I expected a lot from this game-I really did. But before I got it, I read the reviews, and people said it was pretty lame. Well, I decided to try it regardless, because I wanted to play as Spider Man and Venom in a beat-‘em-up game. I got what I wanted … but I also got screwed over.

You need to play through the pathetic single-player ‘story mode' so you can get the characters. The so-called story mode consists of playing a few levels with a character. In these, you beat up Imperfect goons, which is rather boring. Then, you play a boss fight, as a ‘possessed' Marvel guy, or an Imperfect. You kill the guy you just played as (i.e., I played as the Thing but then had to kill the Thing as an Imperfect). However, the boss fights are much better than the ‘regular' levels. Too bad it's like getting five mugs of hot beer for $20, then an excellent cold one for free. Just doesn't cut it.

The characters are somewhat varied. There are characters like the Thing or Venom, which are bigger and heavier guys. They can lift cars, which characters like Spider Man cannot. The ‘smaller' guys are divided into two groups: they are the melee and the shooters. By that I mean, a character like Wolverine goes and slashes you up, while a character such as Spider Man can shoot webs at you from far away. Some characters are big and shooters, such as Venom.

The story is pure garbage. These Imperfects were useless-a better story could be found in Tetris. Why couldn't we just get a game with a bunch of Marvel characters who beat the crap out of each other in a versus mode, leaving this story mode out? Oh, I forgot who the developer and publisher is.

The gameplay is pretty crummy; however, playing with a friend can be really fun once you wasted time in the repetitive and boring single player and unlocked some characters and levels. Destructible environments, though, are pretty cool.

The graphics are pretty good, but that doesn't make up for the crappy gameplay. Is this what we will get with next gen? Super-duper graphics, but horrible gameplay? Then no thanks. Anyways, the effects are great, as they are, so there is a positive aspect of the lukewarm beer called Marvel Nemesis.

The sound is pretty ‘meh' too. The voice acting is awful, cheesy, and doesn't really suit the characters. (Un)luckily, they only say stuff before the fight begins, but those are total clichés that don't sound right. The music is just okay-nothing special.

Guys, don't bother with this. EA messed up another potentially good game and made it worse than many of the crappy games this year. Get it only IF you get someone's saves, so you have everything unlocked. (Note: If you want good comic book-based games, try Spider Man 2 for consoles, or even Batman Begins.) If I were to compare this to drinks, it's like a watered-down, cheap but overpriced beer. It's bad because it's cheap yet overpriced and watered down; but it's good because it's beer. For shame, this game could have been an excellent one-just like that beer.

Dec 27, 2005 | 3 comments
Mate Bors