Comprehensive Game Reviews

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From AAA titles to indie games, we cover it all. Our comprehensive reviews provide detailed insights to help you find your next favorite game.

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IGN PC ReviewsDec 2

Horses ReviewThis unsettling horror game banned from Steam tells a harrowing story you won’t soon forget.

IGN PC ReviewsDec 2

Review: Metroid Prime 4 Feels Exactly How I Expected Nintendo and Retro Studios officially announced Metroid Prime 4 back in June 2017 . Then, it sort of slipped into the background following development restarting in 2019 . Now Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here as a Switch and Switch 2 game. And yes, to assuage any fears, it’s absolutely entertaining. Even the Metroidvania-style psychic upgrades feel like a perfect fit. However, even with the variety of biomes, psychic abilities, helpfulness of the Vi-O-La motorcycle, and new world of Viewros, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond often didn’t feel as new or exciting as I expected and it takes quite some time to ramp things up. I don’t think this new entry hits the heights of the original Metroid Prime trilogy, but it is still a good time. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond begins with a crisis. The Galactic Federation UTO Research Center is being assaulted by Sylux and his space pirates for an unknown reason, and Samus Aran is called in as support. After defeating Aberax and seeing Sylux appear, an artifact at the station is hit. Samus awakes on unknown planet named Viewros, which is filled with ruins of the Lamorn situation. She’s told she’s a chosen one they waited for and will need to collect keys from locations like Fury Green, Volt Forge, Flare Pool, and Ice Belt to leave. However, while the Lamorn are gone, the planet is far from uninhabited. There are hostile native lifeforms, such as animals and beings known as Grievers, left behind robots that won’t hesitate to attack, and even others teleported by the artifact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mBR0H1F5hs While there is a point to Samus’ latest adventure, story isn’t the most in-your-face element of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond . It is there. But some of the narrative comes from incidental elements. Overheard conversations from Galactic Federation officers at Tanamaar’s UTO Research Center help shape things. Insights from Lamorn priests’ messages we encounter and scanned remnants of their civilization on Viewros can be pulled together to figure out their history. Commentary from folks like Galactic Federation members Myles MacKenzie, Nora Armstrong, and Ezra Duke sometimes makes him feel like both sidekicks and narrators, with Myles especially coming up a bit. However, I felt that input and "conversations" with characters makes the fact that Samus is such a silent sort of protagonist stand out in a negative way. I don’t think these additional characters are a bad addition, and I even appreciated their insights and intel. The fact they will often say things that would merit some sort of response, and Samus says nothing, feels awkward. I’m also glad we finally got more insight into what’s going on with Sylux. He’s been a looming, mysterious figure in the Metroid series since 2006! However, maybe because it did take almost 20 years, I also felt a bit of a “well, that happened” reaction. Others may feel differently! I almost wished the pacing had been adjusted a bit to somehow feature more of him, though he is featured prominently. I think in my case, there was all this build-up to him being properly featured as an antagonist, so it was difficult for the final result to meet the hype and theories I had over the years and as I played. Images via Nintendo As for gameplay, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond follows in the footsteps of the previous entries, with players inside Samus’ suit for an FPS with occasional platforming elements. There’s no hiding behind cover here. You dodge, jump, turn into a Morph Ball, and hope for the best. The default essentially involves her locking on to an enemy with the press of a trigger, but it is possible to use mouse mode, the joystick, or the gyroscope for free aiming. As with every entry, she’ll also acquire new technologies that enable different sorts of attacks or profession methods, in this case in the form of psychic abilities. These aren't limited to being used in boss fights, with some standard enemies and foes I sort of considered "minibosses" making good use of them. There are also ample opportunities to use the Morph Ball outside of a means of “ducking” in battle, as it is used for getting to certain areas, dropping bombs, and triggering certain switches. Platforming is also an element, with Samus dodging elements like electrical currents or fire and scaling platforms to reach higher locations. Speaking of which, the