Our review of Marvel Cosmic Invasion, developed by Tribute Games. Available now for PS4/5 (Reviewed), Switch/Switch 2 (Reviewed), Linux, Windows, and Xbox X/S.
WHAT IS IT?
A retro side-scrolling beat-em-up, à la Final Fight – or, to be more precise, X-Men Arcade.
IS IT GOOD?
It’s the best beat-em-up since Streets of Rage 4.
WHO SHOULD PLAY IT?
Blaze Fielding, Billy and Jimmy, Mayor Haggar. My buddy Matt.
BLUE BLAZES
Face front, true believers, this one’s for you.
Long-time Marvel Zombies will no doubt recall, and look fondly upon, the Marvel arcade era, when the fabled House of Ideas could be counted upon for everything from hyperkinetic Street Fighter-style fighting games to quarter-munching six-player beat-em-ups featuring a who’s-who of mutantdom.
Tribute Games, the widely admired, Montreal-based developers behind Marvel Cosmic Invasion – and before it, the wonderful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – are clearly veterans of that era, pouring their love of Marvel and these arcade classics into this, their latest, best, effort.
A four-player, drop-in/drop-out co-op beat-em-up with a refreshingly non-MCU slant, it’s a fantastic, just-in-time-for-the-holidays, action game worth checking out for any fan of Marvel, superheroes, or plain ole arcade fun.
THE HUMAN ROCKET
(Very) loosely inspired by the legendary Annihilation miniseries from 2006, Marvel Cosmic Invasion puts players in the spandex and superpowered armor of a diverse roster of fifteen heroes (and some villains!), teaming up to defend the galaxy from Negative Zone warlord (and nominal Fantastic Four foe) Annihilus. Annihilus, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1968, is one of the great underused cosmic villains, a diabolically evil green-and-purple super-insect, given new life in the pages of Dan Abnett’s and Andy Lanning’s Annihilation, the series which also rejuvenated the comic book career of former teen hero Nova. (Incidentally, Annihilation also planted the seeds for what would become the MCU Guardians of the Galaxy.)
When Marvel Cosmic Invasion begins, Annihilus’s attack is well underway, his Annihilation Wave having already conquered several planets en route to invading Earth. Aided by an army of insectoid aliens, as well as numerous brand name characters bent to his will – courtesy a kind of mind control which awfully resembles the xenomorph life cycle – Annihilus is on the verge of victory, with only fifteen characters, and fifteen stages, to stop him.
Gameplay is standard beat-em-up, with sprite-based characters pressing ever forward, left to right, top to bottom, across a series of themed stages – New York City, the Savage Land, etc.
In addition to standard jump and melee attacks, each character has a dedicated special (often, though not exclusively, a projectile, as in Spider-Man’s web attack or Rocket Raccoon’s grenades) as well as a screen-clearing super move. Some characters – Nova, Iron Man, several others – are also capable of flight, and it’s usually a good idea to take at least one flyer with you into each mission.
About that: Cosmic Invasion’s niftiest feature is that each player actually chooses two, swappable, characters per level. Clearly inspired by the tag team mechanic in Marvel vs. Capcom, this allows for fun combos as you “summon” your alternate character to, say, interrupt an enemy attack, or swap them out entirely to tackle a particular challenge with their skill-set. I love the opportunities this affords, each stage a chance to try out new team-ups, like pairing the formerly married Black Panther and Storm, or joining “horse Thor” Beta Ray Bill (he’s awesome) with fellow cosmic stalwart Nova.
Happily, the game does not restrict who you can take into any level, though it encourages you, through certain character-specific challenges, to prefer particular characters in particular stages. In a game with easily replayable 8-10 minute levels and plentiful unlockables, that’s an easy and inviting prospect.
BERSERKER BARRAGE
Also great is the attention to detail which has gone into this game.
Designs are heavily inspired by – if not directly lifted from – Marvel arcade classics, with certain enemies (case in point: the wonderfully retro Sentinels), and even specific character animations looking like they’ve been ported over from an arcade cabinet. Even the fact that Wolverine’s default costume is the brown-and-yellow from X-Men Arcade says a lot about Tribute’s approach.
As do the excellent casting choices, ranging from Toronto’s own Cal Dodd (Wolverine) and Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm) reprising their roles from the X-Men cartoon, to a surfeit of familiar voices with long-running Marvel associations, including Brian Bloom (Captain America in animation and video games since the 2010s), Josh Keaton (the longest-serving Spider-Man, though he’ll always be Young Ocelot to me), and Isaac Singleton Jr. (the voice of digital Thanos since at least 2015).
Cosmic Invasion is also overflowing with cameos, easter eggs, and references only the most diehard Marvel fan will appreciate. Background details feature familiar names and faces. Certain in-game achievements (typically formulated as “Accomplish X Task by Y Character”) are deep-cut references to comic book lore. Nova, the game’s de facto lead, gets to shout “Blue Blazes!” and “Time for a New Warrior”, referencing his time with the largely forgotten ’90s teen hero team New Warriors, which also featured such cult-beloved heroes as Speedball, Scarlet Spider, and Darkhawk.
WELCOME TO DIE
Marvel Cosmic Invasion isn’t perfect, though there’s hardly much to criticize.
It’s not exactly original – even the tag team concept is just a variant of what you could do in the LEGO Marvel games – and it would’ve been nice if a few more levels shook up the formula, like the standout Asgard level which takes place on a parallax-scrolling Rainbow Bridge.
Characters don’t differentiate from one another enough to make a marked difference, meaning it’s easy enough to stick to a handful of favourites. (Though you should, as a rule, mix things up just because it’s the only way to upgrade each character’s HP and skills.) A few of the boss fights can be cheap, in two competing senses: sometimes, a boss (typically a well-known villain or brainwashed superhero) is so overpowered they can be annoying to deal with; other times, bosses can be easily exploited or brute-forced, especially if you’re playing in co-op.
And though not nearly as beholden to the MCU as, say, Eidos-Montreal’s Guardians of the Galaxy game, the unwelcome influence of corporate synergy still bleeds through, for instance in the game’s inclusion of the godawful Cosmic Ghost Rider character (he’s Frank Castle, the Punisher from the future, don’t ask), who Marvel has unfortunately been trying to make happen since his comic book debut in 2018.
The lack of any Fantastic Four members also seems a big mistake, given Annihilus’s heritage and this year’s best superhero movie. Also, I hate the fact that Cosmic Invasion lacks a post-credits scene. Come on, it’s a Marvel tradition!
Minor concerns aside, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a welcome addition to the ever-growing stable of retro beat-em-ups, benefitting not merely from nostalgia but from meaningful gameplay choices and a design which makes things fun even for those who’ve never grasped a sweaty, pizza-stained arcade joystick, or spent a hundred quarters trying to defeat Magneto, Master of Magnet.
I’m still holding out hope for some DLC characters – Mr. Fantastic? Darkhawk? Paste Pot Pete? – but until then I’ll continue to Make Mine Marvel.
***
Final score: 9/10 cosmic cubes.
Visit the official website for Marvel Cosmic Invasion here.
