Marvel: Cosmic Invasion PC Review
Summary: Marvel: Cosmic Invasion is a triumphant, beautiful, fun romp across the entire Marvel Universe and cosmos. With a varied roster of heroes, and an easy to pick up control scheme and campaign, it's an accessible adventure into the Marvel Universe for any type of fan.
5
Marvelous!
Announced earlier this year, Marvel: Cosmic Invasion was a delightful surprise. Made by Tribute Games, who developed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge a few years back, harkening back to the retro arcade days of old, Cosmic Invasion reminded me of the Marvel vs. Capcom games. With the Negative Zone’s Annihilus on the loose, Marvel: Cosmic Invasion is a beat ’em up that promises to take you across the Marvel universe and cosmos to stop this incoming threat. With simplistic controls, cross-play, support for up to 4 players and 8 (!) characters, Cosmic Invasion is a delight to play.
Assemble your friends!
Marvel: Cosmic Invasion spans a roster of 15 characters from all over the universe and cosmos. Familiar faces like Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine and Iron Man are mixed together with more niche characters like Beta Ray Bill and Phyla-Vell, with voice talent like Josh Keaton and Steve Blum bringing the characters to life. The roster has a little something for everybody.
Into the cosmos!
The game’s campaign takes you all over the Marvel universe and tells a simplistic little story that takes you into Marvel’s cosmos. With unique dialogue for every character depending on who they tag in or which stage they’re on, a lot of detail has been built into the game’s dialogue. Spidey will comment on whoever teams up with him, or on whatever hijinks are going on in New York today. Besides that, the cast is amazingly talented and the story continues to be told as you traverse the levels.
Easy to swing around!
Characters are easy to control. If you’re worried about long combo routes or button combinations akin to a fighting game like Tekken or Street Fighter — worry not. Cosmic Invasion is built with general accessibility in mind. Attacks are linked to a single button, with general attacks creating automatic combos, special moves, and a super move that you can even combine with a friend or the other character you control. Tag in your second playable hero at any time or combine moves with your friends, leading to organised chaos across the screen as you kick the Annihilation Wave’s butt!
That’s right, in Cosmic Invasion each player gets to play two characters instead of just one! That adds up to 8 total characters if you have a group of 4 people playing. Battles can get chaotically fun quite quickly like this, as I noticed when I was just playing as a duo with a friend. However, a group can only have one of each character — meaning no two Spider-Men will be swinging around on screen at any given time. If you’re looking to play or learn a certain character, you’ll have to negotiate with your friends or play the arcade mode with certain rules unlocked.
Retro beauty!
Cosmic Invasion has a gorgeous, retro pixel-art style. It’s vibrant and colourful, harkening back to the arcade days and translates all corners of the Marvel universe beautifully, from Genosha to Wakanda, New York to Asgard. Annihilus’ influence reaches far, so besides having a whole roster of heroes to play as, you’ll be facing a whole host of Earth-bound and cosmic villains. Each level has a beautiful soundtrack to boot as well.
Cosmic Invasion is a game made out of passion. Levels are full of little Easter eggs a veteran Marvel fan will love to pick out, and the game itself mixes together all sorts of comic events. Each character also has a few unlockable colour palettes that represent different costumes. Spider-Man can wear his black suit or Iron Spider outfit, Storm can have her black costume, or Wolverine his classic yellow and blue. Some costumes, like Black Panther’s, also have some beautiful shading reminiscent of old comic panels or cartoons from the 1990s.
If you’re looking for a good time with friends in the Marvel universe and to create the team-ups of your dreams, you can do so cross-platform, with both cross-play across all platforms and Remote Play Together available on Steam. If you’re solo, online matchmaking is available, letting you join random lobbies and help out other heroes across the Internet.
Conclusion
Tribute Games has really managed to find their niche and success when it comes to creating retro-like games, and I’m glad series like TMNT and Marvel have been reaching out to them. Marvel: Cosmic Invasion is a delightful, simple-to-pick-up-and-play surprise, and I hope they add to the game beyond its launch. It’s also a beautiful feast for the eyes and ears, filled to the brim with Easter eggs for any Marvel fan.
About the Author
Lander Van Poucke Lander is a passionate gamer from Belgium with a flair for the dramatic. Valuing storytelling & narrtive in games, he favours single-player games, RPG's & fighting games for their lore and vast character rosters.
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