Marvel Cosmic Invasion Summer Game Fest Preview

A marvelous mash-up.

Beat ’em ups have been flourishing in recent years, a renaissance era for the genre, and a big contributor to that movement has been both Tribute and Dotemu with games such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4. So when it was revealed that these two developers would be teaming up again to tackle the Marvel universe, Marvel Cosmic Invasion quickly shot up my list of must-watch titles. After getting to play a small slice of this latest tag team brawler at Summer Game Fest earlier in June, I think they may have found themselves another smash hit.

Gorgeous to gawk at, a joy to jam out to, and pure pleasure to play– Marvel Cosmic Invasion has been one of the games from SGF I’ve yet to stop thinking about. Building upon the bones of other Marvel games and refining the craftsmanship both of these developers are keen on, the brief time we got to spend with two different levels has me hopeful the sauce has been simmering all day on that stove because it’s begging me to dip a finger in. Heroes super moves pop off the screen whenever triggered leaving enemies floored as well as my jaw. Movement was fluid and kinetic whether you were punching, swinging, dashing, or flying across the screen to put fists to faces. Every pixel of Cosmic Invasion is sopping wet with style and my eyeballs want to soak it up completely.

In our session we played with two teams, but up to four players will get to combine teams of two Marvel heroes to take the fight to Annihilus in a campaign roughly based on the events of the Annihilation Arc from the comics. Familiar faces like Captain America, Spider-Man, Storm, and Wolverine are just a portion of the roster fleshing out this cosmic clash. Phyla-Vell and Nova join the core line-up as slightly deeper cuts in comparison to the rest of the super group available to play as well as a few more still waiting to be revealed leading up to Marvel Cosmic Invasion‘s launch later this year. With some surprising characters already in the mix, I’m looking forward to who else rounds out this cavalcade of capes and spandex. Not available during our session but She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon have been added to the list of heroes joining the fray.

Even with all of this excitement and shimmer the real shine that keeps catching my eye and wanting more is the tag team aspect that the game is built around. On the surface, it’s cool that you get to choose your own duo to play as and swap between on the fly but when you dig a tad deeper the ceiling for what combat in a beat ’em up can be starts to show cracks. Swapping out your partner to open up defensive and offensive opportunities or to slide out of sticky situations can be not only effective and useful but creates avenues for more strategic and skilled gameplay. Knocking up and juggling an enemy in the air as Nova hovers to then swap out to a swinging Spider-Man to continue racking up your combo is precisely the type of panache Marvel Cosmic Invasion is bringing to the table and I am first in line with an empty plate ready to feast. These little additional maneuvers immediately harkens back to the fighting game genre while still feeling a little looser and not as precise or unforgiving in attempting to pull off. I’m interested in seeing how I can flourish with those mechanics and how other folks master and combo their way through an entire level.

Sloshing around as Venom, diving into enemies, grabbing and smashing them into the ground, and zipping around in the air were mini-magical moments that flooded the gameplay loop and something I’ll be looking forward to doing again whenever Cosmic Invasion drops later this year. Infusing traditional beat ’em up gameplay with elements evocative of certain VS. fighting games, off the rip Marvel Cosmic Invasion annihilated my expectations of just how good a new Marvel brawler could be. Whether inspired by or not, the DNA of other memorable Marvel games bubbles beneath the stellar pixel art, incredible music, and polished punching of Cosmic Invasion. If the whole adventure manages to extend the emotions I rode at Summer Game Fest then we’d all better buckle up for a ride to remember.

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