I got to guest host on Nerd Alert this week with Kim Horcher. We talked about myriad topics, starting with a new Avengers: Infinity War tease!
Tag Archive: iron man
Join the Merry Marvel Marching Society
When LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was first announced, some of us less-open-minded comic-book aficionados had some questions about the idea of Warner Bros. (who owns rival DC) publishing a Marvel product of any kind. Luckily, it seems that developer TT Games has just as many mighty Marvelites on their staff as they do dedicated DCers (just don’t tell the bigwigs upstairs!).
Similar to the LEGO Batman games, TT started by making a LEGO-ized version of New York City, giving fans of the comic-book giant an open world comparable to DC’s Gotham. Sure, they’ve taken some liberties—the X-Mansion’s been moved to the North End and out of Westchester County, for example—but these changes were necessary to make everything fit logically into what’s a truly massive hub made of LEGO bricks. With well over 100 heroes and villains coming together in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, however, there needs to be a universal threat that ties this hub and these heroes together.
Fortunately, Marvel has exactly that in the form of the world-consuming Galactus. And he hungers for Earth. Again. Only a select few know of his approach, though, and some of Marvel’s most nefarious nemeses like Magneto, Loki, and Dr. Doom look to turn this global threat to their advantage. Marvel’s best and brightest heroes will now try to work together to thwart the master plan of these villains, as well as turn Galactus away.
If you’ve played any of the LEGO titles before—whether they were based directly on a movie or more loosely inspired by a property like this one—then you have an idea of what to expect. For this particular game, the action’s broken into 15 levels across many familiar Marvel Universe locales. As you make progress, you unlock gold bricks for performing certain actions, such as saving Stan Lee (who always finds himself in a perilous situation!) or collecting a certain amount of studs (the LEGO version of coins). As you unlock more bricks and play more of the game, you’ll add more heroes and villains to an ever-expanding cast of characters—who can then, in turn, be used to unlock more bricks. And the cycle continues until you 100-percent the game.
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes features more activities than previous entries when it comes to acquiring bricks, giving the game solid variety and replayability. Some gold bricks require puzzle-solving and swapping of powers, but the game also includes plenty of fetch quests that are rather dull and populate much of the hub world. Escorting mini-figs slowly on foot from one side of the map to the other is not my definition of fun and could grate on completionists.
Speaking of swapping powers, your mini-figures can now wield more abilities than ever before. And not just the super-strength you’d expect from characters like the Hulk or the Thing—you can fire laser blasts with Cyclops, activate Magneto’s mastery of magnetism to move all things made of metal, or use Jean Grey’s telekinesis to move just about everything else in the world around. Mind you, wielding Magneto and Jean Grey’s power classes can take some getting used to, since they’re not as accurate as, say, a blast of flame from the hands of the Human Torch.
Since many characters can fly—like Thor and Iron Man—getting around the hub world has also never been easier. The game even includes vehicles (some of which even having character themes, like the Green Goblin’s helicopter—though he really doesn’t need one, since he has his glider, right?) for characters that move around mostly on foot, such as Black Widow or Hawkeye.
So, some of the gameplay has changed to go along with the new IP, but one element remains mostly the same: the writing. TT Games usually does a tremendous job of finding ways to sprinkle in humor that freshens up the experience for older players, but they also inject plenty of slapstick and childish antics to ensure appeal to younger audiences. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is no exception, and its charm should warm the hearts of even the most jaded of comic-book fans.
Unfortunately, the technical problems that have plagued the LEGO series also return here. The camera remains a problem, especially in the hub world, and it’ll often lead to some unnecessary deaths. The rotating split-screen in co-op is also a distraction and detracts from the co-op experience, since two characters can’t just run off—they need to stay close to each other at all times. In future entries, TT Games either needs to make two static, horizontal split-screens or keep me and my buddy stuck within the same window. I started getting sick from the rotating line that appears when one player decides to run north and the other south.
