Review: Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Unite the most powerful heroes from Earth and the Universe to stop a great threat.

THE GAME

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a beat 'em up game developed by Tribute Games Inc. and distributed by Dotemu and Gamemirror Games. The deadly Annihilation Wave threatens Earth, sending its army of insectoids to every corner of the Marvel Comics Universe. Some heroes and villains are controlled and forced to fight. And that's where our heroes come together to stop the Annihilation Wave and rid Earth and the Universe of this great threat. Choose two out of fifteen heroes to form a team and face familiar characters from Marvel comics.

Battle in the most well-known settings from Marvel comics.

MY IMPRESSIONS

Beat 'em ups are a controversial genre. Undeniably fun, but they always leave you with a "is it over already?" feeling that makes you reflect as the credits roll. I say this because Marvel Cosmic Invasion is well-made in practically every aspect, but it gave me a feeling that happens every time I finish a beat 'em up. However, to better exemplify this feeling, let's talk about everything this game offers.

The main mode is the campaign, where we follow the story of the Annihilation Wave threat, which takes place in famous comic book settings, full of references for Captain America to understand. Besides telling the game's story, this mode unlocks four playable characters. To be honest, the story isn't the biggest draw in the world to make you play it, but it serves well as a backdrop and also introduces other characters to the plot, giving the feeling that you are truly in the Marvel comic book universe. Upon completing the levels, your characters level up according to the score you achieve. Leveling up can give you advantages such as increased health points and passive abilities (different for each hero), as well as unlocking costumes for your character. Each campaign mode stage has three challenges, including avoiding being hit by a specific environmental interaction or using a character's ability. Additionally, there's a Cosmic Cube per stage to collect, and these are particularly easy to miss. The rewards for completing the challenges are unlocked in the vault, where you can enable and access new costume colors for the characters, music tracks, files, and modifiers for arcade mode. Nothing too incredible, but quite worthwhile given the difficulty level of completing the challenges.

Speaking of arcade mode, this is where things start to get more interesting for those seeking a real challenge. With difficulty modifiers and the possibility of emulating a real-life arcade machine—meaning game over is game over—fans of the genre can find an adventure with a bit more friction than what they find in the campaign mode.

You'll always choose a pair of heroes to play with, allowing you to better enjoy the large roster of fifteen available characters. I really liked how each one is unique in their playstyle, all with their powers well represented. Something that positively caught my attention is how they maintained the essence and characteristics of characters that have already appeared in other games, such as Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Venom. If you've played any game that features a Marvel character, you'll recognize moves and abilities, almost like a tribute to those games. Needless to say, the attacks with the assist call from the second character you choose are reminiscent of fighting games. It's something that was done in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and continues to be done here: a huge respect for the legacy of the older games. Since each character has their own particular playstyle, whether it's a faster hero like Spider-Man or someone with heavier attacks like She-Hulk, you'll find those that best suit your style. And it doesn't stop there, because we have characters that fly, defend, deflect, dodge... in short, it's impossible not to find your favorite character. The only factor that disappointed me a little were the special attacks, which are moves that use your focus bar, which fills up when you hit enemies. For the most part, they are uninspired and even disappointing in some cases. On the other hand, the choice of playable characters was spot on. Mixing established characters with some others unknown to the general public excites my Marvel fan heart.

If you haven't noticed yet, the game's art is wonderful. Besides being very faithful to the characters, the use of plenty of color will remind you of the comics, making your adventure more immersive in that universe. The soundtrack of each stage follows its theme, doing an excellent job. The voice acting of the characters is great, also very faithful to what is presented in other games, maintaining their vocal characteristics. The game is in Brazilian Portuguese, which makes it easier to understand the context of the story and better understand the challenges.

I managed the feat of gathering three more friends and testing the experience of playing with four players simultaneously on the screen. You can imagine the visual chaos this causes, with dozens of effects and enemies flying across the screen. And I'm not complaining, because I didn't expect anything different. The campaign mode is a walk in the park when playing with four players.

As you can see, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a great beat 'em up and doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. However, like me, after finishing the campaign, you might find yourself feeling a bit lost. You'll devour the game in four or five hours for the fun it provides, but what about after that? I don't know if the arcade mode, which repeats everything you've already done, only adding difficulty, will satisfy your desire to play more. In my case, I'm still going for all the game's achievements, but what about those who don't care about that? Therefore, returning to the initial question, beat 'em up games are controversial: incredibly fun, but in the end, you get a feeling that something is missing. And I don't blame them, because even I don't know what that missing factor is in all games of this genre. However, I can say that Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a very fun game, so enjoy the journey.

Even weaker villains become threats when controlled by the Annihilation Wave.

ACHIEVEMENTS

I don't know if the achievements were designed for you to play with all the characters, but that's what you'll have to do. Besides the campaign-related achievements, most of them require you to repeat or land specific hits, which can be a bit tedious, but nothing impossible. I missed more achievements related to character interactions, like the one where you have to use a team assist between Wolverine and Storm against Dark Phoenix. These little references are really cool, and I'd like to see more of them within the achievements. Some achievements require more players, but that won't be a problem because you can either play locally with a friend, find people online, or even use crossplay to find players on other platforms. And to finish, we have the combo of achievements for the game's mechanics, such as landing a 200-hit combo, collecting all the cosmic cubes, completing all the stage challenges, unlocking all the vault rewards, and so on. It takes some effort, but it's worth spending a little more time in Marvel Cosmic Invasion to get 100% of the achievements.

The cosmic heroes are well represented.

CONCLUSION

I was eagerly awaiting this game. After loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, knowing that everyone involved would be making Marvel Cosmic Invasion left me with high expectations. I really like Marvel and its characters, especially the more obscure ones, although my favorite is Spider-Man. It all culminated in an excellent game that, despite the aforementioned frustrations with games of this genre, left me very happy with the result. Don't expect a long game, full of plots and many challenges. Maybe you'll only play the campaign mode once and be satisfied. Beat 'em up games always suffer from their length, which may or may not frustrate the player, either by being too short or too long, but perhaps we should focus more on the quality shown in the time it gives you to appreciate the work and not on the time spent. This is the kind of quality I'd like to see in all games of this genre. As a beat 'em up enthusiast, I was very satisfied with what I played and I'm eager for them to add new characters in the future.

SCORE: 8.5/10