Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review
What do you do when you’re arguably best in class when it comes to the retro-modern beat em up? For Tribute Games, there was only one answer, which was to improve upon themselves and that’s exactly what they have done with Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Tribute were clearly paying attention to the criticisms of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge because despite its greatness, there were shortcomings and every one of them has been corrected and everything else has been improved.
With a massive infusion of modern gameplay and a lengthy roster full of variety, Marvel Cosmic Invasion strikes a perfect balance between nostalgia and modernity in one of the best beat em ups of the year. If you’re a fan of classic beat em ups, 90’s or Marvel, then Cosmic Invasion is pure nirvana
MARVEL COSMIC INVASION REVIEW
Shredder’s Revenge was a great game that captured nostalgia perfectly and brought back a lot of fond NES and arcade memories, but most of its shortcomings were due to it not being able to bring enough modern touches to the experience. The gameplay felt a little shallow, didn’t offer enough variety since the characters controlled almost identically and the levels were quite similar, all criticisms that hinder incentive for repeat plays.
Cosmic Invasion instantly remedies all of these shortcomings. To begin with, from a basic controls perspective, it demands more from the player including a block, dodge or even parry depending on timing. Furthermore, the roster will eventually have fifteen heroes, which all play significantly different than one another. From little details like how Black Panther moves much faster than other heroes on the ground, to some heroes like Storm that have the ability to stay in flight. Some heroes like Captain America have ranged attacks like his shield throw that bounces between enemies then automatically returns to him, which behaves very differently than the ranged attack of Beta Ray Bill’s Stormbreaker Throw that works similar to Thor’s Hammer as it remains spinning until it gets summoned to return.
In addition, Cosmic Invasion features a mechanic called Cosmic Swap, which gives you the ability to create the superhero tag team of your dreams. On the surface level, being able to switch heroes depending on the situation increases the strategy, but when done at the right time, they can create unique combos and dazzling special attacks. When you combine everything, it means you need to know how to use your character to their fullest, but also what hero is best for what situation, which gives it more strategic depth than your average beat em up.
Your quest to stop Annihilus will take you to all corners of the galaxy from New York City to the mythical realm of Asgard. The levels are bite size with most being around ten minutes each, which is perfect for dropping in for a quick game and the difficulty is perfectly balanced as it provided challenge, but never felt unfair. The variety provided by the locations, the hero variety and the gameplay depth keeps things from getting tedious and strongly encourages repeat plays.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion zigs when you expect it to zag with the character roster as Tribute Games likely had the option to choose any hero from the thousands upon thousands in the Marvel universe. Cosmic Invasion has some essential heroes like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Venom, but have also invited some cult favorites from comics of yesteryear like Beta Ray Bill and Phyla-Vell. The roster selection smartly offers something for everyone but more importantly, creates intrigue and investment within the player as you want to learn more about these unfamiliar heroes.
What was expected from Tribute Games is stunning retro art direction, which they have strongly demonstrated with their pixel art in games like Mercenary Kings and Shredders Revenge. What was surprising was how they outdid themselves with some stunning animations that brings the world to life. Every character has a very unique way of moving all around the screen from Rocket Racoon grabbing a missile heading upwards or Spider-Man web-swinging across the top of the screen.
Unlike Shredder’s Revenge, which had the ability to play with up to six players, Marvel Cosmic Invasion takes the player count down to four. This is likely going to be a hot take, but I prefered to play Marvel Cosmic Invasion in single player. The difficulty is balanced perfectly, the screen doesn’t get too chaotic, it allows for a more strategic approach and the addition of the Cosmic Swap can make it feel like you are playing multiplayer at times.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion Criticisms
One of the best things about Cosmic Invasion was how different each character was, but the heroes that had the power to fly definitely felt like they had an edge because there are lots of flying enemies. Being able to double tap jump to engage in combat in the sky or even just hover above stampedes felt like a major advantage. The way to counter this was just to make sure you had a hero that had the power to fly, but this does handcuff you to picking certain heroes.
Just like Shredder’s Revenge, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a tad too short. You will likely be able to finish it in one sitting as it should only take you between 3-5 hours. However, with a roster as big as Cosmic Invasion and each hero playing differently, you will want to return multiple times to experience the game with different characters. Even though Cosmic Invasion had more level variety than Shredder’s Revenge, it only dabbled into new territory rather than fully committing to more interesting and unique ideas for beat em up levels. There was a great boss fight near the beginning that was larger than life and the level on Asgard was a nice change of pace from the traditional left to right.
The intro animation movie was incredible and it would have been really special and taken the experience to another level if they would have been able to include an animated movie in between levels instead of just the pixel art stills. Tangentially, the voice acting was pretty great with some standouts including Iron Man and Spider-Man, but there were a few performances that failed to bring the required energy needed to embody their hero.
Is Marvel Cosmic Invasion Worth It?
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the kind of game that would have been the centre of attention at the local arcade with quarters lined up on it all day and would still be to this day because Tribute have taken that idea and evolved it into something that will easily please retro purists and modern gamers.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the multiverse of beat em ups as it seamlessly blends the best of both worlds and strikes the perfect balance between modern and retro. An accessible beat em up that offers gameplay depth and variety while also looking and sounding incredible. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is as good as pure beat em ups get.
