"The title reflects the game"

Marvel Nemesis : Rise of the Imperfects. The title of this game just about sums it up in a few words. This game really is Marvel's Nemesis when it comes to their fighting games. In fact, I think that the rise of the imperfects is the way that a programmer described this game during its making.

However, apart from the many flaws in this game, under its skin lies a genuinely good game that had just been executed badly. What more could you want from a portable fighting game. With reasonable graphics and average game-play this game will keep you entertained for a short while.

Basically there are two single player game modes. The first is called “Play Now” and this allows you just to battle for a short time without following one of the crummy story lines that dwells within the so-called “Arcade mode”. This is ideal for a quick play on a short journey or just to pass 15 minutes or so when you could be doing something much more useful but probably much less interesting. The second mode is called “Arcade Mode”. In this mode you will battle many opponents depending on the length of story that you choose. To be honest, the story lines are so contrived and unconvincing that you'd actually be more likely to believe that elephant's can fly. Honest! With lines such as, “Oh no! There's a problem at the power plant in the city centre.” Now I haven't been to many cities but I've yet to go to one with a nuclear power plant in the town square.

This game uses the touch screen so that you can execute super moves whilst still displaying both health bars and adrenaline bars. Unfortunately this is where the use of the touch screen stops which is a shame as any other features added to the touch screen could have made this game a little more revolutionary and a little less average.

The sounds in this game border on annoying if you play through the long story modes. With only a handful of sound effects for each character you are likely to give your ears and the others around you RSI. The lack of a variety of sound effects is that in order to make the game compatible with the DS many major cutbacks were made from the original tests. This results in a game that runs smoothly, but can border on annoying.

To conclude, Marvel claim that “You can't improve on perfection”. Well, in future I suggest that they try and improve on many of the imperfect games that they have made over the years. This is by no means a bad game, but at the same time it is by no means a great game. It's worth a buy. It may appeal to you for a short while.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/07