"Marvelous game plagued by cheap AI"

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is a game based on some of Marvel's classic and some not so classic characters brawling. This game also adds seven all new characters, the Imperfects. There are eighteen characters in all. I can't say that I'm a huge comic fan or anything, but I like the characters, so I figured I'd try this one out, being a fair-priced twenty dollars. Anywho, onto the review.

Graphics
Graphics are always crucial to a game, and luckily, Nemesis is done quite well. With this game being what it is, a rather distant viewed fighter from a bird's eye perspective, you'd think they'd concentrate less on the graphics, yet these are done well. The character models do justice to the characters, and each character has two models: a regular and evil. The areas also look very nice, with classic places such as the Daily Bugle and the Avenger's Mansion. The special effects are pretty much so-so and the explosions are very numerous, and rather repetitive. All they do is occasionally change color and anything else is typically an aura or a beam that flies by and ends with an explosion.
Score: 8.5

Story
With this being a fighting game you don't typically expect a lot of story, yet Nemesis does a fair job. The story revolves around the heroes going through a series of stages, in which you beat the crap out of random aliens that arrived and started blowing stuff up. The story does get deeper, with an alien scientist Van Roekl, and also leader of the Imperfect, who creates the ultimate fighter, a woman named Maya equipped with razors on her arms. The story goes more in depth, but I don't want to ruin anything for you.
Score: 9

Sound
The sounds and music in this game aren't really memorable, nor anything overly irritating. The voice acting isn't too bad, but once again, nothing memorable. The writing for the people is rather corny, however. Not too much to say about anything here.
Score: 6.5

Unlockables
Well, this game has a crapload of stuff to unlock. You have cards, areas, characters, and comics. You start with four characters, which leaves fourteen for you to gain. I can't remember the amount of levels you start with; I believe it's one, out of a total of seven. There are 43 cards, three of which require cheats to even gain. There are also eighteen comics. All that I would have liked are a few more stages, or at least allow multi-staged arenas.
Score: 8

Gameplay
Now for the absolute most important part of any game: gameplay. This game plays quite a bit like X-men Legends, a top view fighter. In this one, you hold R and press another button for specials. My main complaint is the lack of combos, since they are actually non existent. The typical setup for specials are a projectile, a special combo, sometimes a distance grapple, and a super jump. Characters also have a sprint/flight/web sling type move, too. The fighting is okay, although fairly repetitive at times. The AI in this game is also insanely hard and cheap; it is likely that you will throw your controller at least once.
Gameplay: 7 (This score counts double because of it's importance)

Final Thoughts
This game is a fairly good one. If you like either Marvel or fighting games and you have a little cash extra, go for it. I have to say that I recommend renting before you buy it, though.

(8.5+9+6.5+8+7[2])/6=7.6666…

Final Score: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/06