MARVEL Cosmic Invasion

This game is a brilliant callback to the era of beat 'em ups, and should be on the radar of any fan of the era or the Marvel Universe.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a love letter to all Marvel fans. The game’s roster has classic and new heroes that jump into the beat ‘em up action. This title is so much fun.

I can't put my finger on why this game isn't perfect, but it's all the things I want in a modern beat 'em up. You can invite your friends and everyone will have a lot of fun. Play it solo only if you have to. After all, it's Mah-vel baby!

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a great beat’em up that shows significant love towards the Marvel universe, its stories and the lively worlds it presents. It has a great variety of playable options, each with significant differences to their movesets, and the attention to detail in its stages is remarkable. For anyone who loves the genre or Marvel itself, it’s an easy recommendation and guaranteed fun.

Once again Tribute Games does another master course on how beat’em ups should be created. If their work on Shredder’s Revenge is a predictor for the trajectory of Cosmic Invasion, I expect there to be post release modes and characters (If Dev Diary #4’s background comic selection isn’t a teaser then I don’t know what is.) to come for the next year and change. Marvel Cosmic Invasion asks What if beat’em ups were good again and in this story, the answer is yes…yes they are.

Short and sweet, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is about as good as beat ’em up games get, and works best as a retro throwback and a modern inheritor to the genre. If you’re a Marvel fan, a gamer with an appreciation for retro approaches, or just someone who enjoys action games, then Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a must-play.

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I respect Tribute Games’ approach with Marvel Cosmic Invasion because it’s very much an extension of nearly everything Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge did right with just a bit of improvement and additions along the way. This big character pool makes the tag feature a delight, giving us more chances to experience some oddball and safe picks as we go. Meanwhile, with up-to-four player online and local gameplay on solidly working systems, it feels like another fun option for folks that want to get together and have an entertaining time with friends in a universe we love. Marvel Cosmic Invasion didn’t have much need to reinvent the wheel. It’s a well-tuned Tribute Games brawler that will fit nicely into game nights.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is one of the finest beat ’em ups in years, and that’s saying something, even with the pedigree of those involved. It may have some slight blemishes here and there, but if you’ve been looking for something to complement Absolum and deliver a more traditional retro arcade experience, this is it.

As mentioned before, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a very good title, and Tribute Games shows that it knows how to do a beat-'em-up well. The additions to the standard brawling mechanics make it a deep game for those wanting an evolution in the genre, but it remains simple enough for button-mashers to enjoy. The game runs at a good length and initially seems easy, but that changes once you start unlocking the modifiers. The amount of unlocks and challenges provide completionists with a good reason to return again and again.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a fantastic beat 'em up that understands what makes arcade games like X-Men so iconic. It's a touching love letter to both the source material and genre that's a blast to play from start to finish, whether you're playing alone or with friends. Part of the fun is not just experiencing the beat 'em up action, but also falling in love with specific heroes and various combinations to find a playstyle that matches your personal preferences. In an era that has more options than ever for co-op gaming, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is well worth your time and money, whether you're looking to spend a weekend together gaming or keep coming back to see everything the game offers.

Not only was MARVEL Cosmic Invasion more than worth the wait, it’s easily the best beat ’em up I’ve played all year. It’s clear Tribute Games is amazing at this genre, and they seem to be improving with age. This is a colorful, creative and varied experience with lasting replay value. While it wasn’t quite perfect, assuming that glitch I encountered gets fixed, you can add another .5 to the overall rating. This is a wonderful adventure, and one every Marvel true believer has to play.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion delivers one of the best modern Marvel beat ’em up experiences in years. With authentic character personalities, sharp animations, and nonstop comic-book energy, it feels made for longtime Marvel fans. A deeper X-Men and Fantastic Four roster would have elevated it even more, but the core gameplay is outstanding.

It's not a very innovative game, but it checks all the marks with excellent results. It's profound while easy to control, colorful and plain fun. Don't be afraid to throw your web at it.