While on the subject of co-op, the other big problem is that we still don’t have online 4-player co-op. The game includes many instances with four heroes in a group in the story, and I had to needlessly rotate through them all to try to progress. Even at my age, I can imagine having a good time with friends or my younger cousins on the other side of the country if we could do this online. And why limit the 4-player fun to the story? The hub world is easily massive enough to fit four mini-fig heroes in it.
Besides the legacy technical shortcomings, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is immensely enjoyable. It has enough side content, including bonus missions and challenges, that should keep gamers of all ages entertained for hours. But even if you’re just in it for the story, you should walk away happy. If you love LEGO, Marvel comics, or both, this game won’t disappoint.
| Developer: TT Games • Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment • ESRB: E10+ • Release Date: 10.22.2013 | |
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9.0
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Some technical shortcomings aside, this is a tremendously fun experience that will appeal to LEGO and comic book fans young and old alike.
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| The Good | Same humor and charm we’ve come to expect from all the LEGO games. |
| The Bad | Same camera and technical glitches we’ve come to expect from all the LEGO games. |
| The Ugly | Same wonton destruction of property we’ve come to expect from all the LEGO games. |
| LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U, 3DS, DS, PS Vita, and will be a launch title for PS4 and Xbox One. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360. | |
Make Mine Marvel
I can’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t want to be a superhero. Whether it was wielding the Hulk’s impossible strength, firing lasers from my eyes like Cyclops, or cutting things to ribbons with Wolverine’s claws, superpowers have always been at the forefront of my imagination. So, I’ll admit that I relished being able to go hands-on with Gazillion Entertainment’s upcoming free-to-play MMORPG Marvel Heroes.
The story starts off with vintage Marvel bad guy Dr. Doom getting his hands on a Cosmic Cube—and the chaos he intends to bring down upon the citizenry of the world will be significant. Therefore, Marvel’s mightiest heroes from across all major lines must come together to root out Doom and his allies. Being as obsessed with comics as I am, this story may look like it’s been done before—on the surface, anyway. But the game’s writer, Brian Michael Bendis (best known for his long run on The Avengers), is clear that it’s difficult to write for a game like this.
“The challenge was to come up with a story that hits as much architecture and landscape in the Marvel Universe as possible without it feeling too much like a knee-jerk thing,” he says. “What’s interesting about the Marvel Universe is that there are just as many interesting things going on at the street level—let’s say the Daredevil level, the Spider-Man level—as there are at the cosmic level, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Silver Surfer, the Galactus level. The cool thing—and the interesting idea for us—was to actually start the story at the ground level and kind of roll like a snowball downhill. As you discover more and more about the actual story and play through the game, you get to travel up toward the cosmic level of the Marvel universe, all the while not getting newcomers lost or confused. I looked at it like this grand opportunity to create almost like a Marvel event comic unlike anything you’d actually seen in publishing. And at the same time, create like a Marvel lifestyle product, if that makes sense. Then, there are some fans who live and breathe these characters—and are going to live and breathe this game. This is going to be, if done well, the next step of the worldwide community of comic-book fans and Marvel fans and just fans of games. To create something that really lives and breathes like the Marvel Universe for them all to live in is a real treat—and a real challenge.”
If you should live and breathe these characters, as Mr. Bendis so aptly puts it, then you’ll probably be as excited as I was to see what he was talking about. I was fortunate enough to play through three of the story’s dozen chapters; in that time, I went from Mutant Town in New York City to the Kingpin’s penthouse to the Morlock sewers to the Savage Land—hopping through some of Marvel’s most iconic locations in a way that makes sense to the story. I also took on iconic baddies like Sentinels, Mutates, A.I.M., and the Purifiers, not to mention individual supervillains like Green Goblin, Tombstone, Sauron, Bullseye, and Lady Deathstrike.
But including characters that we expect to see in a game like this isn’t going to be enough—the gameplay needs to be there, too. Fortunately, Gazillion president and COO David Brevik has a bit of experience in making games like this really shine (he created Diablo I and II, if you didn’t recognize the name).
