Deadpool

Deadpool is an action game that was built in the Unreal Game Engine, developed by High Moon Studios, and released by Activision on June 25, 2013.  The game follows the story of one of Marvel's craziest characters, Deadpool.  For those who are unfamiliar with the character, Deadpool was originally a mercenary who signed up for a secret project called Weapon X.  As a result of the project, Deadpool was gifted with an accelerated healing ability, his body was incredibly scarred, and he was driven crazy.  That insanity can clearly be seen throughout the entirety of the game.

The Plot:

The plot for Deadpool actually starts off with Deadpool submitting a poorly written videogame proposal to High Moon Studios, which is quickly rejected.  After a discussion with the voices in his head and detonating some explosives that he sent over to High Moon, his game proposal is approved.  After the player takes some time to explore Deadpool's apartment, a script arrives and Deadpool immediately begins ignoring the script and takes the game in his own direction.  

Exploring Deadpool's Apartment

Deadpool doesn't like the script

The rest of the plot for the game is rather simplistic, yet commonplace for videogames based on comic book characters.  Deadpool is contracted to eliminate a stereotypical comic book villain and just as he is about to collect his money his target escapes.  While following his target, Deadpool finds Mr. Sinister who kills his target.  As a result, he joins up with the X-Men in a fight to stop Mr. Sinister's master plan.  Deadpool's fight takes the character through city sewers, the island of Genosha, and even ancient crypts in order to stop Mr. Sinister. 

Deadpool commandeers a chopper

 

The Gameplay:

Campaign and Level Design:

The campaign for Deadpool takes place over 8 levels, including Deadpool's apartment.  Each level is designed in a way such that the player can only take one path to get from objective to objective.  As a result of this linear design there is no affordance for exploration of the levels.  Throughout each level, the player will be put up against waves of enemies that have to be defeated for the player to progress in the level, although some enemies have been placed such that the player can sneak up and perform a stealth execution.  As for difficulty levels there are three difficulty levels, easy, normal, and hard, for the player to choose from.  Based on the design of the levels and the strength of the enemies, the player can play through the entire campaign on normal difficulty in about 10 hours.

I don't think this is what Deadpool had in mind.

Combat:

Combat for Deadpool seems very standard for action games.  The player has three types of weapons: Melee, Guns, and Gadgets.  When the game begins, the player only has access to Deadpool's swords and pistols.  As the player proceeds he/she will be able to purchase more weapons and gadgets, and subsequently upgrades for those weapons.  When in combat, the player can cycle through weapons by pressing the 'M' button.  The 'N' button cycles through the player's available guns and the 'J' button allows the player to switch gadgets.  When using melee weapons the player can use 'Q' for light attacks and 'E' for heavy attacks, as for guns, the player can fire with the LMB and can zoom in with the RMB.  Finally, pressing the 'G' button uses the selected gadget.  Another ability that Deadpool can use in combat is teleportation.  By using the 'B' button, the player can use teleportation to avoid being hit, however, he can only do it two times in a row.  The 'B' button is also used by the player to counter an incoming enemy attack.  The player will know when he/she can counter an enemy because the letter 'B' will appear over an enemies' head as it is about to attack.

Deadpool in the middle of some bloody combat.

Points and Upgrades:

Throughout the game, the player will acquire points that can be used to purchase upgrades for weapons and his/her character.  Points can be found in each level and can be obtained by defeating enemies.  The player can also receive bonus points after fighting has stopped.  All points and upgrades carry over throughout the game, so if the player chooses to replay a level to get more points, he/she will keep all points gained and the upgrades that have been unlocked from the previous play through.

The Upgrade Screen

The Graphics:

Since the game was developed in the Unreal Game Engine, High Moon had the capability of creating a graphically beautiful game.  The environment is very well done and every one of the characters have a high level of detail added to them.  Even with all of the detail added to the characters, they still maintain some cartoonish features, such as Deadpool's colorful costume, Wolverine staying hunched over, and even the well-endowed women of the game.  No matter how you look at it, High Moon did an excellent job when creating the graphics for this game.

Domino and Psylocke

Final Thoughts:

After looking at each and every piece of the game, I would have to say that Deadpool is an excellent summer game.  There is a great deal of wacky and high paced combat for the player to get involved in.  The story is very simplistic and common for a comic book game, although Deadpool's personality adds a little something extra to the story.  The engine allows for high quality graphics and the designers took full advantage of the engine's capabilities.  Although Deadpool could not stand up against games such as The Witcher 2 and Skyrim, this game is still a great game and wildly entertaining ride.