psychic abilities in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are often exceptional and my favorite part of the game. Almost immediately after getting to Viewros, Samus starts gaining access to these new abilities. Some are as simple as a visor scanning augment and a psychic glove for manipulating the energies and specific environmental objects. However, another early example is a Control Beam that lets you fire a charged psychic shot and then direct it to reach a certain place. Time is “paused” while this happens, allowing you to solve puzzles that involve hitting multiple triggers at once or bosses with multiple nodes that need to be hit. Another eventually makes use of the Morph Ball Psychic Bomb, as you can charge up when you lay one, then use the glove to grab it and throw it at a particular target. Some of these elements can involve traversal, such as only being able to use certain platforms if Samus’ armor is properly augmented with the boots to stand on them. While I sometimes didn't feel like some locations offered a lot of excuses to go back with psychic abilities acquired later, I could see spots in locales like Fury Green or Volt Forge that hinted at what abilities would come up next. The only downside to it is the time and precision sometimes needed to use them and energy limitations associated with them. An example is that the Control Beam "charge" can take some time to use, and there are a few opponents who need that type of attack to become prone, but strike swift enough to keep me from building it up. Images via Nintendo As for those early areas, they’re honestly quite straightforward and even simple. I never felt like any of the puzzles in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond were exceptionally challenging, but those two locations especially feel like they lacked any real thought when it comes to the tasks that involve using your brain to figure out how to use psychic skills to keep moving forward. Certain types of triggers are pretty obvious after their initial introduction, and I never found myself wondering what I needed to do next to keep making meaningful progress. It almost feels like there's a bit of a pacing issue in general, with the early areas feeling a little simple and, while I don't want to say too much for sake of spoilers, later plot beats also feel like they don't move at a steady, natural clip. Said early areas also aren’t all that dangerous, though things do start to ramp up once you hit the second part of Volt Forge. The only emotion these, and a handful of later spots, inspired in me were curiosity. While there are a few altercations, both the forest and the factory feel more like they’re about establishing ambiance and showcasing different elements of Viewros than making it feel like Samus is ever in any actual danger. Sure, in Volt Forge I did get ganged up on occasionally, but I felt like it takes time for real threats and a sense of pressure to build up. Both spots look and sound great, as do many others that Nintendo mentioned before or that would be spoilers. I especially loved the use of the Morph Ball and how it starts to feel even more meaningful in Volt Forge and beyond. The insights that came from scanning everything in that factory and Ice Belt are interesting too, though I did sort of feel like I did more scanning and lore acquisition in the original trilogy. Likewise, Sol Forge can feel more like a means of connecting locations than a fascinating overworld space. Maybe this will sound silly, but it almost reminded me of running around Gran Pulse toward the end of Final Fantasy XIII ? It looks interesting and sometimes there will be an enemy encounter or thing to get, but there’s really not much to do there compared to the main biomes. Images via Nintendo The introduction of the Vi-O-La motorcycle ends up feeling practical, and I loved the way in which Retro introduced it in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond . Once we gain access to it, there are times when we use it to explore the planet or sometimes briefly in locations. It can even be summoned The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom style with a press of a button, though Samus isn’t really “whistling” like Link does to make it show up. It helps emphasize the idea of exploring and traveling across a planet, and I found it did make it easier to reach outcroppings of the green crystals I’d need to collect when going between locations. The counter-attacking feels much more natural than I expected too, which I appreciated! But again, it feels like a means of getting to certain places faster and to establish ambiance. While some spots early in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond can make it feel like I’m supposed to take in the scenery, explore, and appreciate what I’m learning about the location more than thinking or fighting, I will say the boss fights all feel really fantastic. While Aberax feels a tutorial fight for her