There have been plenty of setbacks and duds for fans of superhero games, especially with the recent cancellation of Electronic Arts’ Black Panther game and the shuttering of Wonder Woman developer Monolith Productions. However, for those who are willing to venture outside the AAA console space, there’s plenty to enjoy. For your VR addicts, Deadpool VR is looking to be this year’s flagship title for the Meta Quest. And over on the indie front, we have Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
Developed by Tribute Games, Marvel Cosmic Invasion will look familiar to anyone who played their previous title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. As a retro-inspired, side-scrolling beat ’em up, Cosmic Invasion has the look and feel of your favorite arcade games from the ’80s and ’90s, from that “chonky pixel” aesthetic to the combo counter that racks up as you continue to dish out damage. During our hands-on preview at Summer Game Fest earlier this month, we got to play through two of the game’s stages with a handful of playable characters.
While the full game is set to feature 15 playable heroes, the demo we got to try had half of them unlocked. While each hero (and villain) has their own unique basic attacks and special moves, the roster can, for the most part, be categorized into one of two groups: those who can fly, and those who… well, can’t.
You might think that heroes who can go airborne might have a distinct advantage, but it’s not as cut and dry as you’d expect. While Phyla-Vell and Storm can take to the skies (well, in practice, it’s more like floating several feet off the ground) and rain down punishment from above, they aren’t as agile as some of their land-loving counterparts. That being said, there are some distinct advantages to being able to put some distance between yourself and Cosmic Invasion’s nearly infinite supply of comic book baddies, and of course, some enemies also prefer to stay airborne.
On the other hand, Marvel mainstays like Captain America and Wolverine shine with their boots on the ground, and from a gameplay perspective, there’s something undeniably satisfying about ripping enemies to shreds with Wolverine’s claws or chucking Captain America’s trusty shield straight into a henchman’s face. Coordinated players who take on Cosmic Invasion’s campaign together can also make use of specific moves to launch enemies in the air or towards the ground, and I imagine that the best of the best will be able to juggle enemies back and forth to each other like hot potatoes, especially with one player covering the skies while the other handles enemies on the ground.
The more astute readers out there might have noticed how we haven’t talked about Spider-Man or Venom yet, and that’s because those two have situated themselves directly on top of the fence. As hybrid characters of sorts, these two can cover pretty much the entire screen, though it’s worth noting that their web-slinging can’t keep them airborne indefinitely. Still, for those of you who have a penchant for combos and old-school fighting games, you’ll want to keep these two in mind, as they can flex their juggling skills and keep combos going a lot longer than the other characters we got to see in action. The potential for high-level play is palpable, especially since each player gets to pick two heroes to take into battle (tag-team style) and swap between them instantly.
There’s still lots to be revealed — I couldn’t tell you much about the story or over-arching villain, though it’s worth mentioning that the fight against Taskmaster (who can mimic your hero’s moveset) was a nice addition — but from what we’ve seen, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is shaping up to be a perfect marriage of old-school beat ’em ups and the ever-expanding world of Marvel.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is set to launch later this year for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox, and Windows PCs.
