Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects

"Rise of the Imperfects....Best. Name.Ever."

Wow, could a game be any MORE aptly named?

After Capcom lost it's Marvel license to EA, there was a lot of talk about a "Marvel vs. EA" line, similar to the Capcom line. Jokingly, it was said that you'd end up having battles like Dr. Doom vs. John Madden, or Spider-Man vs. Harry Potter [just like in the box office]. But lo and behold, we get a game that 1) Has nothing to do with John Madden, and 2) was written into active comic continuity by Marvel themselves.

The basic idea of the game is that Niles Van Roekle has been using alien technology to create the perfect weapon/human. Some were, well, Imperfect, but still had some uses, so he kept them. The story opens up with New York under attack by these aliens. On the Marvel team, you get to play as Magneto, Wolverine, Storm, Spider-Man, Venom, Iron Man, the Thing, Human Torch, Daredevil, and Elektra, [The PSP loses Torch and Daredevil for Captain America and Dr. Doom], whereas the Imperfects get their own, all-new lineup of Fault Zone [Avalanche], Wink [Nightcrawler], Solara [Torch/Starfire], Hazmat [Wolverine-ish/Spidey], Johnny Ohm [Electro], Brigade [Luke Cage], Paragon [Lady Deathstrike], and Mr. Van Roekle as well. A lot of them play really well, especially for not being in a game before [Daredevil and Elektra, for example]. They were relatively close to their comic counterparts, too--you won't see Elektra tossing a Mac Truck, for example, however, Torch can toss Thing like none other.

The story isn't all that bad, either. Personally, I can go with a different art direction, but that's only my preference. While I personally like the voices for the cast, the movies, however, are sub-par. You've basically got something like a really grainy cel shaded anime meets Sin City comic. Yeah, it's THAT bad.

"How does she handle?" Well, I think the best term for that would be refined button masher. Since there's only one attack button [Smooth Movie, EA. ], you've gotta sorta rely on a bit of skill, but not a whole hell of a lot. Basically, a fight will go like this--

Punch>Send Foe Flying>Run to them> Repeat.

As you can tell, that's not all that great. Even with fully destroyable and interactive environments, ring outs, and finishers, the game is still lacking in the play department. I've not played online or multiplayer with another person yet, so I can't say anything about them.

Many a flaw prevent this from being a "definite owner"---well, at least for 50 bones. Rent it, or if you can, pick it up on the cheap, and hope there's a better sequel with different characters.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/05