different types of attacks, charges, Morph Ball dodges, and jumps, it also is well-designed and makes you think about her movements. Ones that come up later can incorporate different psychic abilities, building on what we’ve done in our journey to gain access to areas and flip switches. This is on top of them often looking visually impressive. They can combine platforming, using psychic abilities like the Control Beam, and pattern recognition to successfully understand what the foes are doing and how you can use your techniques effectively. I found the fights after Volt Forge most interesting mechanically and challenging, with difficulty scaling in a satisfactory way. In fact, there's one fight in the second tower there that really made me think about how clever it was and what order in which to take steps to defeat it. Images via Nintendo I played Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the Switch 2, and I felt like the extra features were most impressive when playing the game docked and dealing with either large numbers of enemies or bosses. Performance Mode is perfect for that, as it absolutely hit 120fps and felt so smooth. It was almost jarring how seamless it all looked. (It was so sharp and responsive that in certain locations with certain types of enemies, like two situations in Volt Forge, Performance Mode strained my eyes a bit. But I do have a minor vision impairment in one eye that can occasionally exacerbate that in FPS games and third-person shooters.) Pair that with using mouse mode for boss fights or situations when the Control Beam could be best approach, and it feels so fantastic. I will say to be careful about your finger slipping over the mouse sensor if you change positions though, as sometimes mine could get in the way of the sensor. Quality Mode is is also great, and I found I appreciated it most while in places where there were a lot of different colors or environmental details to take in like Fury Green, Sol Valley, or Flare Pool. I think I’d say I preferred playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in Quality Mode in Handheld mode on the Switch 2 for exploration, then dropping it into the dock for boss fights with mouse controls. I love how Metroid Prime 4: Beyond looks and plays, but it sometimes doesn’t feel as narratively satisfying or mentally stimulating as the original trilogy. Psychic abilities feel fantastic. The Switch 2 mouse controls are a great option for fights. Finally, my curiosity about Sylux isn’t eating away at me. I’m glad Retro Studios and Nintendo finally finished it! But its story didn’t hit in the same way the Metroid Prime trilogy did and I didn’t feel tested by its puzzles. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will come to the Switch and Switch 2 on December 4, 2025 . The post Review: Metroid Prime 4 Feels Exactly How I Expected appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraDec 2

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review – Welcome back, Samus Just over seven years since it was first revealed as a Nintendo Switch game, Samus Aran's latest adventure is finally here, with a suped-up Switch 2 version to boot. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the bounty hunter's latest first-person adventure, and it sets a new benchmark for visuals on the new console. While the experience is pretty enjoyable from beginning to end, it's far from the best Metroid title, and it's not even the best Metroid Prime sub-series game, either. It's still worth your time and attention, however, and is a worthy new entry in the decades-old series. A new frontier Screenshot by Destructoid Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like a fresh start for the franchise, which makes sense since the last title Metroid Prime 3: Corruption launched for the Wii way back in 2007. The gameplay is immediately familiar, which is both a good and bad thing because it remains true to the series, but feels like it lacks the punch that FPS gamers in 2025 are accustomed to. In Samus's adventure on the mysterious planet Viewros, where she and some Galactic Federation troopers got stranded in a weird teleportation disaster, the game remains true to the franchise's formula. Samus loses her abilities and must work to gain them back, often having to backtrack and return to previous areas to access places she couldn't prior to getting a new ability. It's Metroid , but in first-person. Unfortunately, the combat gameplay itself feels lackluster in comparison to its other segments. Samus's arm cannon feels like it lacks any sort of impact (some more audio or visual feedback would help), making it feel like you're shooting marshmallows at the variety of flora and fauna across Viewros. The shooting itself feels floaty and unimpactful, and nowhere near how it should feel for a high-powered bounty hunter with a massive blaster on her arm. The bulk of the game also lacks any real challenge on its base normal difficulty (only Normal and