Yet another great beat 'em up by DotEmu and a special dose of nostalgia for Marvel fans. Its only drawback is its relatively short length.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion once again confirms Tribute Games' ability to engage with a genre they know inside out, without sacrificing their own identity. It's a brilliant homage to the beat 'em ups of yore, finding fertile ground for ideas, pace, and character in Marvel's cosmic landscape. Some sporadic frame rate drops in the most intense situations and the natural loss of momentum when playing solo don't detract from its solidity, nor from the care that shines through in every aesthetic and mechanical choice. We weren't able to fully evaluate the online multiplayer, but its presence completes an already generous package. Overall, it's a thoughtful and genuine production that puts the focus back on what really matters: the pure pleasure of the action.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a very interesting beat’em’up that’s short, but sweet. It has a wonderful story, one that seems to be taken right out of the comic books. But it’s something new, refreshing, and it allows us to control iconic Marvel characters, along with lesser-known ones. As a complete package, MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a delightful return to the golden era of beat’em’ups. It feels great to play, the combat is very intuitive, and the character selection is outstanding. The game’s visuals and soundtrack are also up to par with expectations, with some levels being very impressive. Whether you are a child of the 90s, or a child today, the game is a delight to play, and it’s certainly going to push you towards reading more comics.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an excellent beat 'em up that blends nostalgia, a strong roster of heroes, and a spectacular combat system inspired by Capcom's classics. Its tag mechanics, solid co-op features, and varied stages make it a fun, explosive experience. Although it can become slightly repetitive, it stands as one of the best modern brawlers.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion builds on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge with a more modernized approach, ultimately delivering strong combat feel and smooth, responsive action. But relying so heavily on well-worn, proven design also caps its ceiling, keeping it from ever reaching a truly impressive high.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a pleasant surprise for fans of beat 'em up games. Although simpler than other Dotemu hits, the title delivers refined and highly addictive tag-team gameplay. Furthermore, it hits the mark with its multiplayer experience (online and offline), the variety of its character roster, and unlockable content, encouraging replayability.

Did you say endless fun and a celebration of superheroes? You said MARVEL Cosmic Invasion. It's one of the best games we've gotten this year thanks to addictive and fun gameplay, simply great visuals, performance and soundtrack, and great gameplay options for both single player and those of us who like to add friends to the equation.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion offers loads of variety in its stages and playable heroes, and is another stellar entry into the beat 'em up genre.

Old school Marvel beat-em-up with strong cooperative gameplay brings a bunch of heroes and villains to fight with. The campaign is short, the situation is sometimes unclear, but you will still enjoy the battles.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a nostalgia-packed superhero celebration that features hard-hitting action, a wealth of comic book flavor, and a thrilling tag mechanic that sets the brawler apart from its genre contemporaries.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a small but heartfelt tribute to fans of the Marvel universe. It’s an old-school experience that shows once again how the world of video games never gets tired of the arcade feel of the past. There’s a bit of disappointment about the lack of extra content, but Tribute Games’ effort is still something to admire.

This is a really fun, elegant, and well-observed game that I might feel is a bit slower to start than that title was, but it does feel like a lot of fun from start to finish. I had a fun time playing the game, and every time I fired it up again I found myself having fun all over again. If you have memories of old beat-em-ups or just want a new Marvel game in your life, this is going to be a fun title, and it can easily be an all-time winner for party games even with your friends who don’t play regular video games. Which means that it deserves the most Marvel-possible send-off for the whole affair. It’s a magnificent Marvel menagerie of superior, striking, and sensational super-heroes clashing on cosmic canvas against invading insects in insidious incidents. ‘Nuff said!

There’s something for everyone here. For Marvel fans, it's chock-full of crowd-pleasing Easter eggs and fan service. For nostalgic arcade junkies, it's an absolute blast to play through, and it looks and sounds damn good the entire time. Marvel Comics Invasion is the definitive Marvel beat ‘em up, and one that will be well worth revisiting as many times as we did its arcade forebearers 30 years ago.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion shows us a version of the multiverse that worked. Despite its simplicity, there's not always a need for a multi-million dollar production, as long as the game is made with care and competence.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is not complicated. It’s an old 90s arcade game but designed with a one-time payment in mind rather than needing a constant stream of coins. It’s relatively easy to finish but the moment-to-moment experience of playing it is hugely satisfying. More than anything, it makes me want to pick up a huge anthology of fun old Marvel comics and enjoy some convoluted plotting.

Tribute Games proves they know how to handle beat'em up genre with a solid fighting game that draws on arcade tradition to offer gameplay suitable for everyone, with slight innovations that enrich rather than disrupt. The added value of MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is obviously the use of characters from the House of Ideas, well depicted and effectively translated into pixels, with enough variety to satisfy even those who join the party just to throw punches, without knowing too much about the guys in costumes.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a vibrant, chaotic beat ’em up that delivers on its promise of fun, fast-paced co-op action. With a solid character roster, rewarding progression, and energetic combat mechanics, Tribute Games shows a strong grasp of what makes the genre click. While a few mechanical quirks and missed opportunities hold it back slightly, the game remains a go-to pick for local and online multiplayer fans looking for accessible yet layered gameplay.

