Developer: Gazillion Entertainment
Publisher: Gazillion Entertainment
Platform: PC
Price: Free!
Marvel Heroes is a free-to-play action role playing game where you get to play with a huge selection of your favorite Marvel Heroes . You will be able to play as classic Marvel heroes such as Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man It is quite fun to beat up super villains you grew up with as super heroes you know so well with your friends.
Story
Marvels Heroes story is what you can expect from a Marvel game. You need to save the world from many different evil super villains across the Marvel Universe. I will let you discover which ones you will encounter for yourself. I can assure you though that you will recognize them and enjoy knowing you beat so many different villains across the Marvel Universe.
The story may have been told already many times, but what matters is how it is told and I can tell you it was probably my favorite part. In-game cinematics are done through beautifully drawn comic book style animation. They are also written very well with many famous characters sounding exactly like they do in the comics with Captain America proud honorable lines and Spider-man’s joking sense of humor.
Marvel Heroes doesn’t take itself too seriously because Marvel shouldn’t take itself too seriously. I mean just watch The Avengers, like how did The Hulk ever learn how to control his rage? Who cares I mean look at those action scenes!
Gameplay
The great thing about how Marvel Heroes plays is that is super easy to get into since it is easy to understand and free-to-play. This is a casual action online role playing game that is not too complicated filled with mechanics to make playing with your friends really easy. When your friend logs on, he can teleport to you instantly after joining your party since why shouldn’t be be able too.
There are a ton of heroes to try out and all of them can be unlocked without spending any cash. Unlocking just one other hero can take a while though so make sure the first hero you pick is one that you like. If you don’t want to wait to collect for the in game currency to unlock the hero of your choice you can always just spend about $5 – $15.
The selection of heroes that you can play in the game is the biggest I have ever seen in a online action role playing game. Even with the big library all the heroes I played felt fun and exactly how you imagine them to play. Wolverine is great at close range, while Storm has a range of weather based ranged skills. Captain America feels strong and durable, while Spider-Man is quick and agile.
Switching from hero to hero is something you can do on the fly also. Navigating through all your heroes is easy since you are sharing all the same inventory space and stash. Each unlocked hero has a stash designated for hero specific items to make organizing a lot easier. Also leveling heroes will unlock attributes that can be used universally across your other heroes.
Each hero has three different talent trees that you can use to learn new abilities or upgrades to make them more powerful. Understanding the effects are pretty straightforward and which ones are most useful to your type of play style. Each hero also have a ultimate ability which unlocks late in the game which make you feel super powerful. How you build your hero is up to you, but they all have their purposes for certain play styles.
The enemies and super villains are the regular types you go up against in these type of action role playing games. They do get harder as the difficulty goes up, but for the good portion of the game you will be finding yourself killing waves of enemies with no problem. Even in the higher difficulty with the right abilities, gear, and understanding the bosses patterns will go down
Even finding gear won’t be a problem since hero specific gear drops equipment dropping regularly for the hero you are currently playing. Finding unique and powerful hear does drop less often though. There is also a crafting system available so creating your own very powerful gear is also possible. There will be tons of equipment for you to collect for all your heroes.
If you want to find something else besides going through the the campaign on different difficulties there are other side challenges that you can partake that will increase the chances of finding amazing gear or just provide a different change of pacing. From doing boss runs to horde survival modes and a PVP mode there is a ton action for your hero to participate in.
The game world is divided mostly into three distinct types of areas. The communal hub where you have your hero stash and shops, the level world where you explore a large map with other heroes currently in the zone with events for everyone to jump into, and instances where you or your party can dive into.
The game does a great job of balancing the three since the more epic boss fights are only involving people you want them to. While the larger public combat zone has a host of friendly super heroes running around and defeating enemies. It makes you feel a part of the world especially when a zone event pops up. Having supervillains like Sabretooth and Venom appearing randomly is a great throwback feeling of unexpectedly fighting crime.