Easy are available from the start), making the standard enemies and battles you do come across feel uneventful and unimportant. Screenshot by Destructoid Boss fights, however, are where Metroid Prime 4 shines. Using Samus's powered-up abilities like missiles, a psychic grapple, elemental salvo blasts, and figuring out which skill to use to take big bads down so you can continue on your journey is the best part of the game's FPS combat. These moments are few and far between, though, as you’re mostly tasked with dispatching smaller and very non-threatening enemies while traveling between areas and figuring out what to do next. Thankfully, the combat portions are split up with some trademark light puzzle-solving and a new feature—the open-world exploration in the motorcycle-like VI-O-LA vehicle, which is integral to navigation of Viewros. The large Sol Valley desert acts as a hub when traveling to and from the game's varied locations, and while it doesn't have much to do in it outside of gathering resources or fighting minor enemies while traveling between areas, riding around on the bike is a blast. Samus also uses her newfound psychic abilities in combination with her combat visor to scan anything and everything in the environment to learn more about her surroundings, use telekinesis-like abilities, and unlock new skills that the bounty hunter normally wouldn't be able to utilize. In spite of its myriad faults, the game is still very fun to play, and I enjoyed my 11.5 hours with it on my first playthrough. It's a gorgeous Switch 2 title, and it runs flawlessly in docked (4K/60 FPS or 1080p/120 FPS) or handheld (1080p/60 FPS or 720p/120 FPS) modes, making it feel like joyous eye candy throughout. Screenshot by Destructoid Exploration and discovery, puzzle elements, and boss battles save the day from the monotonous gameplay moments in-between, where there's nary a challenge to be had until Hard Mode is unlocked upon first completion. Before the final boss battle, I died just two or three times in my playthrough, which is likely meant to be an accessibility thing more than anything else, but it still left me feeling wanting when it comes to keeping the shooter gameplay engaging, especially since you can't increase the difficulty until you finish the game once. In that same vein, there are multiple control schemes to play with, including JoyCon mouse controls and Wii-like gyroscopic aiming. Both are decent options that provide unique opportunities in play style, but I still found the classic Pro Controller to be my favorite method. Mystery vs. history Screenshot by Destructoid In Beyond , the story events have very little connection to previous games in the series, which makes it accessible to newcomers and also feels like an entirely new arc. Samus plays the silent protagonist yet again, and the villainous Sylux (returning from the spin-off game Metroid Prime: Hunters on the Nintendo DS) shows up with Metroids in tow, but he's a vastly underutilized presence throughout the game's story after being the catalyst of its events. The bulk of Metroid Prime 4 feels like a setup for a new trilogy, with the focus taken off Samus and Sylux and put instead on the mysterious ancient Lamorn alien race and Galactic Federation troopers Samus meets along the way. This makes the narrative quite hit-or-miss. Unraveling the mystery of the Lamorn and what happened on Viewros is the story's main pull. Samus has been designated as their "Chosen One" to help spread their knowledge and history throughout the cosmos, and reading lore entries found throughout the world helps unravel the backstory of what happened to the Lamorn. The last remaining members of the race have gifted Samus with their psychic abilities so that she can carry out their will, and she does so with little resistance. Several Galactic Federation troopers are spread around Viewros, and Samus meets up with them on her adventure. They begin to gather at a central base of sorts as they figure out how to get back home. The characters are pretty stereotypical soldier types—the nerdy engineer, the grizzled veteran, the wide-eyed rookie, etc.—but they each bring some levity and humanity to Samus's stoic silence. They help out with upgrading Samus's suit and abilities and eventually form a team to save the day together, and I found them to be a nice addition to the game overall. Screenshot by Destructoid They do, however, have a nasty habit of backseat gaming and spelling things out for you before you even have time to figure things out on your own. This was a worry of some after a preview event in early November that I also attended, and it ended up being justified. Whether you're in combat missions with them or they're chiming in with support over radio comms (thankfully, a rare occurrence), they can't help but spell things out for you if you take too long trying to discern it for yourself. When the game's events come to an abrupt end, you're left with the choice of starting New