Marvel held the biggest gaming panel at Comic Con by far with over an hour of exclusive game updates. The majority of games were mobile based (which was disappointing to me) but there was one game they previewed that looks like a day one must buy. Let me run through most of the announcements made during the hour long panel.
Mobile Games Galore
Roughly 45 minutes was spent unveiling expansions or adding characters to current mobile games. Marvel made it a point to say a lot of their mobile games are among the highest downloaded free to play games in the iOS marketplace. Here are some highlights from the mobile announcements made:
**”Dodgeball’s changed a lot since I was a kid” – Ironman**
Marvel Heroes – Many characters are being added to the game including Gambit, Nightcrawler, Luke Cage, Emma Frost and Squirrel Girl (whose moves actually include “Squirrel-pocalyse”). They also added an X-Defense Mode where you play as the X-Men against waves of enemies. There will also be an Asgard Expansion to release along side the Thor: The Dark World movie in November.
Marvel Run, Jump, Smash – Fun Fact: Apparently this is the most downloaded game in Korea. Essentially this is a sidescrolling mobile game where you collect stars and change characters to (not a joke) Run or Jump over or Smash things. Well the long wait is finally over as that game is going to be available worldwide “soon.”
Marvel Puzzle Quest – I almost just wrote Marvel Bejeweled. It looks like Bejeweled from the demo shown. It is apparently getting more levels and characters.
**Totally not Bejeweled**
Marvel Pinball – This is also available on Xbox Arcade and PSN. Honestly the demo looked fun. I may download this at some point and give it a chance. They were promoting a new table for Doctor Strange. They also dropped a subtle hint as to a Deadpool table coming in the future and assured fans they were still working on more content for the game.
Marvel War of Heroes – I wrote in my notes “Awesome Trailer.” Then “Card Game :(“. No judgements if virtual card games are your thing but the trailer got me excited for something that just underwhelmed me.
There were roughly 3 other mobile based games mentioned with updates pending I didn’t write down. Can you see why overall the panel was underwhelming? I understand Comic-Con isn’t the greatest place to drop AAA bombshells but an exclusive mobile gaming panel? There were roughly 2,000 people in the room and I couldn’t have been the only person disappointed (I wasn’t, GameSkinny veteran Max Jay was none to pleased either). Thankfully, Marvel saved it’s best games for last.
Non-Mobile Based Games
The Amazing Spiderman 2 – The video game sequel to The Amazing Spiderman. They’re adding a lot of new content to the game (abilities and upgradable skills) and they’re adding levels where you play as Peter Parker (the first game you were 100% Spiderman). The game, unlike the original, will not follow the plot of the movie. In fact, the ability to become a “Bad Spiderman” where certain tasks could be completed in an “evil” way. They suggested it would make the game harder to complete but is an option while playing.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes – If you haven’t watched the video above then two things: 1) I’m sorry my camera shut off halfway though, the video is the last two-thirds of the total video and 2) Watch the video! Marvel showed off some amazing gameplay footage from Lego Superheroes. They confirmed several characters for the game: Electro, Shocker, Pyro, Polaris, Havok, Absorbing Man, Aunt May (AUNT MAY!) and more. The game is open world and the demo showed several characters flying over a New York City-esque cityscape. A free demo was released today while the full game releases next week on the 22nd. This demo jumped the game pretty far up my radar as something I may pick up the first week of release. Spiderman webslinging around town looked like the most fun gameplay in a Spiderman game since the PS2 classic Spider-man.
Overall Marvel’s panel was underwhelming but Lego Marvel Superheroes looks like a fantastic game. Are you guys excited for anything Marvel coming out soon?
