Regardless of how you feel about Disney’s acquisition of Marvel, as a reviewer of video games it became a very bleak time in the early months of 2014. There was more than one calamity that befell consumers as a result of that purchase. All Activision Marvel games lost their license. All future video game license deals for current properties were off the table, and current games were pulled from digital stores. That meant no more “Marvel vs Capcom”, and no more Deadpool. While many of us had time to play the Vs series, Deadpool had just been released 6 months prior to the merger. It hardly had a chance. So color me surprised when I found a used copy hiding at my local big-box store.

Deadpool is an average to mediocre God of War brawler, a poor Gears of War clone, an even poorer Matrix clone, and an all around fun Deadpool game. Somehow those elements merge together to make the game much more than the sum of it’s often shitty parts.

First off Deadpool, the ‘merc with a mouth’, is the perfect comic character for a videogame. He knows he’s a comic character, and is constantly breaking the fourth wall. This plays out like a videogame written by Mad magazine. Vulgar, often juvenile humor. Dick and fart jokes abound. And yet, it’s almost quaint. One of the appeals of Deadpool is that he’s an unkillable childlike maniac. A ridiculous character. Someone that can show us the ridiculousness of videogame tropes through a bloody and immature lens.

The combat can get repetitive, but the skill tree is fairly deep and keeps the gameplay interesting, if you’re willing to grind a bit. This is perfect, as the combat itself is a little grindy.

There’s quite a bit of over the top antics, and many times I actually found myself laughing out loud, a rarity for videogame writing. I played through in around 8 hours on medium difficulty, and may re-visit the challenge levels at a later date.

At the end of the day, Deadpool is exactly what you want from a Deadpool game. It’s crass, juvenile, a little repetitive, and the jokes often fall flat. It’s also funny, and a little refreshing. I rate it a 75/100, quite a solid round of fun if you can manage to find it.