Marvel Super Hero Squad

System: Wii
Developer: Blue Tongue
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Beat 'Em Up
Players: 4

You've seen the toys. Your favourite Marvel super heroes, squished into cutesy versions of themselves. You've been tempted to buy them, haven't you? Yeah. You know who you are. I see that sheepish look on your face. Baaaa... Take those toys, throw them into a blender, throw Super Smash Bros. in the mix and flip the switch. That's what Marvel Super Hero Squad is all about. Blue Tongue, the studio that brought us the immensely enjoyable de Blob, have dipped their toe into the lucrative Marvel franchise, and this is the result.

Just like Super Smash Bros., this game has two modes: a Battle mode and an Story mode. And like it's cousin, you have a range of characters to play. You have the good guys; Captain America, Ironman, Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, The Hulk and Ms. Marvel just to name a few. And then come the baddies; Dr. Doom, The Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Abomination, Magneto, Mole Man and more. You have over 20 characters to play. More than enough to get your Marvel fix. Each character has their own set of special abilities. Characters like Ms. Marvel and Ironman can fly, Nightcrawler teleports, The Hulk and The Juggernaut can deliver more damage and Wolverine's health regenerates, albeit slowly.


All characters are drawn in a similar cutesy fashion, and drawn very well, I might add. The game itself looks good... but of course, looks can be horribly, horribly deceiving.

Let me start with the good. Battle Mode does many things right. Just like Super Smash Bros., you can have up to four players in a match, but unlike Super Smash Bros., the entire arena can be navigated in a 3D space. For example, you can lock onto an opponent, run circles around him while hitting him with a ranged shot. Cheap, I know, but effective. Like any good brawler, each arena has its own set of hazards you have to avoid or even use against your opponents. You have random power-ups that appear every now and again, but you don't get a large variety.

The controls are a little bit of a let down. You can only use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo with no option to use the Classic Controller. The A button and B trigger are used for your two basic attacks, one for melee and one for ranged. To execute special moves, you have to use a combination of button presses and Remote waggling. Sure, this works, but if you're a technical fighter, this controller set up will not do. From what I played, this game was never intended to be studied the way such games like Super Smash Bros. or Street Fighter have been. This is a game for a group of friends to get together and just have fun.


Now on to the bad, also known as Story Mode. This mode is so, so, so far from polished, it is almost embarrassing. The look and feel for this mode is immediately cheapened by the lack of full motion video. The stories unfold through voice-acted slide shows. I might be nitpicking here. Surely this can be ignored. Sure, if you put it right next to the immensely dreadful camera work. Half the time, you will not be able to tell where the enemies are. Let me put it this way. This game is a platformer. Platformers have platforms that you jump to, thus the name. It would be swell if you could actually see where you are jumping to. The camera angles are so bad, what would normally take a split second may take you a good minute as you try and guess where you have to jump. You have as high a chance of getting a jump right the first time as you have playing with your eyes closed. You have such limited control over the camera that it is hardly even worth mentioning. The camera completely destroys Story Mode, thus killing half the game.


Score: 4/10 - "Avoid"
Quite simply, this was just not a full game. You have been promised 2 modes. One which plays nicely, and the other that is nigh unplayable. If you, like me, am a massive Marvel fan, you could potentially look past these massive flaws and still have a reasonably pleasant time with it. Whether you would want to pay full price for it is another matter. For everyone else, do not be fooled by its cutesy charm. Stay away from this one.

Review by Justin Remedios (flaminglemon)