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Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects - Hands on Multiplayer Preview
preview
game: Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects
posted by: Chris Martin
publisher: EA
developer: Nihilistic/ EA Canada
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ESRB rating: T (Teen)
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date posted: 10:26 AM Sun Sep 11th, 2005
last revision: 10:22 AM Sun Sep 11th, 2005


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Click to read.Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is the next big title sporting the Marvel name and, luckily, things are shaping up fine. We recently got our hands on a playable demo of the game which, even with a few reservations, looks and plays great. We\'re sure that if you\'re a super hero fan, you won\'t want to miss this one.

Imperfects plays very unlike X-Men Legends but features some characters from that popular game ? Wolverine, the staple X-Man, still kicks ass. But it\'s not just the X-Men: Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Thing, and Hulk among others all make appearances. Imperfects, it seems, is much more a hodgepodge of super hero storylines than attempting to redefine any one. Whether this will be a good move is still up in the air. Though it can\'t hurt to have Iron-Man kicking the crap out of Thing, now can it?

The game is very much your standard arena fighter, but, in its defense, there are few arena games that allow you to destroy any and everything in the arena with bolts of lightning and really big punches. And so, the multiplayer is very solid if not completely balanced. The controls for the heroes are responsive and easy to learn. You have your standard jump-punch-block-throw combination, along with a \"quick mobility\" button (L1 on PS2) and your \"Super Power\" button (R1 on PS2). Once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature to jump really high in the air with a super jump, to lay your enemy out with a super combo, to set up a super barrier, to launch into rage mode, and to pick up large, explosive objects and hurl them at your enemy, screaming like a madman. There are enough combinations of powers that you will love playing your favorite hero to find their best combinations. Playing as Spider-Man, web-slinging up the place, and launching in for a flurry of attacks is a real treat.

In Imperfects, New York is attacked by an unidentified enemy. The imperfects are the experiments of one Roekel who is seeking out his one perfect creation. In the demo we tried, we had the option of two heroes, Spider-Man and Johnny Ohm. Ohm is one of EA\'s - and Roekel\'s - creations and not one generally anchored in the Marvel universe. Still, going toe to toe with Spider-Man and Johnny was quite the fight. With Johnny launching his electricity all over, destroying things ? and having an overall long-distance domination ? Spider-Man was forced to do some major dodging and get up close for the combos. Spider-Man was the stronger character, in my opinion, but Johnny\'s deadly range came close to sending the web-slinger to an early funeral.

Switching it up, Johnny was one fun character. He has the ability to float above the ground using his electricity (how the physics of this work, don\'t ask) and get clear of the close range Spider-Man. A few times I was tied up by the computer and thrown into a wall ? cool stuff ? but I wasn\'t able to figure out how to do this while controlling Spidey. Even after a thorough play though, the game still surprises me with more moves than I thought I had.

One thing that needs to be added is a roll out of getting knocked back. It seems far to easy to keep knocking enemies back with ranged attacks but too difficult to recover from them. Hopefully something like this will be implemented before its release. There\'s hopefully a little time left for tweaks.

Graphically, the game is smooth and dark. Comic-book-ish, if that was a word. But less so than X-Men Legends. The fighting is fast and chaotic. Fights generally send debris flying everywhere, whether intentionally or not. Without any playtime with the single-player game, it\'s still uncertain how this chaos will translate to the story. But rest assured that you\'ll definitely have a great hero brawler when Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects hits stores September 27th.

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