Marvel Heroes does free-to-play right. Not once did I feel like I needed to buy anything actually beat the game. Buying things like costume skins wasn’t necessary to beat the game, but felt good like buying any in-game item for a game you love like in League of Legends or Team Fortress 2. It’s not for everyone, but for those that really appreciate the game than you will understand what I am talking about.
A free-to-play online game like this survives by it’s community which is for thankfully for Marvel Heroes is quite nice. Asking someone to help in game has for me always been met. Since the game isn’t taken too seriously you will play with really relaxed group of people that are just down to have fun with the Marvel game. I don’t normally want to make blanket statements, but part of why I feel confident is because of the way the game is structured and encourages having fun.
The game also is constantly being updated. Just right now as I am finishing this review a new update has been released for the release of Guardians of the Galaxies theatrical release. Special prizes and events are available to celebrate the release of yet another Marvel franchise becoming available to a new audience. It is things like this that make this community great. It is just a bunch of Marvel fans having fun celebrating Marvel.
Graphics
Marvel Heroes looks absolutely great from an aesthetics point of view. The heroes you play look exactly like you imagined them in the comics and T.V. shows growing up. The graphics itself might not be mind blowing, but lets remember neither were the comics since it didn’t matter.
A lot of detail went into making each character movement and abilities to feel unique. The super villains themselves move like you would imagine. The lower henchmen will not have as much detail put into them, but their is a good variety that does add some flavor to the world. The worlds you do explore are more than just your regular cities which is a good relief.
The real icing on the cake are the amazingly animated hand drawn comic book cinematic that make everything feel like the Marvel Universe. Seeing many Marvel Heroes in the cinematic interacting in a comic book style made to excited to see a new one. Plus they made me laugh a bunch too.
Audio
The voice acting is the best of what audio wise Marvel Heroes has to offer and man is it memorable. Every character from the heroes to the villains sounds like you imagine they would sound. The voice actors do a great job and sound like they had a blast doing it.
Since there are so many different heroes they all have unique remarks that they will give to nearby heroes. This is great since you will run into many different heroes and they all have commentary for each other. Spider-man will make his jokes to his fellow heroes, while Captain America will try to give words of advice or disdain to those like Punisher who he has no respect for.
My favorite would by far have to be Deadpool since he is directly talking to you. He knows this is a video game and will tell jokes that only gamers like us will be able to understand. I kept playing more of him just to discover what he had to say next. Now that is audio done right.
Downsides
The downside to the game is that is can be quite repetitive on what you will be doing. You will be killing a bunch of enemies to get better gear and than find harder enemies that will require better gear. Everything about the game is built towards killing mobs of enemies and the boss that will yield the high drop rate.
So if you love Diablo and love Avengers than this is your dream game. If you don’t like the Diablo type games of finding epic loot than your love of Avengers might not be able to be enough to venture far deep into the end game. Though exploring a heroes abilities and skills is fun, it is also extremely easy in the early levels.
Playing through the campaign will feel exactly the same even with a new hero. Sure he might have different abilities to defeat the enemies, but since they are so bland beating them won’t be that exciting until you make it all the way back into the end game. Being a casual game it is unavoidable.
Casual game comes with all their advantages and disadvantages. Easy accessibility will make getting your friend to jump into the game quite easy, but can also make the beginning stages of the game quite boring. If they don’t love action RPGs then getting to stay for a long while will be different.
Pros
– Tons of Marvel Heroes to play
– Easy to Jump into
– All Heroes can be unlocked without paying
– Artistic Cartoon Cinematic
– Constant updates
Cons
– Repetitive gameplay
– Bland trash mobs
Overall
This is an well made online action RPG that does great service to the Marvel name. It won’t change anyone’s opinion about action RPG genre so make sure you enjoy those type of games. If you have friends that like both genres that you should definitely check it out since you literally have nothing to lose, but much to gain.
8.5 out of 10