Despite the fact that it has fallen out of fashion, I love Marvel and the characters of the Marvel Universe. So, when I saw that Dotemu was doing a beat-em-up in the style of Shredder’s Revenge (and old Arcade classics), I was super excited. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is fun, but admittedly, I have a few reservations about the current level of polish, or lack thereof.

Before we get too deep into that, let’s talk about the general premise. In Marvel Cosmic Invasion, you play as a set (usually two per level) of Marvel heroes from a pool of 15, as they fight to stop Annihilus from destroying the cosmos. The current roster ranges from Nova and Phyla-Vell to Captain America and Wolverine. Characters such as Ghost Rider and Phoenix also fill the roster with some exciting variety.

Each character has a unique moveset, usually including basic attacks, a special attack, an ultimate move that can be charged, as well as tag-based abilities with the partner character you chose. Each character can also either dodge or block, and some can fly. The controls are easy to understand and learn, but each character takes some time to master. The more you use the characters in the campaign, the more they level up. This enhances their abilities and stats over time. There are a few progression systems to enable you to tailor playstyles too, which is cool.

There is also a more classic arcade mode, for those who just want to beat up baddies rather than experience the campaign. However, the campaign offers an array of challenges, as well as secrets and unlockables to find. There is a lot to love here, from great visual design to fun gameplay. However, there are a few warts on this release that aren’t common to Dotemu’s previous works.

There were two major bugs that caught my eye, and both were involved with multiplayer. The Wakanda level crashed repeatedly at the start, to the point where I had to complete it in single player, because my friend and I couldn’t play it in multiplayer. The other bug was a strange one. Whenever I picked characters in multiplayer, sometimes I showed up to my friend as a completely different character, and vice versa. It was even weirder that sometimes he showed up as characters I hadn’t even unlocked yet.

Both of these bugs will be addressed in a post-launch update, according to the dev team, but I wanted to make sure you are aware ahead of time. As a Marvel fan, I’m gonna be turning to Cosmic Invasion for game nights for a while. It really has that old-school arcade feel of the X-Men cabinet, minus all the quarters I spent trying to beat it.

If you love games like Shredder’s Revenge and the other beat-em-up games from Dotemu, this is a no-brainer purchase. The devs are still working on patches, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the already large 15-character roster expands with DLC as time goes on. Check out Marvel Cosmic Invasion, it’s a lot of fun in single player or multiplayer.

A PC Review Copy of Marvel Cosmic Invasion was provided by Dotemu for the purposes of this review.

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Marvel Cosmic Invasion

$29.99 USD

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great Beat em Up Gameplay
• Gorgeous Pixel Art
• Lots of Unlockables
• Fun Soundtrack

Cons

• Various Multiplayer Bugs
• A few crashes here and there