Since I was a Genesis kid in my early formative years as a gamer, sidescrolling beat-em-ups–no matter how good or bad–were essential to me. Whether it was Streets of Rage or Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie, beat-em-ups were part of my fondest memories. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the biggest Marvel fan growing up, but now that I am, it really looks like Marvel Cosmic Invasion is singing all the right tunes.
At SGF Play Days we were given a chance to play two levels. The Hero Select screen had spaces for 15 heroes, but only seven (Captain America, Nova, Storm, Venom, Wolverine, Phyla-Vell, and Spider-Man) were available in this demo. It’s also worth noting that Rocket Raccoon and She-Hulk, who were unveiled during both the SGF Showcase and Day of the Devs respectively, were not in the build. So including them, that means we have six characters unaccounted for. All that aside, each player was allowed to pick two characters each. I took Captain America and Storm, while Adriana chose Spidey and Wolverine (what an Insomniac fangirl).
Storm’s ult is pretty OP.
The first level we played through seemed to take place on the streets of New York, as we walked by a Daily Bugle that was absolutely decimated by aliens. Taking these baddies out was pretty effortless, so we used the opportunity to check out what we could do with our chosen heroes.
Since you have two characters at your disposal, it was pretty cool to see that the functionally worked like a tag fighter. The press of a button as you walk around switches one character out with the other, so obviously for me, it was Cap switching out for Storm and vice versa. If you press the switch button while attacking, you can also perform a tandem move, which was a really nice touch to add to the combo. The developers at Tribute Games, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, also strived to make every character feel different despite controls essentially being the same for every character ala Super Smash Bros.The effort here was decent, as Spidey had the ability to web sling all over the screen, while Cap both uses his shield as to protect himself and throw it around.
Soon enough, we got the hang of things and it was time for the first boss battle with Beetle. While dodging the beams he launched at us, we eventually took him out with some melee combos and timely special attacks–Storm setting off lightning all over the screen was particularly cool.
It wouldn’t be a beat-em-up without an elevator level!
The second level took place on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which was being decimated by armed yellow-clad men. We made quick work of them using Phyla-Vell and her Quantum Sword, which had crazy reach, and Venom just being the nasty being that he is. Eventually, we found ourselves in an elevator taking more enemies out, because that’s just a beat-em-up staple. Once we got out of the elevator and to the top of the carrier, we joined S.H.I.E.L.D. as they took more of the enemies out while we manned some unoccupied turrets. The area’s boss was Taskmaster, who was hardly an issue for us because we were able to give him no outlet cornering him with melee strikes. Once he eventually got out of that exploi… errr, predicament, Nova’s special move a few times was all it took.
It was only a couple of levels that took less than 10 minutes each to finish, but I loved the fact that they didn’t outstay their welcome. Marvel Cosmic Invasion honestly already feels ready for primetime, but all we know is that it’ll be out this year on pretty much everything. Other than that, no release window has been unveiled, but we’ll definitely be talking about it on the Day 0 Update once that information is confirmed.
Since I was a Genesis kid in my early formative years as a gamer, sidescrolling beat-em-ups–no matter how good or bad–were essential to me. Whether it was Streets of Rage or Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie, beat-em-ups were part…
Since I was a Genesis kid in my early formative years as a gamer, sidescrolling beat-em-ups–no matter how good or bad–were essential to me. Whether it was Streets of Rage or Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie, beat-em-ups were part of my fondest memories. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the biggest Marvel fan growing up, but now that I am, it really looks like Marvel Cosmic Invasion is singing all the right tunes.
At SGF Play Days we were given a chance to play two levels. The Hero Select screen had spaces for 15 heroes, but only seven (Captain America, Nova, Storm, Venom, Wolverine, Phyla-Vell, and Spider-Man) were available in this demo. It’s also worth noting that Rocket Raccoon and She-Hulk, who were unveiled during both the SGF Showcase and Day of the Devs respectively, were not in the build. So including them, that means we have six characters unaccounted for. All that aside, each player was allowed to pick two characters each. I took Captain America and Storm, while Adriana chose Spidey and Wolverine (what an Insomniac fangirl).
Storm’s ult is pretty OP.
The first level we played through seemed to take place on the streets of New York, as we walked by a Daily Bugle that was absolutely decimated by aliens. Taking these baddies out was pretty effortless, so we used the opportunity to check out what we could do with our chosen heroes.
Since you have two characters at your disposal, it was pretty cool to see that the functionally worked like a tag fighter. The press of a button as you walk around switches one character out with the other, so obviously for me, it was Cap switching out for Storm and vice versa. If you press the switch button while attacking, you can also perform a tandem move, which was a really nice touch to add to the combo. The developers at Tribute Games, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, also strived to make every character feel different despite controls essentially being the same for every character ala Super Smash Bros.The effort here was decent, as Spidey had the ability to web sling all over the screen, while Cap both uses his shield as to protect himself and throw it around.
Soon enough, we got the hang of things and it was time for the first boss battle with Beetle. While dodging the beams he launched at us, we eventually took him out with some melee combos and timely special attacks–Storm setting off lightning all over the screen was particularly cool.
It wouldn’t be a beat-em-up without an elevator level!
The second level took place on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which was being decimated by armed yellow-clad men. We made quick work of them using Phyla-Vell and her Quantum Sword, which had crazy reach, and Venom just being the nasty being that he is. Eventually, we found ourselves in an elevator taking more enemies out, because that’s just a beat-em-up staple. Once we got out of the elevator and to the top of the carrier, we joined S.H.I.E.L.D. as they took more of the enemies out while we manned some unoccupied turrets. The area’s boss was Taskmaster, who was hardly an issue for us because we were able to give him no outlet cornering him with melee strikes. Once he eventually got out of that exploi… errr, predicament, Nova’s special move a few times was all it took.
It was only a couple of levels that took less than 10 minutes each to finish, but I loved the fact that they didn’t outstay their welcome. Marvel Cosmic Invasion honestly already feels ready for primetime, but all we know is that it’ll be out this year on pretty much everything. Other than that, no release window has been unveiled, but we’ll definitely be talking about it on the Day 0 Update once that information is confirmed.
by Danreb Victorio
