Review- Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects

(Xbox, PS2, Gamecube; $49.99; Rated T for Blood/Suggestive Themes/Violence; eagames.com)

(three stars)

Continuing on the spandex-clad theme, third-party giant Electronic Arts takes a stab at latest fighting game starring the Marvel Super Heroes. Previously, our Heroes starred in a series of 2-D fighters from Capcom that popped with cartoonish style. Under EA’s command, the Marvels appear in 3-D with a dark, stylized look, compliments of comic super-artist Jae Lee.

Fighting genre purists will poo-poo the universal control scheme that simplifies attacking to a single button. Likewise, single buttons are assigned for guard, jump, grab, and run; and a “super power” modifier button gives a power boost to any of the other buttons. This deviates substantially from traditional fighting games that require players to memorize hundreds of individual button combinations to execute character-specific moves.

The universal controls makes “Nemesis” an incredibly accessible game for anyone to pick up and play. Unlike traditional fighters that can intimidate novices because of their learning curves, New Meat only needs to take a few moments to orient themselves before whooping a ton of tail.

Admittedly, this means that games can be reduced to simple button mashing and an unskilled player can beat the tar out of a skilled, strategic player. But any game that is as easy to learn and fun enough to play to make my wife want to play video games against me is O.K. in my book.

“Nemesis” is built for one-on-one brawling. The single-player campaign is monotonous and, with the exception of boss battles, is reduced to a simple beat-‘em-up. The only real reason to play through the single-player game is to unlock new fighting characters. Most of your time will be better served on-, or offline in versus mode.

Multiple Marvel Heroes such as Wolverine, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Thing- as well as villains like Venom and Magneto- are available for unlocking and brawling. The EA-created characters, known as “The Imperfects,” are also available and are as equally skilled as the Marvels; but when there’s a chance to play as a known hero or as a generic villain- the choice is pretty clear. For every Imperfect, there’s an established hero or villain the Marvel universe with the same superpowers that would be more enjoyable to play with. Which only begs the question: Why wasn’t “Nemesis” made with only Marvel Heroes?

Another thing that bugs is the uncharacteristic finishing lines of dialogue after a fight. Both Spider-Man and The Thing use the word “ass,” which is not only completely inconsistent with the character’s history, but makes an otherwise perfect game for younger audiences, inaccessible for those with protective parents.

EA, for the inevitable follow-up: drop the Imperfects, bring in more (even obscure) Marvel characters, and try not to alienate your target audience.