Marvel Super Hero Squad (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Over the last few years, we've enjoyed a veritable comic book revolution with many of Marvel's big franchises hitting both the silver screen and the TV screens through films and games respectively. Both have brought in high levels of success but both have been seen more as for the teenage audiences meaning younger gamers are being left out. While older gamers will have their hands full with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 on the various consoles, THQ and Marvel have decided to give something to the younger gamers in a similar vain to that title so as to make fans of these people who may know very little about the characters. And this is where Marvel Super Hero Squad comes in, with both THQ and Marvel hoping to do just that.

Gameplay

Through the prologue, we learn that Dr Doom and his Lethal Legion of villains are racing to gain control or a rare Infinity Fractal which has been uncovered after a nuclear weapons test in the middle of the desert. Knowing the potential danger that can come from having the fractal falling into the wrong hands, the Super Hero Squad, made up of Wolverine, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer, Thor, Ironman and Falcon, sets out to confront and prevent Dr Doom from getting his hands on the fractal. After a battle between the heroes and one of Dr Doom's henchmen, Modok, the fractal breaks into 6 pieces and becomes scattered across the land. With Dr Doom stepping up his operations to get hold of the Infinity Fractal so he can resurrect the Infinity Sword and take over the world, the heroes split up hoping to regain all 6 pieces of the fractal and save the world.

With a story that would feel at home within the Ultimate Alliance games, the scene is set for some top action set across a series of 6 short campaigns. Gameplay takes its cues from its bigger brother, focusing on lots and lots of heavy fighting scenarios before allowing you to move on. It therefore hits its stride early on and doesn't miss a beat but does quickly fall into monotony as there is little deviation from this path with the objectives usually always centred around beating up all the enemies, although it's not always clear how to complete these objective or how long they go on which isn't great considering the demographic the game is going after. The 6 campaigns feature each of the 6 main members of the Super Hero Squad and apart from the environments through which you'll take them and some small differences in the story for each, there is little difference as they all ultimately lead to masses and masses of fighting before inevitably taking on one of Dr Doom's members of the Lethal League of villains with the end result always being that you obtain the fractal piece. The thing is, though, even with the game quickly falling to monotony, it still remains enjoyable throughout. When you fail in an attempt to land on a platform, something that is an all too common occurrence due to camera issues, you'll always come back quickly to persevere. There are attempts to pick the game up, with quite time event battles against gigantic foes but these really play second fiddle to the main action as they can be very hit and miss.

Through each of the campaigns, while the main components that make up the Super Hero Squad have split up to go after the fractal pieces, you'll still be accompanied by one of a number of available superheroes, from the likes of Thing, Nightcrawler and Captain America, and these can either be controlled by the game itself or by a second player, as the game allows for drop-in/drop-out co-op. The computer controlled allies, though, do show up some issues with the AI, which is a reoccurring issue throughout the entire game both with allies and enemies. Both allies and enemies aren't partly well done as you can walk up to them in what should be the middle of the fight and they won't notice you and you'll be able to virtually defeat them before they even do. Likewise, your allies have real trouble keeping up with you throughout the game and because of this, the game's camera tries to compensate but ultimately leads to camera issues. Therefore, the game is best played in co-op as it alleviates some of these issues and it's just more fun. Outside of the story mode, there's a battle mode where 4 players can duke it out in teams or against one another but it's a very basic setup that doesn't quite match the fidelity of some of the other combat titles on the console.

Controls

You are given one control option, that being the Wii-mote and Nunchuk, and for the most part it does work. There's are two attack buttons for each character, the first being a standard punch attack and the second, utilising the B button, requires you to either aim with the IR pointer or pull the pointer off screen and push a direction on the analogue stick to land your secondary attacks. The IR pointer controls here don't work well at all because the game doesn't seem to recognise fully where you are pointing so it is best to pull it off screen and do it the other way, although it's rare you'll use the attack. There are some gesture based controls needed and these occur through quite time events and they're a mixed bag working some times and not others. But there are some bigger hang ups with the controls when playing. Firstly, the game seems to employ an auto lock on system whereby it'll look onto whatever is in the direction you started punching and won't come off unless you either defeat it or destroy it or force the game to change. It can get frustrating as, during the down times, you'll be attacking a crate to get health and suddenly enemies will appear so you'll move to attack them but instead the character maintains his lock on the crate. Secondly, the camera controls are awful. The game finds it hard to keep up with the action, especially with two people playing, and so you'll often find that the camera begins to move all over the place which will at times leave your character off screen for some time. You can move the camera yourself but the controls on the d-pad are so bad that any improvement is minimal.

Graphics

The graphics are presented at a good level of quality when the camera is at the default, panned out position. Get up close, however, and you'll start to see the faults. Textures appear blurry and character models seem to be lacking in the polygon department slightly. Their animation is up to scratch, though, and they all move smoothly through the environments and the attacks of the various characters, all of which are replicated in a more cartoon-y style to fit a younger demographic, are all fluidly done. The environments aren't particularly large in size, with each of the game's levels split into smaller increments but some can be confusing to navigate both due to design choices and due to the awkward camera. The frame rate dips very occasionally when the screen fills up with enemies, but as said it only happens on small occasions. Cutscenes are presented in a comic book style of action sequences and it's a nice way to progress the narrative yet the compressing of said cutscenes has led to some issues in the quality, with some looking blocky.

Sound

A punchy soundtrack kicks in at the opening of the game before you hit the main menu and with this short introduction, you think that the in game soundtrack is going to be the same. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite live up to that initial appearance and feels flatter and more subdued which doesn't entirely suit the action that takes place on screen. Each of the cutscenes and characters are voiced throughout with the voice work hitting a similar note to the graphics making sure so as to keep everything in line with the younger demographic which the game is getting at. It's all done well but not to the highest of standards as there is a fluctuation in the sound quality and it can get irritating hearing the same lines over and over from Mrs. Marvel who constantly nags you throughout to complete the objectives even when you are getting on with it.

Final comments

Marvel Super Hero Squad is a good game if you're a younger gamer looking to get into the whole Marvel universe, with accessible gameplay and a cute presentation. When compared to the Ultimate Alliance games, however, it sadly falls short of maintaining the levels of excitement brought through in those. But it never attempts to reach those levels and presents itself as it is: an enjoyable beat-em-up that is aimed at kids and one that kids will enjoy. More experienced gamers may get some short term appeal out of the game but it's definitely for the younger crowd.

Pro: Accessible gameplay that is fun for younger gamers, cute presentation, plentiful number of heroes and villains to play as
Con: Camera issues really hamper the game, AI is of a poor quality, the graphics don't look particularly great up close
Final score: 6.2

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