Game Plus and resetting all of your Scan and Item progress, which is unfortunate because unlocking a major flashback cutscene in the gallery requires 100 percent completion (or a $30 Amiibo). The point of no return is quite obvious, though, so if you want to get everything the game has to offer, make sure to scan every single thing you come across and gather every power-up item before heading to the end mission. There's a memorable part in the game where Samus first meets one of her NPC cohorts, who asks her to identify herself. She then steps into the light, and they know immediately who she is. She's a legend. Her reputation precedes her. She is that girl. That's kind of how Metroid Prime 4 feels, in a way. Samus shows up and does badass stuff without saying a word, and that's enough to make the experience worth it. Screenshot by Destructoid But sadly, I can't help but feel like it could have been so much more, even if the game is meant to be a bit of a cliffhanger experience and jumping-off point for whatever comes next. The post Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review – Welcome back, Samus appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidDec 2

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review - Prime, But Not Quite Prime PrimeMetroid Prime 4: Beyond opens upon a massive battle as Samus comes to the aid of Federation troops. The action-packed sci-fi spectacle wouldn't be out of place in a Halo game, signaling a very different take on the Metroid series. But while it accurately signals some degree of departure from traditional Metroid Prime games--particularly with a greater emphasis on interactions with Federation characters and combat--the vast majority of Prime 4 is a well-crafted sequel that delivers on what Prime does best. The result is a satisfying long-awaited return that is excellent at capturing the Prime fundamentals, but hit-or-miss when it experiments with new ideas. The massive battle that serves as the opening tutorial is between the Federation and a loose assemblage of Space Pirates, under the leadership of Sylux--a rival of protagonist Samus Aran who has been seen before, but not featured so prominently. Sylux is controlling Metroids somehow, but for the moment, the Federation's main concern is securing an ancient artifact before it's taken by Sylux's forces. When things go extremely wrong in that mission, the artifact transports Samus to Viewros--a dying planet whose sentient beings, the Lamorn, passed away untold years ago. Samus quickly finds a Psychic Crystal that imbues her with the ability to interface with Lamorn technology. It becomes apparent that Samus isn't alone--Sylux appears to have been transported here too, along with pieces of Federation tech and personnel. You're all trapped on this dying rock together, unless you find a way out. However, recordings reveal that the Lamorn see the bearer of the Psychic Crystal as a "Chosen One," a savior for their people, in a sense. It's too late to rescue the Lamorn, but they wish to preserve their history and culture, and so they've prepared a Memory Fruit for the Chosen One to carry off-planet with the aid of their Master Teleporter. This aspect of the story is appropriately melancholic: You can't save the Lamorn people, but you can preserve what mattered most to them. So your mission is twofold: Carry the Memory Fruit to another world, and in doing so, get access to their teleporting technology that can save you and the other stranded Federation troops. Commence video game adventure. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsDec 2

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review - Worth The Wait Reviewed on: Switch 2 Platform: Switch 2, Switch Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Retro Studios Video games are my favorite medium of artistic expression because they allow you to explore and exist in fully realized worlds. The Metroid franchise persists and is important to longtime game fans because it was an early touch-point for this kind of interactive experience. From its beginning, Metroid excelled at making you feel like you were in a science-fiction world that you were exploring at your own pace. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond maintains the high standard set by previous games in the series with incredible atmosphere and subtle touches that make the planet of Viewros look and sound real, but it is not without a handful of annoyances that hinder the immersion.   