Fully Illustrated·Released Oct 12, 2017·Single player
Wulverblade puts you in the role of Britons' greatest warriors as you resist the oppressive expansion of the Roman Legions and the traitorous allied tribes.
A fine addition to the scrolling beat-'em-up genre. The story and its historic backdrop is interesting and the combat is meaty and fun. Arcade and arena modes will keep you coming back for more, as will co-op.
Despite its modest hack-and-slash origins, Wulverblade manages to pack in a lot of content, depth and unlockable elements, and these allow it to transcend the usual limitations of the genre. The action rarely becomes too repetitive because there are always multiple ways of dealing with the hordes of enemies which present a genuinely stern test, even for seasoned players who fondly recall pumping coins into the likes of Golden Axe and Final Fight all those years ago. Simply finishing the game's epic story is the kind of challenge that will keep you glued to your Switch for a considerable length of time, but the Arcade mode – which goes truly old-school – awaits those who feel cocky (or foolish) enough to take it on. Wulverblade's lack of hand-holding reminds us of a time when games really did push the player in order to maximise their enjoyment, but it could prove too taxing for those who are entering their genre cold; with this in mind an easier "casual" mode might have been a wise choice as we fear some will give up when they encounter one of the game's many painful spikes in difficulty. Like the games that inspired it, Wulverblade is best played with a friend – not just because it's more enjoyable, but because it blunts the almost sadistic difficulty level. Wulverblade therefore might not be to everybody's tastes, but if you have even a passing interest in genre then we can confidently predict you'll get along with this famously – and you may even learn something about the history of Roman Britain in the process, which isn't something you can say about every video game.
