Zloth
I smell a... wumpus!?
I'm having a ball with this one!
First off, as every detailed review has said, this is not a game where you spend 60% of your time in battles, 30% of your time prepping for battles, and the rest split up between story and cosmetics. There's a lot of chatting going on in this one. If you're the type of person that gets upset because a 5 minute video plays to tell you about the story, you need to put this game on your ignore list and never look back.
What's in this game:
Exploration: This is the smallest part of the game for sure, but there's way too much of it to call it a mini-game. It's not a very strong part, either.
The heroes (and heroines - but nobody seems to use that word anymore) set up shop in an old abbey located in a dimensional pocket. The abbey grounds have quite a few walls spread around that you, being a polite superhero, refrain from simply leaping over. You'll be able to unlock areas properly by use of special power words that you'll learn while exploring and exploring will grant you more power words. You'll also find various mysteries spread around the grounds and loot boxes that mostly contain cosmetic rewards. Various herbs grow in different parts of the grounds, too, so opening new areas will give you access to more herbs you can use to craft things with.
Unfortunately, this whole aspect seems like one that was just given enough development time to work and that's it. The graphics out in the grounds really aren't impressive and, because the grounds aren't all that huge, they couldn't really give you a varied landscape without being silly. The mysteries are OK, but they didn't even bother to give you a list of the mysteries to help you track what mysteries you were looking into and the clues you had found so far. Still, I love exploration and searched the grounds as soon as the game cut me loose. This aspect of the game is weak, but I still do enjoy it!
Socializing: There's a lot of chit chat in this game. Depending on your dialog choices, the other heroes may like you a little more or less. You're also given the option to hang out with the heroes and give them gifts, for even more friendship points. Would Wolverine enjoy playing cards or looking at the stars? Well, listen to what they say and... wait, seriously? You think Wolverine is going to go for stargazing!? Well, OK, maybe you never watched any of the movies or read any of his comics. Just listen to what they talk about, and you can make some pretty good guesses. The same goes for gifts. If you mess up, it's not a big deal, there will be other opportunities.
As near as I can tell, the other heroes aren't comparing notes. If you want to be Hunter of Righteousness around Captians Marval & America while being Hunter's Edgelord around the Emo Kids, they won't suspect a thing: but there is a price. The more righteous stuff gives you light points and the edgy stuff gives you dark points. Switching between them a lot will leave you neutral, blocking off certain rewards. On the other hand, you'll have more friends faster, which also gives rewards.
The writing is absolutely critical in this part of the game. So far, it's been very well done.
The Battles: Yep, it's a deck builder. Yep, you can be boned by bad hands. However, there is very little randomness beyond that - especially when attacking. If you don't play any cards that cause you to draw more cards, you can usually plan out your entire turn exactly. Try that in an XCOM battle where there's a chance to miss on every shot!
Each hero has about ten different kinds of cards, each of which can be upgraded once. (Your main character has more like 30.) Each character has different playstyles, too, requiring different tactics. Once Captain Marvel does a few attacks, she can 'go binary,' which increases her offense and defense. Deadpool, on the other hand, does more damage by KO'ing more enemies without getting attacked himself. Blade can do attacks that damage the target and heal Blade. Most of Storm's cards become stronger if you don't play them until the turn after you draw them. Everybody has something different.
Cards aren't the only thing you'll use, though. There are also various objects scattered around the battlefield that you can use without playing a card. Anything from throwing a stack of newspapers at an enemy, to vaulting over a table, to dropping a full cargo net on one. It won't take long before you unlock the 'shove' command, too, which lets your hero shoulder-tackle an enemy into whatever is behind them.
And More: There's a huge amount full of lore in the game, as you might expect from Marvel. Some of it pertains to past Marvel stuff, but quite a bit talks about the magical lands and the history around Salem. There's a training area that will let you take a hero up against a bunch of baddies, which is handy for learning how to use a hero or just going on a little power fantasy. Oh, and there's posing - lots of posing.