Ultimately, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a solid brawler that continues Dotemu’s streak of great games. If you’re a hardcore Marvel fan, add a point to the score, since you’ll have a great time, but if you’re like me and have never found these heroes particularly compelling, this won’t change your mind.

I wish that the game tried a little bit harder with its promising source material, and some boss fights could be a little more refined, but these are small gripes in the grand scheme of things. Tribute Games has made one of the best arcade throwback titles of the past several years, raising the bar once more, just as it did with TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a surprisingly nuanced, mechanical and visual banquet worth anyone's time, whether they've gone in for beat-em-ups in the past or not. It's an absolute joy.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion packs all the punch you’d expect from a comic book splash page. It’s clearly made with the kind of love for the source material that I’m looking for, and it improves on Shredder’s Revenge in every way that matters to me.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion finally gives the comic icons the beat 'em up they've so-long deserved. The Marvel Vs Capcom-inspired tag-team combat makes comboing hordes of villains ultra satisfying, but a lack of meaningful character progression and an abundance of MCU-style quipping hold it back from being a true brawler legend.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the Marvel beat 'em up we've been waiting for since the '90s arcades. Tribute Games proves once again they're the genre kings after Shredder's Revenge, refining the formula even further.Combat feels weighty and satisfying, every character plays genuinely different, the two-hero swap system adds depth without overcomplicating things, and visually it's gorgeous. The only major flaw is overpowered supers that discourage using the well-designed core combat. Hopefully a patch fixes this. If you love beat 'em ups, Marvel, couch co-op, or just need to punch things for stress relief, this December 1st release is nearly essential. Not perfect, but it nails what matters with the care and passion modern games often lack.

Because of the diverse array of playstyles Marvel Cosmic Invasion supports, it's way easier to recommend than Tribute Games' previous beat-'em-up effort.

With its tag-team mechanics and well-designed characters, MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is a competent side-scrolling beat'em up that can offer plenty of chaotic fun, especially in multiplayer. However, some balancing issues that make the final few stages frustrating to play, especially solo, and the lack of content beyond the 4-hours long campaign limit the game's appeal to Marvel fans and beat'em up die hards looking for a few hours of simple fun.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion delivers fast, fun action with only a few hiccups. Despite these stumbles coming with some of its biggest moments, the game still offers a lot of good times, especially if you are a Marvel fan.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an entertaining, nostalgia-fueled retro beat-em-up romp that ends way too quickly and doesn't have a ton of playable content outside of its core game mode.

Perhaps the beat-'em-up genre's best ever roster of playable characters, let down by an inconsistent campaign that wears out too fast.

MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is undoubtedly a love letter to the beat 'em up genre and 90s nostalgia. However, that fidelity to the past is also its biggest limitation.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a serviceable scrolling beat'em up which marginally exploits some popular characters in a much more comprehensive collection of stages, bosses and easter eggs. It feels a little bit more unpolished than Tribute's previous attempt with Shredder's Revenge and lacks additional content but co-op and some nice DLC may increase its value in the long run.

Filled with love and nostalgia for the genre and era, Marvel Cosmic Invasion shines for what it represents, without really adding much more.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is, fittingly, a loving tribute to the superhero side-scrollers of old. Experimenting with different teams in each stage offers a good amount of replay value, even if the same stages and enemies can grow tiresome after a while. The collectibles and challenges in each stage offer some nice extra incentives, and the depth of the source material will appeal to Marvel fans, new and old. The only thing Marvel Cosmic Invasion is missing, really, is Colossus's "whoooooaaaaa" sound effect from X-Men: The Arcade Game--though I suspect players will be saying "whoa" plenty of times while playing this terrific retro romp.

Even with these flaws, Marvel Cosmic Invasion proves quite heroic. Its tag system sets up coordinated beatdowns where weirdo pairings like Rocket Raccoon and the Silver Surfer take turns wailing on Thanos and a murderer’s row of other usual suspects, all so you can slug a devious insect from an alternate dimension. Is this premise a bit self-indulgent and sometimes at risk of turning into another all-too-familiar fan service fest? Maybe, but you likely won’t care considering how good it feels to dribble underlings across the stage like a pair of pros crashing a community basketball league. When it comes to beat ‘em ups, combat is king, and Cosmic Invasion hangs with the best of them.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a gorgeous throwback to the days of the Arcade, but one that ultimately feels a little too safe and short for its own good.