Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, appears at first glance flawless - crisp, clear visuals make it look like a game every true fan of the genre must have. Unfortunately that`s where it ends.
Disappointing is an understatement, as, aside from the visuals, this game lacks in every way.
The game offers three modes of play - Story, Versus and Online.
In the Story mode, the universe is under attack from an alien invasion - The Imperfects. This invasion is so devastating that only the Marvel heroes will be able to defeat these pesky foes.
Once the easy-to-beat Story mode is complete, the game`s playable characters will be unlocked, as well as various trading cards, origin movies of all the new characters, and two origin issues of The Fantastic Four.
Playable characters number about 19. Favourites from the Marvel universe include Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Thing, Elektra, Daredevil, Venom, Storm, Magneto, Iron Man, Dr Doom and The Human Torch. Among the Imperfects the gamer will find The Wink, Van Roekel, Paragon, Fault Zone, Brigade, Solara and Hazmat.
Versus offers two modes - a "lives" match and a "timed" match.
Gamers are free to roam the entire 3D environment and unlike Mortal Kombat, players won`t need to memorise combos in-order to do some damage.
The controls are identical for every character, and while this makes learning the controls a little easier, it impacts adversely on choice.
There are buttons for striking, jumping, throwing and blocking, as well as a button to activate each character`s super-power.
Characters will teleport between areas, fly, pop adimantium claws, shoot web lines, sprint or swing, depending on the characters abilities. Some characters can even run up or climb walls.
The super-power bar depletes as powers are used, but as this depletes, the hero`s ability to "rage" increases, giving the character unlimited super-powers for a short period of time.
Controls are non-responsive, which doesn`t help with the countless robot drone enemies that easily counter or block most attacks mid-combo, while their cronies launch exploding barrels from off-screen.
What is the use of wasting super-powers when thrown objects work far more effectively than regular attacks? The unbalanced damage between getting smashed in the face by someone who can lift a car and getting hit by a barrel is unrealistic to say the least.
On the plus side of "realism", not all characters can pick up all of the items lying around. Imagine Daredevil being able to pick up a car and toss it at an oncoming foe. It just doesn`t make sense, while someone like The Thing or Spidey should have no problem at all - which they don`t.
Stamina rebuilds over time, never going higher than the health bar, which decreases as the character gets damaged and won`t increase, unless the character is either Wolverine or Paragon, who both have regenerative abilities.
It really cuts me deep to think how promising this game could have been. However, the lame, easy-to-beat Story mode and non-responsive controls just killed it for me.
The voice acting is weak and the pre-battle one-liners get old quickly - a little more variety would have been a Godsend.
The sound effects, although not completely awful, should have been better.
On the plus side the graphics are impressive. All the characters look the part and the attention to detail is outstanding!
The lighting effects are pulled off quite well, and the backgrounds aren`t too bad either.
Let`s face it: without this being a Marvel character-based game, it wouldn`t have made it out of the developer`s office, as it is a weak one-on-one.
I give it a disappointing 4/10
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