For the fourth entry in the Prime sub-series, Samus finds herself at the service of the Lamorn, an ancient race of aliens that are not the Chozo, but are certainly similar. She is the prophesied warrior that will help them recover, and that means exploring a large desert flanked by a handful of fascinating locations each housing upgrades and teleportation keys. There are perhaps Nintendo games with more striking art direction, but Metroid Prime 4, with the support of Switch 2, is arguably the best-looking game the publisher has ever released. The industrial settings glow with impressive lighting and effects, and looking out into the natural environment is stunning. Developer Retro Studios is an expert at setting a lonely, alien mood and I was always enamored by the impressive mechanical animations of all the otherworldly hardware. My favorite location, the floating motorcycle factory energized by perpetual lightning storms, feels genuinely dangerous and scary. I was less enthused by locations like the snowy laboratory or the bland mines, but moving through them all is exciting and rewarding. The first-person action gameplay is familiar to previous Prime games and feels good. Samus' new psychic powers don’t radically change the fun lock-on, shooter gameplay, but I enjoyed remote controlling the Control Beam at opportune times in boss fights and to solve puzzles. The pacing and unfolding of each location are immaculately designed, funneling you toward objectives while consistently planting seeds that make you want to return later with expanded abilities. The desert hub area where Samus drives her motorcycle between objectives is the perfect size: Big enough that the motorcycle feels necessary, but not so big that you are ever driving for too long. A recurring task assigned to Samus throughout the game in the desert is collecting green crystal energy. I enjoyed ping-ponging between the crystals and running over them with my motorcycle, but didn’t love that I hit an end-game roadblock where I had not collected enough to proceed and had to spend time growing my bank before I could pursue the finale. And it is in the finale where I hit most of my road bumps. Narratively, the conclusion is underwhelming, and the story lead-up isn’t particularly compelling either. The small cast of Federation soldiers Samus encounters is generally charming and stays out of your way after their introduction. I was grateful I could call them when I wasn’t sure where to go, but they become burdens when they enter the action. Instead of being grateful for their help, I was annoyed that they would trigger game overs when I didn’t revive them fast enough. Thankfully, instances of their “help” in combat are rare. The vast majority of the game is spent in lonely silence. Perhaps most disappointing, however, is the inability to re-enter your save before the point of no return after beating the game. I adore mopping up all the power-ups and turning over every last stone after seeing credits in this genre, but unless you create a back-up before the final area (something the game does not encourage you to do), your only way to collect what you may have missed is to restart, which I did on the unlocked hard difficulty, but I was not happy about it. My annoyances with Beyond are vastly overshadowed by a pristine, rock-solid science-fiction exploration experience. Discovering all Viewros has to offer is incredibly rewarding and delivers an unmatched sense of alien ambiance. The wait for a new Metroid Prime has been long, but it only takes a few minutes in Beyond to remember why we have been so eager to re-enter this universe for the past 18 years. Score: 8.75 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsDec 2

Marvel Cosmic Invasion review – Super short but sweet, beautiful nostalgia As someone who grew up on Marvel beat-em-ups like Captain America and The Avengers and Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage , I was immediately enamored with the latest title from Tribute Games when I first saw it announced and in action. Marvel Cosmic Invasion elicits the same nostalgic joy from those titles, featuring a retro art style and a fun roster of playable heroes, but I just wish the excitement lasted longer and had a bit more to do in its package. Assemble Image via Dotemu The biggest draw for Marvel Cosmic Invasion is its IP. Similarly to how Tribute Games ratcheted up the retro arcade nostalgia with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge , the star of the game is its established characters and world. The side-scroller features a fun roster of Marvel mainstays (Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Storm) and some lesser-known heroes (Nova, Phyla-Vell, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Beta Ray Bill) teaming up to battle against Annihilus and his army of bugs as the cosmic villain takes center stage as an antagonist. In each stage, you choose two heroes to play as and then can combine them and their skills using basic attacks, special attacks, and fighting game-like assists to clear the screen of enemies. It's fun, simple, and satisfying to pull off massive combos and defeat the variety of Marvel goons that are sent your way. The heroes all have their own distinct feel and abilities, and each is exciting in their own way. Storm uses wind and lightning to blast foes, Spider-Man can web-swing kick the crowd, Silver Surfer uses his surfboard to glide around, and