Steering away from fully customizable avatars, Marvel Heroes wants to make you feel like those great characters we all grew up loving, so you only play as established characters from the Marvel Universe. If you want to smash with the Hulk, you can do it. If Ms. Marvel is more your thing, then no one will stop you. Or maybe purple really does it for you, so Hawkeye’s your man. If they’re a hero in the Marvel Universe, you can unlock them and play with them at some point. And if you don’t like their standard look, you’ve got a bevy of alternate costumes you can unlock—like, if you’d rather your Captain America have that 1940s helmet instead of his modern mask.
And playing with these characters feels as great as you’d expect. Setting hotkeys for special powers or just left- and right-clicking makes it so you can fire a variety of beams with Cyclops or set the world on fire however you wish with the Human Torch. It couldn’t be easier to start mowing down Mole People or putting the screws to Pyro than that.
As Brevik explains, though, you can’t just go it alone if you really want to get through the story and the inevitable expansions down the road. At times, you’ll have to team up, and Gazillion’s trying some different ways to make some of those feel more spur-of-the-moment than camping out in front of a dungeon entrance looking for help.
“We had an idea about the way that we’d like to get invites going and get people together,” he says. “We have events that are more traditional encounters, making sure that there are opportunities for people to socially get together and group up. You hang out in town, and people are like, ‘I need help with the Kingpin fight!’ or ‘Oh, I’m on that, too,’ and group up and go to this thing together. That’s something we wanted from the very beginning as part of the design. Then, we have optional grouping, which is this loose grouping out in the public combat zones. Green Goblin suddenly pops up, and then everybody can get together dynamically and work together, and everybody gets rewarded. So, there isn’t an official formalization of the grouping there. There’ll be other ways to group and other ways to do things, especially in the endgame, that I think will also play right into the kind of MMO hands that people are used to.”
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the crafting system. Going to certain characters like Forge at the X-Mansion or Hank Pym at Avengers Tower will allow players the chance to upgrade their equipment or add buffs to items like Cyclops’ visor or Deadpool’s katanas. This just gives you an even deeper connection to the experience; it hearkens back to Diablo while still featuring the Marvel flair players expect.
Marvel Heroes is shaping up as one of the more special free-to-play MMO experiences. With the power of the Marvel license, writers like Brian Michael Bendis, and David Brevik’s Diablo background, every Marvelite will likely be shouting “Excelsior!” when this game’s finally open to everyone—hopefully sometime later this year.
Gimmicks Assemble!
Every time you walk into a comic book store nowadays, it seems there is some sort of new major event going on, especially with Marvel. This constant bombardment of universe changing stories makes it so that mighty Marvelites barely get a chance to breathe when it comes to keeping up with the flood of fiction usually before them. Fear Itself, World War Hulk, House of M, Dark Reign, Avengers vs X-Men, Civil War, Chaos War, Schism, and Spider-Island, are just some, not even close to all, of what has happened in the past few years of Marvel. So when we first heard we were getting a Marvel Avengers Kinect game based off of Secret Invasion, most of us were shaking our heads at the idea since in modern comic terms, this four-year old story arc was already considered ancient in the mythos of Earth-616 and is not nearly as beloved as some other stories.
The basic premise of Secret Invasion was that the shape-shifting Skurllls had found a way to transform themselves to resemble many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes without being detected and then inserted themselves as sleeper agents amongst the super hero populous. Once it was revealed with Skrull-Electra’s death, the event had everyone guessing as to whom they could trust and just where all the original heroes had gone. And so the idea of jumping into the shoes of everyone’s favorite heroes to bash those green-skinned, three-chinned, would be conquerors led to Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.
The game has you play as 20 different characters from the Marvel Universe and take on both regular and Skrull versions of many of these heroes and villains in a fighting game style as you loosely follow the events of Secret Invasion. From the infiltration of the Baxter Building where the Fantastic Four make their home to the attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, you must fend off dozens of foes overall as each level has several conflicts associated with it.
