\u2019s one of the most tense moments in the game, and again, the buttons are contextual. You press two buttons for complex movements, and you mash one button for a test of strength. The button prompts come quickly with little time to react, because it\u2019s mirroring how Leon is in that moment: off-balance and reactive. Fail once, and you\u2019re dead.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Heavy Rain, there\u2019s an early fight scene between playable character Scott Shelby and Troy the pimp, which has two things worth pointing out. The first is that the outcome of the fight is predicated on whether you successfully pull off the majority of the QTEs\u2014you can miss a few and still win the fight. QTEs don\u2019t have to be all or nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second occurs at 2:20 in the above. The game asks you to do a complex move\u2014to rotate the joystick to do a hook punch followed by an aggressive throw. Again, the movement of the joystick mirrors the movement of the character and feels intuitive.<\/p>\n I\u2019m giving these examples to make a point: QTEs are made good by the manner in which they\u2019re applied and narratively built into a game. QTEs are not made good purely by having a fail state, and it\u2019s perfectly fine that failing them in Wolverine doesn\u2019t lead to a restart. It would be thematically dissonant if they did, because it would compromise the power fantasy of being Wolverine. <\/p>\n Generally speaking, Wolverine\u2018s QTEs are not of the \u201cgotcha\u201d Krauser variety; they happen slowly and predictably because they\u2019re meant to reinforce the feeling of heroism. Of all people, Wolverine is the guy most likely to survive making a catastrophic mistake, thanks to his healing factor.<\/p>\n Instead, what\u2019s wrong with these QTEs is their lack of follow-through. Players have posted side-by-side videos showing the differences between successfully completing a QTE and failing one, and the difference is negligible:<\/p>\n Completing VS Failing QTE in the Sabertooth Arm Wrestling sequence in Marvel Wolverine pic.twitter.com\/6kEi6VWnmW<\/a><\/p>\n