Wolverine dashes and slashes through enemy waves. Other than the characters having specific moves, the main separator is that several characters on the roster can fly, making them better for handling certain enemy types. Heroes like Storm, Nova, Phyla-Vell, and Iron Man can dominate the top half of the screen because of this, and I found them to be more fun to play in most instances. The game can be played in co-op for up to four players, meaning you can feasibly have eight Marvel heroes on the screen at once if everyone is calling in an assist or super ability at once, turning it into a wild sight and good time for a group of friends. Using different combos of heroes is exciting and representative of the IP it's based on, enhanced by a good soundtrack and several familiar iconic voice actors like Steve Blum and Josh Keaton. In addition to the heroes, the story mode features familiar locations and several iconic Marvel villains to battle (or team up with), including Thanos, Galactus, Venom, and Hela, making it a worthy journey for fans of the comics, movies, or games that Marvel has amassed over the past few decades. There are even several easter eggs, including characters and locations for eagle-eyed fans to spot and seek out on each stage. But not for long Image via Dotemu Marvel Cosmic Invasion is fun to play, but it is a disappointingly short game. The main story can be cleared in 3-4 hours, and then replayability from there focuses on leveling up and playing as different characters to complete mission-specific objectives. Completionists will likely achieve everything in under 20 hours. These objectives are basic, like using a certain hero to defeat the mission's boss in lore-accurate ways or using a hero's special attack to defeat a number of enemies. Completing these unlocks minor additions like hero palette swaps, arcade mode modifiers, and music tracks, so outside of the achievements/trophies, there isn't all that much to grind for. Arcade mode is the classic style you would've found in the almost-extinct setting of a bunch of game machines lined up waiting to be filled up with your quarters, and the aforementioned modifiers can add or remove challenges based on how you want to play. It's worth playing through the story multiple times to fully level up each hero and finish the challenges within, but beyond that, there's just not a ton of content to dive into. Several events and minor mentions throughout the story seem to be setting up a future DLC expansion, which lines up with how Tribute Games added post-launch content for TMNT: Shredder's Revenge . I wish the day one package felt beefier, but the game is fun enough that I am looking forward to whatever comes next. I love the concept of Marvel Cosmic Invasion . I'm a lifelong Marvel fan and I love this style of gameplay, but I just wish there was more to the game than what it currently holds within. The post Marvel Cosmic Invasion review – Super short but sweet, beautiful nostalgia appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidDec 1

Marvel Cosmic Invasion ReviewGood enough to get your Avengers assembled on a lazy Sunday.

IGN PC ReviewsDec 1

Review: Marvel Cosmic Invasion Is a Great Brawler for Marvel Fans Marvel Cosmic Invasion presents a problem for me. I’ve never been a Marvel fan, but I am a fan of retro brawlers. Especially when those brawlers are coming from Dotemu, the publishers of both Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge , which are some of my favorite games of the last few years. So with that talent in place, could they potentially win me over to liking superheroes? If you’ve played those Dotemu games, or indeed any brawler, you already know what’s happening here. If not, this is a side-scrolling brawler, where you take control of Marvel superheroes and walk through a 2D space (with some vertical movement) beating up an army of enemies that try and stop you. There are fifteen heroes to choose from, from popular names like Spider-Man and Captain America to obscure picks like Beta Ray Bill and Nova. Screenshot by Siliconera What makes Marvel Cosmic Invasion stand out from other games in the genre is the tag team feature the whole game is built around. Instead of picking one hero at the start of a stage, you pick two. In the stage, you can then switch between them at any time, including mid-combo, which can either trigger a team-up attack or allow for some satisfying juggling. It adds a lot of strategy to your combos, as timing it just right during one character’s finisher opens you up to let the incoming hero throw out theirs with little chance for enemies to respond. The combat feels as good as Dotemu’s other games. There’s a lot of similarities between this and Shredder’s Revenge on a fundamental level, which is good news. This is right down to the best part: the ability to endlessly build your combo meter by juggling enemies, even if they’re already KOed, as long as they never touch the ground. There’s some good