Each round of fighting features a pair of heroes or villains on each side, but should one character’s lifebar be depleted, the match is over. In terms of the motions you must perform, anyone who played Ubisoft’s previous Kinect hero game, PowerUp Heroes, should be familiar with the actions as you kick, punch, and swing your arms around to mimic moves that the actual Marvel characters might do. From clasping your fists together and swinging upward for a massive Hulk uppercut to opening your arms up wide for an Iron Man Repulsor Beam, the game does a very good job of recognizing your movements and what exactly you want to do with each character. To immerse you in the experience even more, there are even voice commands where if you scream certain phrases during Ultra Attacks, like ‘HULK SMASH’, your moves are even more powerful and as cheesy as you may sound, the gimmick is surprisingly fun.
As tight handling as the game may be for a motion game though, its core mechanics are overly simple and the motions become repetitive and boring as you quickly realize just how many battles you have to work your way through in order to beat the game’s campaign mode. The story adaptation also clearly needed more work than it got and if you are a diehard fan of the comics, you won’t appreciate the characters and scenarios that were randomly added to try to force some longevity into this title that even then should really only require a few hours to beat.
Despite its fatal flaw of being as repetitive as every other Kinect game out there though, Marvel Avengrs: Battle for Earth actually has a lot more polish than you might expect from a game of this nature and is a great way to get your butt out of your chair to pummel some of your all-time favorite comic book characters. Along with some tight controls, there is a versus and co-op feature that allows you to play with or against your friends and could prove to be a great way to kill a rainy day should your living room have the space for it. The look and sound of the game also helps give the game an authentic comic book feel. All told, if you’re a Marvel fan really looking to get into the shoes of one of your favorite characters, there are worst things you can do than play Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.
SUMMARY: As usual, the gimmicks quickly become evident and tiresome, especially for folks familiar with the comic arc this game’s story is based off of. However, there is some surprising polish here and you might have more fun with it than you’d expect as it is one of the few Kinect games where the controls actually work.
- THE GOOD: Great look and sound to the game that mimics the comics well
- THE BAD: Simple game play that can become boring quickly
- THE UGLY: Skrulls and their triple chins
SCORE: 7.0
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth is available currently for Xbox 360 and will later be available on Wii U. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
Clash of the Classics
When I was just a boy, my friends and I would argue for hours on end on the playground about what superheroes would win in an imaginary fight when pitted against each other in all different kinds of wacky combinations. We didn’t just mix up teams from a particular universe, but came up with all kinds of scenarios that put our favorites against all manner of pop culture heroes and heroines. So, when games like Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs Capcom breathed even more life into these conversations, you can easily imagine why we were hooked.
Flash-forward nearly two decades, and these games have led to the production of one of the most successful and beloved fighting game franchises there is. Because of this, Capcom wanted to make sure that not only us older games didn’t forget our roots, but also show a new generation the foundations of what set us on our hypercombo-ing path.
Marvel vs Capcom Origins is no ordinary old-school compilation, though. Included with these two original games—which have also had some HD graphic upgrades—are 8-player online lobbies with spectator modes, replay saving, dynamic challenges that unlock levels, and points you can spend on unlockables like characters that were hidden in the originals, end movies, or concept art.
The best part of the dynamic challenges and unlocks, though, may be that they give both games an unprecedented amount of replayability. Plus, if you’re as big a fan as I am, you will absolutely geek out over the sketches and stills of your favorites heroes and villains, as well as the chance to easily unlock the hidden characters that we originally had to input an impossibly long code for—Dr. Doom and Thanos in Marvel Super Heroes and Gold War Machine, Hyper Venom, Orange Hulk, and Shadow Lady in MvC.
