11/21/05 >> Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (PlayStation 2)
Genre: Fighting
OK, Marvel's heroes and villains have been in many successful, albeit, similar incarnations with Capcom. It was surprising to hear them say they were collaborating with Electronic Arts for their next fighting game. While their idea for the story, the graphics, and the multiplayer aspects are good, there are definitely some major problems. Imperfect is right.
GRAPHICS:
OK, now this area of the game is good. All of the fighters in this game look incredible, including all of the new guys EA made up. All of their super powers and moves look really cool too. For example, Johnny Ohm (big electric dude, EA made him) has a throw move that looks incredibly powerful and cool. The environments in this game all look incredible as well, and completely destructible. The only real problem is, the environments kind of look similar. This area of the game is probably the best area of the game. That's kind of sad though. Read on and find out why.
SOUND:
This area's definitely not good. The voice-overs are really annoying. The music is just ho-hum stuff. It's a bunch of just soft background orchestral. Don't get me wrong, I like orchestral music. Not this time though. Considering how much hardware capability you've got on the Xbox, you'd think they'd make different sound effects for each effect on the environment. NOPE. Sad to say, it kind of doesn't get a whole lot better from here.
STORY:
This is kind of a weird one. You see, aliens invade, led by a group of failed experiments called the Imperfects, and they wreak havoc. They even eliminate Captain America, the Punisher, and The Hulk! So now it's up to who's left to take them down. With how much talent they've got at Marvel, you think they could have made it more interesting than that. They never go into more depth than that, and most Marvel comics cover every speck and detail! They could've done better, but I guess it serves its purpose.
GAMEPLAY:
Ouch. They didn't think this one through. This is a fighting game, so nothing is really that innovative here. You get standard attacks, a throw, and a block. You can also super power these moves, but you lose power. But as you use super moves, you gain rage. Get it filled and you can perform unlimited supers for a short time. However, it can get way too easy to finish someone off. The environment can be used, but it's in the way of pretty much every move you try to pull off. And every time you hit the environment, the opponent loses a ton of health. Add to that the fact that the computer is easy the first two stages, and then becomes FREAKISHLY HARD! The actual single-player mode is like a bad beat-em-up and then the real fighting. The roster of fighters is pretty good. They've got fan favorites like Wolverine, The Thing, Magneto, Iron Man, and Venom. The newbies from EA are people like Johnny Ohm, Paragon (think Marvel meets Fullmetal Alchemist), Solara, and Brigade (Jax has come!). However, all of the fighters sort of play the same. Again, they really didn't think this all the way through.
MULTIPLAYER:
While the actual fighting may not be that great, the multiplayer can be fun, especially since other human players can't be as FREAKISHLY HARD as the computer. The nice thing here is there's...wait for it...ONLINE PLAY! I don't care if the game isn't that good, if it's got online play and it's a fighting game, I'm excited! The actual fighting in the single player mode wasn't that bad, unlike the beat-em-up stuff, and there's none of that in the multiplayer. So the multiplayer in this game, although the actual gameplay of this game isn't that great, is pretty decent.
OVERALL :
This kind of a game sounds really great in the editing room, but EA and Marvel really disappoint in actually making the game. I wish they could have made more out of this great idea.
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Game Score: 6.8
Reviewed By: Staff
