Marvel Heroes brings familiar heroes and plenty of action

It’s virtually impossible to bring up a game like Marvel Heroes without having someone say that it’s “like Diablo”. Genres are like that and expectations can be hard to live up to. I have recently been playing in the beta and I have to say that Marvel Heroes not only delivers the kind of KAPOW action you want from a game based on Marvel’s more popular characters, it does it without feeling like a clone of another game. It truly stands on its own against all opposition. Separate gear for each character, the ability to swap out characters you own on the fly, and voice acting for quick quips in combat all make this game feel amazing. So don your mask and spandex and save the world!

Avengers (and everyone else) assemble!

When you first load in, you may select one of these heroes for free.

Marvel Heroes is a free to play point and click ARPG chock full of familiar faces from around the Marvel universe. There are 26 characters (5 listed as coming soon) which all have multiple outfits available. Of course, only certain characters are free from the start, but I have no issues with selling characters and skins in a free to play game. So far in the beta, my favorite character is Deadpool (who is a premium character to be purchased). He may be a bit overpowered, but in all fairness I have only gotten as far as chapter 3 in the story as of the time I’m writing this. Of the initial free characters, I’m definitely a fan of Hawkeye. Whoever you choose to wear the tights of, there is a robust talent system in place to customize your character to fit your own play style and maximize game enjoyment.

The story elements of Marvel Heroes are great and really bring out that feeling of playing a comic book through animated cutscenes. The game is broken into progressive chapters, but previous chapter areas can be replayed if you enjoyed the area or simply want to get a boss medal for multiple characters. One of the few drawbacks in the game is that characters level individually. While I understand that from a replayability standpoint, it is a little frustrating to get several chapters into the game, purchase a new one and then having to spend time leveling that character before I can continue on. As complaints go, that’s pretty minor.

Marvel Heroes is truly MMO

Multiple players individually engaging in a public event.

Unlike some other popular point and click ARPGs, Marvel Heroes incorporates large open public areas where players all work together to accomplish dynamic goals.  Sometimes that means stopping arsonists and rescuing citizens while other times it means ganging up on a rampaging super villain. You’re free to work solo or in a group in these areas as well as in the instanced locations that make up the driving portions of the story content. Though I do recommend grouping if you have friends to play with and you also dislike being killed and running back over and over to kill some bosses. Maybe that was just me. Taskmaster and The Hood had their way with me pretty badly, but that might just reflect my actual skill level.

The best part of the public area is the individual loot drops. We love watching loot explode out of defeated enemies and I can’t imagine the rage that would ensue if someone else picked up the random purple belt you just saw drop before you could. Another great aspect of this system is the lack of a tagging mechanic so that experience and loot can be gained even if you’re not the first one to hit a mob. The real reason that I love this idea so much is that it incentivizes helping random players in the field. I really feel like this helps create a more actively helpful community where people are more than happy to work together without feeling that strange obligation to stick around longer than you want because you’re grouped. Then again, that could just be me.

My recommendation: try it out

Marvel Heroes will launch on June 4th 2013 and will be free to play. There are, however, founders packages for sale if you know you really want to get into the action with a specific favorite character and desire some early access as well. For everyone else, if you really dig the whole point and click ARPG genre, then you should definitely give this one a try and support it by buying a skin or new character if you enjoy it as much as I have. With a wide variety of characters to choose from, a well tuned individual loot system, a great comic story, and fast paced fun gameplay this one is a no-brainer.