Another nice aspect of the game is that everything that made these fighters unique in the first place is still there so you can relive the experience as if it were 1995 again and you were feeding quarters into an arcade cabinet under pink neon lights. The gem system of Marvel Super Heroes (inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet story from Marvel comics) still allows you to enhance your players temporarily with the powers of Space, Power, Time, Soul, Reality, or Mind, and MvC still gives you dozens of assist characters and the Duo Team Attack where you and your partner can combine your hyper combos into one truly devastating maneuver.
Unfortunately, in terms of gameplay, the games are a little too demanding at times, as players who are used to modern fighters will quickly see the age on these classics. Sometimes a little clunky and even a bit frustrating, both these games—but especially Marvel Super Heroes—can feel stiff, and the smooth combo chains you may be used to from Marvel vs Capcom 3 are much harder to string together and pull off in these titles. It’s not that you won’t be able to get the hang of these characters eventually and have fun in the process, but if you play modern fighters like MvC 3 religiously and then expect to be able to jump right into these games, you might be caught a bit off-guard by the stark differences.
When all is said and done, Marvel vs Capcom Origins hits enough of the right nostalgic notes to make it a more than worthwhile purchase for long time fans. I mean, the game even offers zoomed out, angled camera camera views designed to replicate the experience of playing on an old wooden cabinet. Younger fans might be a little frustrated with the less than silky smooth controls, but they should still play in order to truly appreciate how far we’ve come with fighting games. They’ll even likely start creating fun memories of their own once they adjust to the outdate feel. All in all, Origins is a fine compilation that’s more than worthy of a download.
SUMMARY: Marvel vs Capcom Origins does a fine job of staying true to the originals, while the addition of dynamic challenges provide a new layer of addictiveness that helps to overshadow how much these games have aged in the past two decades.
- THE GOOD: New leveling up and variety of unlocks compliment classic game play well.
- THE BAD: Games show their age at times.
- THE UGLY: Far and away, it’s Shuma-Gorath.
SCORE: 9.0
Marvel vs Capcom Origins is available on XBLA (Xbox 360) and PS3 (PSN). Primary version reviewed was for XBLA.
It’s déjà vu all over again
It was one of last year’s premiere fighting games and it is a franchise that arcade fighting fans absolutely can’t get enough of. So, much in the same vein of how the Nintendo 3DS had Super Street Fighter IV at their handheld system launch, Sony wanted to make sure they had a premiere fighting game to go along with their handheld on launch day as well.
That game, of course, is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. But with a game already heralded as a superior fighting product that gave fans everything they wanted and then some, what could they possibly do with their port to the PS Vita? Nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true, but relatively speaking Capcom did very little with this latest version of the game that makes it stand out from its console brethren.
And this can be a good thing because why mess with something if isn’t broken? The game still has stunning visuals due to Vita’s processing power and the full 48-character roster of fighters remains completely in tact. The arcade, training, mission, and versus modes all return as nothing content wise was cut to facilitate the small size of the Vita’s cartridge. The voice acting and original music is still all there, the story cut scenes done in a style similar to comic book panels, the hyper combos, Galactus as the final boss, and even personalizing your online card is still present. All of the patches and balancing tweaks that console players had to wait for are all packaged in the game and because of it you still get one of the premiere fighting experiences of 2011 available to you.
The problem is that now it is 2012. And most people who were going to buy this game already have. And the major negative of making little to no changes with the game is now evident. If the audience has already been tapped, who is going to buy the exact same game twice?
Sure, it’s portable now and you can link up with friends to get in some quick versus matches. That’s a cool feature, but again, most people won’t have need of it really if they already bought the game unless they are so hardcore that this game is the center of their entire gaming universe and must have it with them AT ALL TIMES. But for the rest of us, what might sell us on this? Will a new touch screen system make us want to pick this game up? No. Especially since the touch screen is mostly pointless as it is crucial to actually see the screen when playing a fighting game to learn hit boxes, range, patterns, and other critical elements to victory and so you can’t have your fingers constantly getting in the way of that.
