Marvel Heroes

I’m still a bit new to some of the MMO’s out there, so if I say something naive, well, pretend that I didn’t. Marvel Heroes. Whether you’re a Marvel fan or a DC fan, we’re all superhero fans and we don’t really mind jumping to heroes on either side from time to time. Now I’m not here to start up the debate about Iron Man vs Batman, although I would probably enjoy it quite a bit, I am here to focus on this one-sided. Yes, that does make me sound naive. Yes, I am aware of it.

DC has this little gem called DC Universe Online and since I haven’t spent, well, I’ve hardly spent any time on it so I can’t compare the two and it’s probably wrong for me to call it a gem already. Sorry.

To the point then, Marvel Heroes. Since I never played Marvel Alliance, different from other reviewers, I can’t tell you how similar the two are. This gives me somewhat of a disadvantage, BUT I feel that it also gives me a very unique advantage. I’m untainted by what came before and therefor without comparisons I’m giving a non-biased and honest review. That’s what this blog is about after all, isn’t it?

Marvel Heroes. It’s an MMO, bird’s eye view (you see the little dude, or dudine, from above like Diablo II). It’s a point and click. And by point and click I mean, point and click, click, click, click, click, click…….click. Is it tedious? A little. Is it boring? A little. It’s free to play (to an extent) which begs the question: How exciting could it be if it’s free? (Yes, I am aware that it rhymes and that it sounds a bit lame). I’ve spent a few hours on it before recommending it to one of my friends so we could try it together online. Now being free to play to get a few options for a start-up hero. I, of course, went full obvious and typical and chose daredevil. He’s cool, I’ve always liked him and currently may even pick him before Spider-Man (but that could just be me). You can also choose Thing or Hawkeye if you like and then for the fairer sex there’s Storm and Scarlet Witch.

You start with a silly little mission to get you into the game (which took me a while to get into) before you end up in the Avengers Headquarters. This is where I got a bit uncomfortable with the game. Okay, so you can buy other heroes if you have the dough (and we’re talking quite a few bucks here). For $100 you get about 10 000 game credit money currency stuff. Considering that Spider-Man will set you back about 2000 game credit money currency stuff, it’s quite a price considering that it doesn’t include all the different costumes of that hero. Yes, those cost money too.

Back to what I was saying about my discomfort. So I’m teleported to the Avengers Headquarters and now I’m in the MMO mode. Many other players walk about, though most of them stand around as though they’re waiting for better days. That’s all fine. It’s an MMO after all. Now what my beef is, is that I was surrounded by about six other Daredevils. That’s the uncomfortable part.

I get that you can’t expect a character to be unusable once someone else has picked it, but something about the three daredevils following me around hells kitchen was a bit more alarming than the ten thugs I was about to face. Now, as I understand, DC Universe Online (yes, I’m comparing them, I’m weak) you get to have and make (kind of) your own superhero. That’s a good idea I think. Now since I haven’t spent much time on DC I can’t really say how successful that concept is, but it just makes a bit more sense than having a few hulks running around the city, all yelling the same thing.

How’s the gameplay? It’s fun for a while. Though not completely boring it does lack the impact of other games of the same genre. There’s a lot of clicking happening, but not much else. How does it look? The graphics certainly isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s not Diablo II either. It’s that in between where the game feels like it should be older than it is. Should you get it? If you have time to download it and try it ‘free-to-play’, try it out. Some love it, some hate it and I am genuinely just sitting in between watching them fight it out and wondering why I’m still here when there are other games to play.

Pros:
It has cool Marvel Heroes in it. You get to be one. The comic book cut scenes are quite nice. You can level up, it’s free to play and it’s something to do when you don’t mind exercising your index finger.

Cons:
There doesn’t seem to be anything strange about “the unique” superheroes having about ten other versions of themselves fighting alongside. It costs a lot to get very little. It’s for the clicktomaniac and after a while it all starts to feel the same.

Ambitious rating:
68%

Verdict:
Though not breathtaking, Marvel Heroes online does have some appeal. I enjoyed it when I got past the first little bit and although Daredevil may not be the most exciting guy to fight with I can see where the limitless customization can really improve the gameplay, so a certain degree. I’d spend money on it if the money deepened the experience, instead it gives you new tools and a new hero to do the same thing with, over and over again.