Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems

"My money is on Mutant Apocalypse, but this one isn't too bad..."

The name might catch you off guard, and you may think that this game is something that features plenty of fast and furious action through the one on one fighting. You’d be about half right in thinking that, and quite honestly, when I received the game, I was rather surprised to find out that it wasn’t a fighting game like the ones that I’ve played on the Play Station, but rather a game that features plenty of side scrolling action! Featuring several characters from the Marvel Universe, your job is to make it from one stage to the next through several different areas in an attempt to stop the madman Thanos from using the power of the Infinity Gems to take over the Universe. While the plot seems pretty strange, you’ll find that if you’ve read the Infinity Gem series, then everything in the game, from the characters that are at your disposal to the bosses that you fight all make sense. The game isn’t extremely long, but you’ll have to sit down and really play through it to make to the end. If you watch through the game, you’ll find several references to the other members of the Marvel Universe that were included to give you a better sense of having been thrown into a virtual comic book!

The game play is your typical side scrolling beat ‘em up in which you can select from five different characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses to help find the Infinity Gems and save the world from destruction. The key to the game is to learn how to use the characters effectively throughout the game and know just where and when you use a specific character. Where characters such as Wolverine can scale walls and get into out of reach places, the Hulk can bash through false walls and otherwise to get through portions of the stage. Use of different characters and their attributes is something akin to Mutant Apocalypse in which you have to select the correct mutant for the job and then make your way through the stages!

Through your side scrolling journey, you’ll find different items that allow you to regain your health, heal your other characters, bring them back from the dead and other wise that can be used before the start of the next stage. You’ll also find that the characters you use have sets of combination moves that are strangely similar to the Street Fighter games, and you’ll be able to perform some pretty impressive looking attacks once you have the game down to a science. The use of gems is also important, and once you’ve defeated a boss on a random stage, then you’ll be able to acquire one of six gems that boasts a different attribute and ability. The game features two mode, with the Story Mode being listed above and then you have a Training Mode which allows you to test out each of the characters and get them to perform their different combinations and special moves before you actually run into battle. This is a rather impressive feature especially considering that some of the stages require you to know just how to fight or you’ll end up with a dead character and have to start the stage all over again!

Control of your character is basically knowledge of side scrolling action games that require jumping and being able to perform attacks Final Fight style. As mentioned before, you can go through the training mode, which allows you to practice the different move sets that each character has. With the addition of the gems in your command, you can use the powers of those gems, although they really don’t change much of the command or control setup that is already featured here! Once you’ve gotten a good handle on the game, the only thing that you really need to do is have a good understanding of jumping from platform to platform and taking on the different boss characters. As with most action games, knowing how to take on the boss characters is little more than strategy and the SNES directional pad gives little resistance to learning how to avoid and move.

Visually, the game is clean and crisp in the SNES fashion, giving you the five Marvel characters without leaving too much of the detail out. The stages are huge and expansive, although there could have been some extra detail put into some of the more interesting looking stages such as the underwater sea base! If you can get through that, you'll find that the characters you use all have a style and movement their own, and the attacks they pull off come away with the same imagination that the comic series these characters appear in. All in all, you have a pretty good looking game that doesn’t suffer from image break up or amounts of slow down in any of the stages, and you’ll find that beating up on some of the bosses is more of a treat to watch than an all out effort.

The music here is something that could have been tweaked up a little bit to keep the theme and the drive of the game on a high pitch. There is something to be said for music that keeps your interest, and unfortunately, you’ll find that the music here just doesn’t seem to fit or match the mood like you would hope that it would! The sound effects are also lacking, with most of them being your generic punches and kicks as well as the occasional grunt of a character biting the dust. While the audio isn’t the most spectacular around, you’ll find that for a game of this type, it does seem to fit the bill and will keep you playing regardless of the monotony.

Overall Marvel Super Heroes is a pretty decent side scrolling game that takes away from the fighting game format that it was originally intended to be and instead puts you in a rather enjoyable battle much like Final Fight. While it doesn’t quite have the depth that Mutant Apocalypse does, you’ll find that the game has plenty of action and adventure as well as a four to six hour requirement to play. Worth having in your collection if you’re into these type of games, those who are seeking out something more in depth might do well to look at Mutant Apocalypse!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/01, Updated 12/27/01