And speaking of fingers, it does become a bit harder to pull off a lot of the moves you’re accustomed to with the smaller joystick and buttons of the Vita. And the one thing the Vita version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 does lack isn’t a shortcoming with the game itself, but with the hardware as you only have two shoulder buttons to try to pull off moves that were originally mapped to four. This can lead to some unnecessary button mashing that changes the game play for the worse.
But, aside from that, if you should pick this game up again, you’ll get everything you would expect from the console version. And if you missed it the first time around on a console, then picking it up for the Vita will definitely be money well-spent. There just isn’t enough of a positive difference though between the console and Vita versions to warrant owning both in most cases.
SUMMARY: Still a stellar fighting game, but if you already have it on a console, there’s no point in picking it up again.
- THE GOOD: Basically the same game as on consoles
- THE BAD: Pointless touch controls, lack of shoulder buttons sacrifices move list
- THE UGLY: Tiny buttons and joysticks make button mashing more difficult
SCORE: 8.0
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is available on Xbox 360, PS3, and PS VITA. This review was based on the PS VITA version of the game.
Comic books fans are some of the most hardcore media consumers there are. And so when word came out that Disney and Playdom were making a “casual” Facebook game revolving around the Marvel Universe called Marvel Avengers Alliance, a collective groan could be heard coming from the comic community. But never fear fellow True Believers as it seems that our favorite heroes and villains are in good hands.
Although it may fall under the category of “casual” due to its delivery system to your computers, Marvel Avengers Alliance is shaping up to be an experience that all Marvel-ites will want to be a part of. Set up like a classic RPG, this original story (the release near the movie is a happy coincidence for the game as it has no movie tie-in) you play as your very own agent of SHIELD fresh out of boot camp and your high marks has already garnered the attention of Nick Fury. So when an intergalactic event called “The Pulse” suddenly slams the Earth, he knows just who to call to help round up the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
The threat of The Pulse is that super-villains from all over the world are searching for fragments of an element that the Pulse left behind called ISO-8 that can enhance their powers. Turn about is fair play though as later on during your super-heroing career, you’ll be able to use larger and more diverse fragments of ISO-8 yourself to round out your stable of heroes’ abilities or turn them into powerhouses in the areas they are already strongest. Hulk can truly be the strongest there is with an ISO-8 boost, or he can learn a little finesse and accuracy with his Thunder Clap if you so choose.
For every mission you go on, you’ll be able to take two heroes to go with your Agent character and be able to unlock up to 28 heroes overall including Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Black Cat, Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. If your favorite character is too many levels away though from being unlocked, there will also be an in-game store where you can purchase the unlock for them as well as a bevy of items to help you on your quest. What is most interesting about all these characters though is how different some of them look. In the picture above, we see more 80s era looking Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and Colossus, but I also saw a more modern rendition of She-Hulk and the Ultimate Universe’s version of Nick Fury in the game.
“It’s funny what people key into, but understand that it’s all very intentional and we spoke to Marvel all along the way about what era should we go for look-wise here. I mean Iron Man has 31 different suits of armor, which should we go with in the game, and then what will we have available to the players in the future? Are we going to have all 31 Iron Man suits? Obviously not on Day 1, but the intent is to speak to all the fans and give them all those options. But, it’s interesting what different Marvel fans key into and you should know it’s all not just a happy accident. We were very specific with how all the characters would lay out with their different looks,” said Michael Rubinelli, Vice President of Studio Operations for Playdom when I brought it up.
But aside from forwarding the story and playing through like a regular RPG, with leveling up, turn-based mechanics, and buffs and de-buffs depending on equipment, what makes this appeal to the “Casual” market is the fact that you can call in your friends’ heroes for help and they will receive a reward for making their hero available to you. Mind you, if your team has Captain America and Wolverine on it, you can’t call in your buddy’s Cap or Wolvie as the story won’t support mirrors. There is also PvP match-ups (where mirrors are allowed) where you can put your best team to the test and see how they fair against friends and foes alike, helping to expand on the game experience even further and giving this just as long a life as any other “casual” game.
