Marvel Heroes

Game overview

Marvel Heroes has a strong foundation with Brian Michael Bendis (author of Marvel comics) and David Brevik (designer of Diablo) on the development team. Although the game didn’t get off to a great start in open beta , Gazillion has since listened to players and done a much needed overhaul. And the effort was worth it - this is a very entertaining game and if Gazillion continues to be as responsive as they’ve been so far, it’s only going to get better.

The gameplay is fun and the story will appeal to many people, drawing as it does from the rich and complex Marvel universe. Add to this a well-balanced cash shop and this title is a must for Action RPG fans and Marvel fans!

Full review

The Cosmic Cube

Dr. Doom is in possession of the "Cosmic Cube", a device powered by powerful and incomprehensible forces. It has the ability to change reality, so naturally Dr. Doom and his army of villains are planning on doing just that, tipping the balance against the superheroes who have so far managed to keep their nefarious plans at bay....

Marvel Heroes is written by Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers, Avengers vs. X-Men and so on) so this is a no brainer for fans of the comics. In addition, the story is divided into several chapters that unfold through animated cut scenes in the comic book style. This is certainly a well-developed choice, and draws players in to the world of the superheroes.

After logging in, you have the choice of 9 different heroes: The Punisher, Captain America, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Black Widow, Storm, Colossus and Human Torch . Unfortunately, you can only pick one character, and will have to unlock the rest by paying or playing, which you’re likely to want to do, since at the time of writing there are 32 different heroes.

There are also many costumes for each character. So you will have a plethora of different suits for your Iron Man to strut his stuff in, including the classics as well as some rather strange choices (Lady Loki, anyone?) In total there are around 100 different suits in the cash shop and still more can be found as items while playing.

Diablo MMO

The game is a real Diablo clone, partly because David Brevik the CEO of Gazillion Entertainment was one of the designers of the Diablo series. Yet there is a small twist to the game – it combines the normal Action-RPG with a dose of MMO, so expect to see other players and even world bosses scattered all through the game. Starting up, you’ll sometimes end up in a group of random players, though this option can be switched off if you don’t play well with others.

Gameplay itself primarily involves doing battle in order to reap loot and treasure chests from fallen enemies. From the very beginning, Marvel Heroes doles out plenty of good equipment for your character in loot finds, and this continues throughout the game. Every corner of the map feels worth exploring, just for the chance of encountering an extra chest or special enemy.

Even after you complete the story, there’s still things to do. You can repeat the campaign on a higher difficulty (and get better loot), complete daily missions or go on legendary quests for special crafting materials.

Fans of PvP will enjoy the game especially from level 20, when you have the opportunity to participate in 5v5 matches. Because this is a relatively new option in the game, it is currently the only PvP mode and sometimes not well balanced. However, more maps and options are underway for future release.

Blocky edges

The graphics in Marvel Heroes are fairly decent, except for one outstanding issue. The game uses Unreal Engine 3, and so is without an Anti Aliasing option. This makes many edges in the game look blocky and ugly. You can force Anti Aliasing through your graphics card, but this is obviously not ideal.

Free to Play!

The cash shop is as close to a mega mart as they come. You can buy pets, NPC summons, drop and experience boosts, costumes, and characters. However, Marvel Heroes has also made sure that its cash shop offerings aren’t overpowered, while most costumes and characters can also be unlocked by simply playing the game. Despite this, the costumes and characters are priced unusually high – as much as 4-10 euros for a character and 7-16 for a costume! – pushing the threshold for paying players up significantly.

Conclusion

Since it’s first beta release, Marvel Heroes has seen a lot of positive additions and changes; a truly promising trend that we hope continues making the game better. The well balanced free to play model is an example for other games to follow, though the prices for players willing to pay are unusually high. The combat is fun and if customisation and variety is your thing, you’ll certainly never run out of costumes and characters to play. Certainly one of the best Free to Play Action RPGs at this time!