Analysis of Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a beat ’em up that makes you scream Excelsior!

He beat ’em up revivaleven on a small scale, it is providing enormous joy. If we recently celebrated Absolum, now is the time for another title, equally by Dotemuwhich seeks a more classic approach: Marvel Cosmic Invasion for PS4, PS5, Switch, Steam and Xbox Series X/S.

Behind the project is Tribute Gameswho already did a very good job with Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Ravenge.

The approach is the same: a advanced side fighting game in which even four simultaneous players (local or online, with crossplay) They face hundreds of enemies, until they collide with the corresponding final boss of each level.

The argument tells us that Annihilus, the supervillain boss of the Negative Zonelaunched a galaxy-wide attack, so heroes on and off Earth must take part in a great battle against all kinds of villains, from Knull to Thanos.

Us we can choose between 15 different charactersalthough four of them are unlocked by progressing through Story mode.

Incomprehensibly, there are no representatives of the Fantastic Four or the Inhumans on the list. Will they be saved for future DLCs?

So, we have essential items like Captain America, Spider-Man or Wolverinebut also other more “exotic” ones such as Beta Ray Bill or the wonderful Silver Surfer. Can we still say Silver Wake?

Although most of the commands are common to everyone (jump, dodge main attack, special attack, final attack), Each character has their own tricks and strengths.

Thus, heroes like Iron Man or Phyla-Vell They can fly as long as we want, Rocket Raccoon can hit by jumping from one enemy to another, She-Hulk He is one of the few characters who can perform barrages…

Given that each player takes two characterswhich we can alternate at any time, the ideal is to combine a flyer with a “land” one, as we will encounter some aerial threats.

Switching from one to another (by pressing a trigger) is useful for several reasons. For one thing, heroes can recover a small proportion of the damage they take, so it’s practical to bench them for a moment.

Furthermore, we can make change happen with an attack, so we can make a surprise impact on the opponent.

On the other hand, It is possible to launch a definitive attack with both characters at the same timewhich causes tremendous damage.

The characters’ final attack can only be performed if the concentration bar is full. This completes automatically over time, although we can occasionally find crystals that complete it instantly.

I could do this all day

Depending on the character, we also have Special moves like shooting with Ghost Rider or shooting webs with Spider-Man.

Typically, these movements have limited “ammunition” so that we don’t abuse them, but it also recharges after a few moments.

Combine each other’s skills and find out which ones suit us best. It’s a lot of fun, because everyone has interesting sides.

If both characters die in battle, we will have to restart the level if we are in Story mode.

If you play in Arcade mode, it will logically be Game Over and we will have to start again, like before…

As we progress through the levels, we receive many opportunities to choose between two proposals, although later we will have to go to the discarded.

In the case of Story mode, although we can choose the characters we want, There will be two “recommended” for the mission to be carried out.

If we choose them, there will be specific challenges for them (“eliminate X enemies with this character”, “defeat the boss with this character”, etc.) which will be used to obtain rewards, as we will now see.

Within this Story mode, After each mission we choose the characters againbut in Arcade mode we have to immediately advance with the ones we chose at the beginning.

How long is Marvel’s Cosmic Invasion?

Completing the main adventure can take around 3 or 4 hoursbut logically the experience is very repeatable, whether trying other heroes or overcoming all the challenges, to obtain rewards in the form of cosmic cubes.

These cubes can be used in Cosmic Matrix Mode. Basically, it’s a selection of rewards.

Depending on which one we decide to unlock, we can get new character color palettes, melodies, character information, or Arcade mode modifiers to make the experience a little more complicated.

Outside of that, we have Heroes Laboratorya kind of glossary with the different characters in the game, to better understand their abilities, the first comic book in which they appeared, etc.

And if this game exudes anything, it’s a handmade love for comics what they draw inspiration from, in addition to Marvel lore in general.

Thus, its sprites, which follow the aesthetics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, show poses that will look familiar to you from the vignettesyour movements are very stylish…

And yes, they inevitably remind us of other arcade classics, even in the cutscenes, especially from the Marvel vs Capcom family.

All this is complemented by many appearances by well-known charactersfrom MODOK to Galactus and, of course, the scenarios hide lots of winks for the fanseither with a Damage Control sign or with Genosha-level Forging.

All this, under an openly pixelated aesthetic that seeks that nostalgia of the classic 16-bit beat ’em upbut with a stunning color palette. Of course, we can put a CRT scanlines and deformation filter.

At the sound level, the characters’ voices stand outwhich in many cases imitate actors from the MCU or animated series (Storm sounds identical to X-Men 97for example) and launch very characteristic phrases.

Then, Venom complains about not receiving a brain to eat and She-Hulk breaks the fourth wall to be thankful that there are so many cameos in the game.

Unfortunately, the voices are only in English and the phrases they say in the middle of battle have no subtitles (not that you’ll miss anything critical to the game), but The rest of the subtitles and menus are well adapted to Spanish.

For true believers

In general, Marvel Cosmic Invasion perfectly represents what old school fans or any lover of a good arcade can search. It doesn’t invent the wheel, there will even be those who think it innovates very little.

But the reality is that it does everything it presents well, has a perfect rhythm that it manages something as difficult as a beat ’em up without becoming monotonous, it’s incredibly beautiful and, ultimately, it’s a lot of fun.

Once again, we have to regret that Pasta Pot Pete does not appear in a Game House of Ideasbut otherwise Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the beat ’em up you need to enjoy right nowand better if you can do it with colleagues. ’nuff said.