Being a huge comic book fan, I enjoy games that feature my favorite superheros. I blame this on my childhood since I had access to all the comics I wanted. Growing up on military bases has a few good points and GI’s had to spend their off time somehow, so comics were the main reading material. Of course this in no way a put down to our military system but they do enjoy comics as much as the rest of us.

I loved reading what would happen to Captain America next. Would he escape the evil plans of the Red Skull? Or would the All-American hero fail and let the evil Nazi’s win? Hey it was back in the 70’s and while the storylines have grown up, my love for comic books still remains. I love them so much that when someone asks me what the best part of Kill Bill Vol.2 was, I automatically respond the speech where Bill waxes poetically about true Super Heroes. When I heard EA had teamed up with Marvel, I was excited and now that I played the game the question is has EA and Marvel pulled off a good comic book game? Read on to see what I thought of Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects.

Gameplay

I won’t spoil the whole story for those wanting to play the game for themselves. So I will give you the basic story plot and thoughts on the overall game. I hate it when someone ruins something for me and I won’t do that to any one reading this review. The story starts off with the evil Niles Van Roekel trying to take over the world. He wants to make the world a race of super human aliens, the ultimate fighting machines. Now I know humans and aliens are opposites but after all, this is a comic book based game.

While the game attempts to have a deep story and draw players in, the plot lacks a bit. The good news is in some ways EA and Marvel really managed to capture the look and feel of the comic book world. Niles has his group called the Imperfects and have already defeated, or should I say appeared to have defeated, the likes of The Punisher and Capt. America. Even the Hulk is missing. Panic is running wild so it’s up to the other group of heroes to solve the mystery and the world.

The game has three main modes including the story, versus and the online mode. Now its great to play as Wolverine, Spiderman, Daredevil or Electra, just to name a few. There is a slight problem in the game and that’s the balance and the level of progression. At first you are thrown right into a battle with no real set up. There is just a small cut-scene and you find yourself playing as the thing. The first level is more of a training mission and to set up the real story. This leads into a deeper mini-movie where you learn the chaos which is going on. While it sounds great, the biggest problem is that the levels go from being a cake walk to being very hard with really no pattern. It does not stay hard and the levels are mostly mini ones that lead to bigger areas. The problem is you will find yourself playing the same areas only at different starting points.

I can look past this and enjoy the game for what it is: a comic brawler. It’s a fighting game that uses Super Heroes with a story behind it to explain the fact that you’re brawling. They managed to nail down every well-known character from the looks and for the most part the real comic book origins of each. The Imperfects fit since no one has seen them before unless they have read the new comic series based on the game’s storyline. Die-hard fans will enjoy this one, but I will say that at times the levels do become too familiar and for some this maybe a turn off.

Control / Playability

The game’s controls are simple at first, then become pretty hard. The reason for this is since you use so many different characters in the story mode, you will need to memorize the moves for each character. Now I have heard complaints that the moves are not all listed in the game manual and while true, I found it pretty neat to experiment with the buttons to find a move that I did not know existed. To others they will want to refer to this one as a button masher and I have to disagree. I really think part of the fun was learning the new moves. While they are hard to find, the basic controls can be learned in about an hour of play, maybe less.

The controls respond well even though some are fairly complicated. The most difficult ones to learn and master are the aerial moves. This is true in almost every comic based game ever made. Yes it is hard to master and when taking the game online you will probably get beat several times until you learn the right moves and strategies. Really the game is no different than any of the other fighting games out there in regards to control; the more you practice the better you will get. The character you use will also determine how well you do online. They did add a twist which I will cover in the Online section.

Xbox Live

Okay, here is where someone wanted to teach gamers not to get depended on a certain player online. You have a few characters to start with and the rest you earn by playing online. The longer you play the more characters will be unlocked. Once again, this may tick off a few gamers. I think it’s a new twist and pretty cool in a way. It evens the odds and makes you learn each character. You will earn new places to battle online as well. This is something I have never seen in any game before in this genre.

Now the lobby is the same as most EA games and even has voice chat options that are becoming the most popular way for EA to create their lobbies online. You can enter a room or make your own and even lock it with a password. On to the part that is irritating. After the match, the game ends and you find yourself in the main lobby. This means you have to make a new room invite your friend and start all over. I don’t understand why this was designed like this and is the one thing that makes the online play a bit frustrating. The online play is great and no lag but you will notice that while battling it out and talking to the other player, if you get too far away, you can’t hear the other player. After all, talking smack during a fighting game is part of the fun. Other than that the lobby is the same as the recent wave of EA games like NASCAR 06, NHL 06 and Madden NFL 06, but would have been better if they added the Party feature as seen in Burnout Revenge.

Graphics / Presentation

Here again a pattern starts the game and shows some great graphics that capture the look perfectly of a Super Hero of the comic world. Then in the next cut-scene the graphics look weak only to switch back to looking great in the next stage. Granted, this is a new way of creating a game for this genre. There was a lot to create for the artists, I just don’t see how a game can look so great one minute then look pretty weak the next.

They did manage to sneak in some classic scenes that were put in the game to pay respect to the creators of the characters used. I loved a lot of the graphics and the cinematic movies, even though some looked better then others. I know this one was hard to pull off and for the most part they captured it well. However, whenever you use well-known characters, fans are going to be tough. They needed to tweak a few areas. Instead, they let them pass by without a polishing over and the game suffers a bit for this oversight.

View all Marvel Nemisis Screenshots in the XBS Gallery

Audio

The voice–over artists cast for each role fit pretty well and sound convincing. There are a few lines that some characters would never say in a comic book world however. I know this sounds like I am picking at the work but hearing Spiderman swear?! It just is not something he ever has done. Other than that one complaint the voice-over work is well done right down to the dead-on standard one-liners.

The rest of the effects are done well and sound real enough during a big battle. It was a huge undertaking and shows a lot of hard work. They even managed the music and drama in a way so that it would start off slow then get louder then slow down depending on the action going on. The crashes, weapons and hits all sound like they fit and really are done well.

Replay Value

The game has a ton of hidden costumes, comics and videos to unlock. Die hard fans will want to find each one and earn everything while others will be content in just beating the challenging ending. The game’s online mode while not perfect offers a chance to battle friends or others and offers something different. Anyone who is a fan of comics will find something they like in this one and probably a few things they will say just are not accurate. That’s how fans are but this one is different enough to provide plenty of hours to beat. The extras make this one hard not to want to play.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.0/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

The game is not perfect and no game is. They attempted something risky and for the most part pulled it off well. I would have liked to see bigger levels. The chance to play as so many well-known heroes really made this one fun but it is a tough game to beat. Die-hard fans will find the game interesting and those who like fighting games will want to try it. I hope EA and Marvel can get the next game polished. If they can, EA is onto something big here as a new series. I personally can’t wait for the next one. It’s fun, creative and shows some new things for fans of this genre.

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