10 Video Game Abilities Developers Always Get Wrong
8. Wolverine’s Claws
Marvel
He's the best at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice. To date, however, only one game has really translated that mantra to the medium - 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Raven Software's title took the bold decision of making what could've been a generic movie tie-in a genuinely worthwhile adaptation of the X-Men's most ferocious member. It was incredibly visceral, and didn't shy away from showing what would happen were Wolverine to be cut loose with his adamantium claws and set against an unending army of mercenaries.
But gore and excessive violence aren't integral to nailing the idea of Logan's claws. Plenty of animated adaptations geared towards a younger audience have worked his claws in without showing any stabbing or slicing, by having him use them to disarm opponents and dismember Sentinels - the mutant-hunting androids that blight the X-Men time and again.
Wolverine's games haven't always been so considered though. Most studios elected to just have his claws out the entire time, and - in a similar issue to the lightsaber mentioned earlier - have them make contact as if they were blunt.
All in all, there's a clear middle ground to be found here (and hopefully a dedicated button for players to 'pop' the claws out when they see fit).
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