“You’ve got a game that basically can play out infinitely, and that we’re going to support by continuing to release new content, we’re going to continue adding new features, and there’s no level cap. This game doesn’t ever have to end and so by interacting and people continuing to invest in their characters, those characters can continue to grow indefinitely. And that’s part of the beauty of the Marvel franchise as things change and develop in the comics, we can add things to reflect that in the game as time goes on,” said Robert Reichner, COO and co-founder of Offbeat Creations, who helped work on the game.
And the best part is the investment doesn’t have to be as time-consuming as many other RPGs and MMOs out there (hence the “casual” nature) as you can take heroes you aren’t playing with and send them on missions by themselves to level them up and have them learn new moves before calling on them later (think of the Assassin Recruits in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations). Even when you leave Facebook, the character growth continues, encouraging you that just by putting a few minutes into the game each day can have profound affects on your characters later on.
All in all, Marvel Avengers Alliance looks to be a “casual” game that will finally appeal to that “hardcore” comic book fan. An original story, a deep RPG leveling up system, and all our favorite characters with hopes for more down the road, has me ready to shout Excelsior!
What do you folks think? Are you going to play this casual title? Do you think the Marvel characters will translate well to Facebook? Let us know your thoughts with comments below!
THE BUZZ: Disney, along with their social games division Playdom, have announced the plan to launch a new Marvel inspired game for Facebook in the next three months.
The game will feature many of the most popular heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe and will be titled Marvel: Avengers Alliance. In the game, you will play as a new agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. tasked with assembling the greatest team of Avengers yet to battle many of the villains from the Marvel Universe who are converging on Manhattan after a galaxy wide event known as “The Pulse”.
Aside from following this story, the game will also feature PvP battles for players to test their social standing and feature a leveling up system for each individual hero.
EGM’S TAKE: No surprise really to see Marvel and Disney trying to get a game into the social market in time for the Avengers movie release, but the game would likely appeal to fans of the comics anyway no matter when they released it.
From the screens below and the fact you can level up, the game looks to be shaping up into an old-school RPG with the enemies on the left and villains on the right.
It also looks like your character will fight alongside the heroes at the top of the screen in traditional S.H.I.E.L.D. garb. Nick Fury has also been mentioned as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the game so the story will likely be less tied to the comics and more to the movies. It should be interesting to see if they use the traditional comic book version of Fury or the Ultimate version portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson like in Marvel’s recent slew of movies though.
The first big question I thought of when I saw this though was when are we going to get a full blown Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 for a console?
To check out the trailer and to get the latest updates on when the game may go to open beta, you can check out the game’s Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/avengersalliance
What do you folks think? Is this going to just be propaganda for the new Avengers movie or will it be a legit foray for Marvel and Disney? What villains and heroes do you think the game should feature? Let us know what you think with comments below!
Originally Published: April 13, 2011, on Comicvine.com
Cletus Kasady is still alive and the Carnage symbiote has left a trail of destruction in its wake in order to reunite with its former host. Can even the combined might of Spider-Man and Iron Man be enough to quell this reborn menace?
The Good
The action and writing for this issue is simply top notch. From the opening flashback of when the Hall Industries doctors originally found what was left of the symbiote and Kasady to the banter that Kasady has going back and forth with both the symbiote and Spider-Man and you are quickly reminded that Kasady isn’t your run of the mill homicidal maniac, he has a sinister streak in him that puts him on par with some of the all-time great villains.
Combine this with making him more powerful than ever by merging himself with some of the armor that was powered by pieces of the symbiote to create a techno-organic super-Carnage and Zeb Wells does a brilliant job of actually making you believe that the heroes might not pull this one out in the end.
The Bad
There is a huge downside to having a limited series released every two months in that it can be hard to remember everything that is happening. So when Shriek and Doppelganger showed up midway through the comic, I was taken aback because I had forgotten how big a role they played in setting up this current situation and should have been re-introduced much sooner in the book.
