The Best MARVEL and Superhero Games

As you may know, I have been playing MARVEL Avengers Academy, and although I was initially greatly in favour of the game, their recent events -- or more to the point, how they structured their events -- has been so bad that I've been forced to re-evaluate TinyCo's Avengers Academy.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance
On the Avengers Academy Facebook page, the topic naturally came up about where else someone could get a Marvel superheroes experience, and one I highly recommend is Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

The main reason is the sheer number of playable MARVEL characters in that game. Also, you get to fight a number of villains in a variety of story locations and mini-missions for various heroes. On top of that, you can earn different costumes for different heroes.

We had a series of posts about Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and you can see a number of posts detailing the cutscenes, artwork, and character costumes in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

And one of the reasons it's called "Ultimate Alliance" is because from the list of heroes, you can mix and match into your own strike teams, some of which have special bonuses. And those teams can earn bonuses by staying together -- sort of like putting together your own Avengers portfolio of heroes and sending them out on missions regularly.

Needless to say the powers of the heroes (and villains) are faithful to the Marvel comic universe, and so you really have an iconic experience of the Marvel universe.

It's obviously an older game, but nevertheless highly recommended for the content and replayability (by trying different teams), all for a single low price.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
X-Men Legends II is a sort of precursor to the Marvel Ultimate Alliance experience, and it's a bit older, but has similar attributes, including the winning trait of there being many heroes and being able to put together your own dream team.
If you like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, you'll like X-Men Legends II as well.

Look before you buy: We have cutscenes and artwork from the game, as well as a guide/walkthrough for X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
They aren't Marvel, but worthy of mention are the 4-colour comic book style Freedom Force games, which very much gives you a comic book feel:

• UI feedback for powers and damage comes in text bubbles just like you might see in a comic book.
• You can grab things like cars and telephone poles to swing and throw.
• The story involves rescuing civilians and you get bonuses for limiting collateral damage.

The real gem of this game, however, is the ability to CREATE YOUR OWN HERO. The powers are extremely customizable, making for an endless variety of builds. Also, they cleverly limited certain powers (such as self-healing) so you don't get builds that are too easy and in that way exploit the engine.

Instead of getting Freedom Force from Amazon, I highly recommend instead getting it from GOG.com, which offers a money-back guarantee -- especially important for an older game.

As you may know, I have been playing MARVEL Avengers Academy, and although I was initially greatly in favour of the game, their recent events -- or more to the point, how they structured their events -- has been so bad that I've been forced to re-evaluate TinyCo's Avengers Academy.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance
On the Avengers Academy Facebook page, the topic naturally came up about where else someone could get a Marvel superheroes experience, and one I highly recommend is Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

The main reason is the sheer number of playable MARVEL characters in that game. Also, you get to fight a number of villains in a variety of story locations and mini-missions for various heroes. On top of that, you can earn different costumes for different heroes.

We had a series of posts about Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and you can see a number of posts detailing the cutscenes, artwork, and character costumes in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

And one of the reasons it's called "Ultimate Alliance" is because from the list of heroes, you can mix and match into your own strike teams, some of which have special bonuses. And those teams can earn bonuses by staying together -- sort of like putting together your own Avengers portfolio of heroes and sending them out on missions regularly.

Needless to say the powers of the heroes (and villains) are faithful to the Marvel comic universe, and so you really have an iconic experience of the Marvel universe.

It's obviously an older game, but nevertheless highly recommended for the content and replayability (by trying different teams), all for a single low price.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
X-Men Legends II is a sort of precursor to the Marvel Ultimate Alliance experience, and it's a bit older, but has similar attributes, including the winning trait of there being many heroes and being able to put together your own dream team.
If you like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, you'll like X-Men Legends II as well.

Look before you buy: We have cutscenes and artwork from the game, as well as a guide/walkthrough for X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
They aren't Marvel, but worthy of mention are the 4-colour comic book style Freedom Force games, which very much gives you a comic book feel:

• UI feedback for powers and damage comes in text bubbles just like you might see in a comic book.
• You can grab things like cars and telephone poles to swing and throw.
• The story involves rescuing civilians and you get bonuses for limiting collateral damage.

The real gem of this game, however, is the ability to CREATE YOUR OWN HERO. The powers are extremely customizable, making for an endless variety of builds. Also, they cleverly limited certain powers (such as self-healing) so you don't get builds that are too easy and in that way exploit the engine.

Instead of getting Freedom Force from Amazon, I highly recommend instead getting it from GOG.com, which offers a money-back guarantee -- especially important for an older game.