INTRODUCTION
With the PS4 and Xbox One console releases of Marvel Heroes Omega coming up, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the game in it’s current state on PC to give the upcoming console players an idea of what they are getting into!
I’ll admit, I came to this game pretty late in its life. I first played it before the “Biggest Update Ever” (BUE), for a few days, back in November 2016. BUE dropped in January, and I came back to the game in late March 2017, and haven’t stopped playing since. I’m personally enjoying it, but there are a few points of contention about the game among the general community, most of it concerning changes made in the BUE and lack of true, new content for awhile. I’m having a blast playing the content available now, and I don’t see myself being done for quite some time, but I can see how this might be an issue for the older, veteran players.
I think the two biggest changes in the BUE was the removal of “free” Movement Powers and the change from the Omega System to the Infinity System. When I saw free Movement, I mean you could constantly dash or teleport with no cost and hardly any cooldown. After the BUE, Movement powers revolve around charges. You can have 3 charges at one time, and they refill at a rate of 1 every 3 seconds. Apparently this was a HUGE deal to some people, but I’m not having any problems with it.
I can’t comment on the Omega System, as I don’t remember what it was, but I can say I do like the Infinity System. Basically once you hit level 60 on a character, you can start earning Infinity XP. Every so much you earn nets you an Infinity Point that you can spend in one of the six Infinity Gem sections, granting your character a large boost depending on how many points you dump into it. Once you earn an Infinity Point, you can assign it on EVERY character, which is nice. I’m sure there are other changes brought about by the BUE, but I have noticed more people talking about these two changes than anything else. Alright, let’s move onto the actual gameplay!
STORY
The game does have a story, divided into 10 chapters, which have you completing objectives handed down by Nick Fury or other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. It’s not very prominent, but a lot of supervillains make appearances. Cutscenes are presented in a sort of motion comic format with full voice acting and lovely artwork. The story missions can be completed separately on each character, and they are actually a great way to level up!
GAMEPLAY
Marvel Heroes is an MMO-ARPG. Basically wherever you click, your character goes. Any skills or abilities your character has, goes onto the action bar, and when you hit the assigned button for that ability it gets used and goes on cooldown for a short time. Tons of MMOs use this system, so it shouldn’t be that unfamiliar to most people. There are currently 61 playable characters in the game, including ones such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain Marvel, Wolverine, Storm, Star-Lord, Venom, Magneto, and many many more. There are also what’s called Team-Up characters, which are like AI helpers that follow you around according to whatever you set them on. They even have their own inventory for you to store items in. Some of the available Team-Ups are Groot, Jessica Jones, Archangel, Agent Coulson, and Clea.
Now’s a good time to go over the cash shop and Eternity Splinters. As most free-to-play games have, Marvel Heroes includes a cash shop. Most everything in it has no impact on being able to play or do better than other players. It’s mostly cosmetic costumes and boost items, and some of the costumes are REALLY awesome. They are all based on the character’s looks from various source, like Doctor Strange’s movie costume. Everyday when you login the first time, you can draw a card, and sometimes these have coupons for the in-game cash shop. It’s best to only buy things when you have a coupon, and only if you want to support the game. For those who don’t want to spend money, you can farm Eternity Splinters. These drop 1-5 splinters every 8-10 minutes from every enemy in the game, and are used to buy new heroes or Team-Up characters. They tend to cost 200, 400, or 600 splinters each. When you first start playing, you are given 400 splinters, and then on Day 7 you are given another 200, so on Day 7 you should be able to buy any one character (or three 200 characters!) you want.
There’s a ton of content in the game, but I’ll only go over the most frequented content. First, you have Patrols. These are large zones with short “invasion” type events where one or more bad guys will appear and it’s your job to go take them out. Besides them, there are all sorts of thugs and baddies wandering around to take down as well. Next, there’s the story missions. The game has a pretty decent story, and the cutscenes are presenting in a sort of motion comic format with full voice acting. I recommend leveling a character to 35-40, then finish them off to 60 doing story missions.
A few more things to cover are Events, Prestige, Legendary Quests, Raids, Holo-Sim, and the Danger Room. First up, Events. Every so often, Gazillion activates special buffs in-game that give specific bonuses. These usually last a week or two, and the bonuses make farming even more worthwhile. For example, Odin’s Bounty makes Odin Chests drop from bosses, and these contain a myriad of loot as well as Odin Marks. Odin Marks are uses to Bless certain pieces of equipment, or used to buy Legendary Items. Next up is Prestige, which is mostly a cosmetic feature. When you hit lv60 with a character, you can buy a special item to reset your character back to lv1, upgrades your name’s color up 1 tier (almost exactly like loot quality colors), and resets your story mission progress. Prestige also gives you a base costume, but I hear they are removing that in the future. Legendary Quests are special quests you can do starting at level 20. These can be done one at a time, and also rerolled for a small fee. These award loot, EXP, and a small amount of Odin Marks. I tend to use them as filler EXP while I’m leveling. There are two raids that I know of, and both require a full party of 10 people to challenge and defeat. Clearing them awards commendations that are used to upgrade your equipment’s item level. I’ve only done one raid, Muspelheim, and it was a nice change of pace, and fun to boot. The Holo-Sim is a special room where you can clear wave after wave of enemies for rewards and achievements. And lastly, the Danger Room is a special area where you activate Training Scenarios to complete for various rewards. Each Training Scenario can have different modifiers, adding hazards to the environment of buffs to enemies. Completing Danger Room scenarios earns you Merits, which you can spend for various rewards.
GRAPHICS
This game looks great given it’s age. Every character looks fantastic, and even better when they have their special alternate costumes on. Some of them are pretty incredible, like Ghost Rider or Green Goblin. The different areas you go to are pretty good too, and full of details and stuff you can interact with or destroy. You can pickup cars and throw them at enemies, resulting in a nice explosion!
 AUDIO
The soundtrack in Marvel Heroes can get repetitive, but the voice acting is pretty great. Your character will often say something directed at another nearby character every so often; these lines usually tie the characters together somehow. An example is if you’re playing as Captain Marvel and you run by Wolverine, he might say something like “Word of advice: don’t get on Carol’s bad side.”. These tiny details are what make this game awesome, in my opinion.
VERDICT
If you are looking for a somewhat casual ARPG with a ton of content and plenty of characters to play as, give Marvel Heroes a shot. I call it casual because the majority of it’s content can be done completely solo. Given it’s price of admission, I’d say its a great game for anyone to jump into and play, ESPECIALLY if you are a fan of Marvel and it’s characters. It’s very easy to recommend in that case.