Also, it seems that while being used as bio-fuel for Hall Industries’ powered armor suits that Carnage had another baby. It’s always risky to introduce new symbiotes into the fold because aside from Venom and Carnage, when was the last time a new symbiote has had any lasting effect on the Marvel Universe. When was the last time someone heard from Toxin? It should be interesting to see what happens with this new symbiote considering whom it has now bonded to, but the odds of it sticking around and having any real significance is unlikely and seemed unnecessary.
The Verdict
Carnage fans will be jumping for joy after reading this book as he is being brought back around in a big way and this could help set up a lot of potential storylines in the future. How will Carnage deal with Flash Thompson’s Venom and Anti-Venom? Or a better question, will Flash Thomson be able to control the Venom symbiote if he happens across Carnage?
No matter what happens in the future, if you are a fan of Carnage then this comic is a must have. With so many Maximum Carnage undertones, the nostalgia factor alone should pull people in for this amazing limited series. The only real downfall with this book is that you have to wait two months again for what is shaping up to be an epic and thrilling conclusion.
Originally Published: March 30, 2011, on Comicvine.com
The Hood continues his quest for the Infinity Gems and is already half way there with three in his possession. Can the Avengers prevent him for completing the gauntlet or will a new force arise to hinder his progress?
The Good
With Parker Robbins being the pursuer of the gems, this story is a clever twist of the original Infinity Gauntlet story arc, stirring up some great nostalgia for me from the early 1990s with that original story, and playing War of the Gems on my Super Nintendo. With all six gems located this week, Avengers #11 has me salivating in anticipation of the next issue.
Avengers #11 also enlightened me as I came to a new appreciation for the Red Hulk. His monthly may be teetering on the edge of oblivion in my comic book store pull box, but he definitely has a place in an ensemble and was a nice contrast to Thor and Namor while battling against Parker Robbins and it was very fitting that he was able to wrest the red power gem from him after an epic battle.
Couple all this great action and nostalgia with a surprise villain reveal of a being we haven’t seen in quite some time who has become aware of The Hood’s quest and the pieces are in place for one of the more interesting story arcs I’ve read in a while to play out in earth-shattering detail.
The Bad
Although the overall story progressed considerably with all the gems being located now, most of this action took place in only half the book as the other half was The Watcher providing narration over Parker Robbins’ battle with the Red Hulk in order to set up future issues in this arc by explaining how Parker Robbins does not know the power he is playing with.
This also lessened Parker Robbins as an overall threat to the Avengers, even though he has three Infinity Gems. This supposedly huge player in the Marvel underworld keeps losing power and then regaining it, but then gets downplayed simply as someone who is just a common thug that keeps happening onto these outlandish scenarios. If Marvel is going to have him be a major player, then they need to treat him as such. Otherwise stop featuring him as one and leave him alone because last I checked you had to be something pretty special to wield an Infinity Gem.
The Watcher narration also provided a pacing problem. Half the book is this long drawn out battle between Red Hulk and The Hood over the power gem and then the other half sees two more gems found and another change hands. It felt like crawling up to the line at a red light and then slamming on the gas when you saw green.
The Verdict
Avengers #11 harkens back to a classic Marvel story arc and sees more heroes than ever trying to prevent the unthinkable from happening. With an epic battle between the Red Hulk and Parker Robbins serving as the background for a lot of Watcher narration, this would actually be a great spot for someone to jump into this arc as the first half of the book will bring you up to speed on all you need to know from here on out. If you’ve been reading this book though, they try to apologize for the replay session by forwarding the plot tremendously in the last half by uncovering the remaining gems and throwing in a surprise villain reveal that will make fans of the original Infinity Gauntlet arc squeal in delight.
The book has some pacing problems and doesn’t know if it wants Parker Robbins to be a Grade-A villain or a chump, but aside from this it has the makings to be one of the more interesting reads in the coming months and this would be a great time to get on board if you haven’t already.
RayCarsilloWrites.com 