Marvel Heroes is a free-to-play online roleplaying game set in the Marvel Universe that came out recently, and as a Marvel fan I decided to give it a shot. After selecting one of a limited set of Marvel characters as your starting hero, you are treated to a very well done intro cinematic that sets the tone of the game. Then Nick Fury, who is voiced by none other than Keith David, tasks you with trying to stop a prison breakout. You get comfortable with the controls, learn the basics, and sit back and watch as your favorite supervillains break out or prison. The entire design has a classic Diablo II feel, which is not surprising, since one of the lead designers for that game worked on Marvel Heroes. Considering that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is one of my favorite games of all time, I was looking forward to this game. Unfortunately, things went south very quickly after the prologue.
Despite what were admittedly a couple of hours of decent entertainment, the first thing I noticed about Marvel Heroes was just how damned expensive it is. The characters, the costumes, pretty much everything has a price tag on it. I understand a game cannot be completely “free-to-play,” but some of these characters cost as much as an entirely new game. For example, I love Spiderman. I wanted to play Spiderman in this game, but paying $20 for the web-slinger, are you kidding me? To add to this lunacy, you cannot even try out these heroes beforehand. What if Spiderman actually turned out to be boring? I have seen gameplay footage of the Iron Man character, and it was mundane to say the least, and that guy costs $20 as well! What we have here, folks, is an obvious cash grab design. Spiderman and Iron Man are among the most popular heroes, so they are among the most expensive, which tells you a lot about what Marvel and the designers actually intend for Marvel Heroes to be: not some vehicle where quality will deliver profit, but a pure moneymaker based on a name brand.
To be fair, though, you can unlock most of these characters, and their costumes, in game, but that involves having to grind through the biggest issue of Marvel Heroes, its design. I can handle having to be online to play the game, but what I cannot handle is the inexplicably boring gameplay that comes with having players enter what amounts to a free-for-all mosh pit, where there are literally dozens of players all vying to kill the random bad guys that pop up. It is hard to enjoy a game when, more often than not, you are engaged in a fight and other players decide to interfere and finish off those guys before running off to find more baddies. “Thanks guys for taking away the challenge with help I did not ask for. I really appreciate it.”
Additionally, seeing half a dozen of the same superheroes running around really takes away the meaning of playing that hero yourself. “Oh look, there are three other Spiderman’s around me, that is what $20 will buy you: emptiness.” The boss fights are the most egregious example of this terrible design. While this does not apply to all bosses, I remember fighting Rhino and Venom while a hurricane of other players descended on them. There was no strategy, no tactics, no tension, just a straight up beatdown which felt utterly hollow. However, like I said, not all the boss battles are like this, and notable fights such as against the Green Goblin—in the prologue, of all places—were actually pretty good. The dungeon sections are actually better, though, since you can solo them or have a small group accompany you, which helps to maintain at least some level of challenge.
To call Marvel Heroes a Diablo game with a Marvel paint job would be doing a disservice. Diablo II had a design that lent itself to both single player and multiplayer with fantastic results. Unfortunately, Marvel Heroes does not have such a design when it desperately needs it. At least playing as Spiderman by myself would have given meaning to the character and made it seem like the $20 would be worth spending. Have I mentioned that Spiderman costs $20!!!?
There is a lot more I could mention about Marvel Heroes, but there is no point in talking about a game that apparently does not want you to enjoy it. In the end, Marvel Heroes has potential, I will not deny it that. However, that potential is being squandered with a disastrous design that seems more intent on siphoning your wallet rather than giving you fun.
UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that I have made an error regarding the prices. Spiderman is no longer $20, closer to $15 actually, and many prices have been lowered across the board recently according to this.