First off, as every detailed review has said, this is not a game where you spend 60% of your time in battles, 30% of your time prepping for battles, and the rest split up between story and cosmetics. There's a lot of chatting going on in this one. If you're the type of person that gets upset because a 5 minute video plays to tell you about the story, you need to put this game on your ignore list and never look back.
What's in this game:
Exploration: This is the smallest part of the game for sure, but there's way too much of it to call it a mini-game. It's not a very strong part, either.
The heroes (and heroines - but nobody seems to use that word anymore) set up shop in an old abbey located in a dimensional pocket. The abbey grounds have quite a few walls spread around that you, being a polite superhero, refrain from simply leaping over. You'll be able to unlock areas properly by use of special power words that you'll learn while exploring and exploring will grant you more power words. You'll also find various mysteries spread around the grounds and loot boxes that mostly contain cosmetic rewards. Various herbs grow in different parts of the grounds, too, so opening new areas will give you access to more herbs you can use to craft things with.
Unfortunately, this whole aspect seems like one that was just given enough development time to work and that's it. The graphics out in the grounds really aren't impressive and, because the grounds aren't all that huge, they couldn't really give you a varied landscape without being silly. The mysteries are OK, but they didn't even bother to give you a list of the mysteries to help you track what mysteries you were looking into and the clues you had found so far. Still, I love exploration and searched the grounds as soon as the game cut me loose. This aspect of the game is weak, but I still do enjoy it!
Socializing: There's a lot of chit chat in this game. Depending on your dialog choices, the other heroes may like you a little more or less. You're also given the option to hang out with the heroes and give them gifts, for even more friendship points. Would Wolverine enjoy playing cards or looking at the stars? Well, listen to what they say and... wait, seriously? You think Wolverine is going to go for stargazing!? Well, OK, maybe you never watched any of the movies or read any of his comics. Just listen to what they talk about, and you can make some pretty good guesses. The same goes for gifts. If you mess up, it's not a big deal, there will be other opportunities.
As near as I can tell, the other heroes aren't comparing notes. If you want to be Hunter of Righteousness around Captians Marval & America while being Hunter's Edgelord around the Emo Kids, they won't suspect a thing: but there is a price. The more righteous stuff gives you light points and the edgy stuff gives you dark points. Switching between them a lot will leave you neutral, blocking off certain rewards. On the other hand, you'll have more friends faster, which also gives rewards.
The writing is absolutely critical in this part of the game. So far, it's been very well done.
The Battles: Yep, it's a deck builder. Yep, you can be boned by bad hands. However, there is very little randomness beyond that - especially when attacking. If you don't play any cards that cause you to draw more cards, you can usually plan out your entire turn exactly. Try that in an XCOM battle where there's a chance to miss on every shot!
Each hero has about ten different kinds of cards, each of which can be upgraded once. (Your main character has more like 30.) Each character has different playstyles, too, requiring different tactics. Once Captain Marvel does a few attacks, she can 'go binary,' which increases her offense and defense. Deadpool, on the other hand, does more damage by KO'ing more enemies without getting attacked himself. Blade can do attacks that damage the target and heal Blade. Most of Storm's cards become stronger if you don't play them until the turn after you draw them. Everybody has something different.
Cards aren't the only thing you'll use, though. There are also various objects scattered around the battlefield that you can use without playing a card. Anything from throwing a stack of newspapers at an enemy, to vaulting over a table, to dropping a full cargo net on one. It won't take long before you unlock the 'shove' command, too, which lets your hero shoulder-tackle an enemy into whatever is behind them.
And More: There's a huge amount full of lore in the game, as you might expect from Marvel. Some of it pertains to past Marvel stuff, but quite a bit talks about the magical lands and the history around Salem. There's a training area that will let you take a hero up against a bunch of baddies, which is handy for learning how to use a hero or just going on a little power fantasy. Oh, and there's posing - lots of posing.