variety between heroes too, with each one offering a unique moveset, weight and speed. Spidey has his webs and a swinging kick in the air. Wolverine has fast claw attacks. She-Hulk is a grappler. Captain America can throw his shield like a boomerang. Storm can fill the stage with lightning. You will almost certainly find at least one hero to suit your playstyle, with Wolverine, She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon being some of my standouts. Especially the latter, who’s the only character whose basic attack is long range and can lay mines with his dash attack. Screenshot by Siliconera Where Marvel Cosmic Invasion falls down is in its strange balance. It has a leveling system, similar to other recent games in the genre, where characters hit harder and gain more HP as they level up. Stages are balanced around this system, with enemies getting more powerful as you progress. If you’re the kind of player who’s just going to pick your two favorites and play the whole game with them, you won’t notice much wrong as they’ll level up with the stages. The problem is, the game doesn’t present this as the ideal experience. Instead, the game seemingly expects you to swap between the “intended” heroes for each stage. These heroes are highlighting on the character select screen at the start of a stage, in the story scenes before and after the action and mandated to complete the stage’s optional challenges. But if you swap around, each hero will eventually feel underleveled for the stage as enemies stomp you. It’s a strange choice to signpost this as the suggested way to play. Screenshot by Siliconera But the real question is, did Marvel Cosmic Invasion manage to win over someone with no interest in Marvel? Not really, as I found its story to be completely incomprehensible. The wider plot is that Annihilus is invading Earth with his bug enemies, but each stage features its own story focused on a different supervillain. It’s mainly an excuse to shove as many characters in as possible, but no one is properly introduced. as someone who doesn’t recognise anyone outside the MCU (which I’m mostly aware of against my will), the experience felt disjointed. Naturally, this is a me problem, and it’s possible that Marvel diehards will delight in the breadth of its villains, but it does limit its appeal. Ultimately, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a solid brawler that continues Dotemu’s streak of great games. If you’re a hardcore Marvel fan, add a point to the score, since you’ll have a great time, but if you’re like me and have never found these heroes particularly compelling, this won’t change your mind. The post Review: Marvel Cosmic Invasion Is a Great Brawler for Marvel Fans appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraDec 1

Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review - It's Marvel, BabyTribute Games clearly believes in the power of nostalgia. Its last project, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, brought the heroes in a half shell back to their 2D side-scrolling roots, to critical acclaim, while the rest of the company's portfolio is marked with games steeped in a retro look and feel. Now, Tribute is trying it again with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a beat-'em-up featuring Marvel superheroes, and the results are similarly great, as Cosmic Invasion earns its place alongside the top retro brawlers of the modern era, thanks to both a solid roster of playable heroes and a few influences from other parts of Marvel's gaming history. Marvel Cosmic Invasion drops its all-star cast of heroes into a galactic battle against Annihilus, who is using an army of parasitic bugs to take over the universe. Campaign mode plays out across over a dozen locations in the Marvel multiverse, including the Savage Land, Genosha, Wakanda, and more, with a rogues' gallery of villains leading up to the final battle with Annihilus. The campaign unfolds across 16 stages, each of them ending with a unique boss. Meanwhile, the Arcade mode streamlines the same story to 12 stages, with a few allowing you to choose between two locations. A full run only took me about three hours to complete on Normal difficulty. Stages are mostly side-scrolling, and while a few curveballs with vertical sequences or unique stage hazards appear once in a while, the stage design doesn't stray far from a classic side-scroller. As such, eventually the sight of the same locations and enemies begins to wear thin, rendering the entire experience a bit shallow. There are unique collectibles to find and challenges to complete in each stage, as well as modifiers in Arcade mode--like increased health and speed for enemies, or super attacks costing health instead of focus--to add a bit of flair to each run, but each stage's fundamental structure, from visual designs to voice-acting cues, stays the same every time. Continue Reading at GameSpot

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