It’s been a while since MARVEL Super War launched, so it’s a good time to review it so far. I’m not a massive MARVEL fan by any means, but seeing the huge IP as a MOBA game must be quite exciting to many of you readers! After all, you can now imagine the storylines of an eclectic bunch of MARVEL characters just face off against each other, with the hopes of seeing more characters square off on the Wakanda battlefield.
First thing’s first, let’s admire the quality of the graphics at hand. For a mobile title, Netease and MARVEL haven’t spared much expense to make it look sleek. You start the game as though beamed down to the home screen. You can see Wakanda in the background behind your hero. The menus and transitions are all suitably futuristic to match the setting.
Character models are quite well done, across the base heroes and their various skins. It’s easy to tell at a glance who’s who, and what they’re wearing, for the fans of the characters. Other cosmetics you can get include Avatars, and Avatar Frames. You can get fun costumes like “Arcade Rocket”, or simpler colour swaps.
The shop is where you can purchase heroes and skins. There are three currencies: Coins, Crystals, and Star Credits. Star Credits can be converted into Crystals. Heroes can be bought with any of the currencies where applicable. Skins are only purchasable using Star Credits, and are just cosmetic. Shops can have discounts on both heroes and skins, so keep your eyes peeled to take advantage of those deals!
On their own, they’re a bit pricey to get with real money, and you’d need a lot of Coins as well. If you’re not sure what a hero does, you can simply tap on them in the shop screen and then their skill icons. They’re quite faithful to their characters. Simply look at Hulk, who has his signature Hulk Smash for one, pounding his enemies into the ground! The heroes likewise come with their unique traits (Hero Trait), like Hawkeye having his range and vision increase as he levels up, an easy reference to his skill as a marksman. There’s plenty of classes you can try as you might’ve noticed, so play around and see what best fits your style.
If you’ve played one mobile MOBA, it’s pretty easy to jump into the others, and it’s not much different for MARVEL Super War. There are the “jungle” monsters you can defeat, and some can provide buffs apart from the experience you get. Some also drop items too. If you ever need a refresher, then simply go to the Training area. They give first completion rewards, so it’s not a bad idea to brush up on the basics! If you want to play with friends, you can queue as a team, or hop into a room with others. PvE is a 5 player on AI mode.
The MOBA part isn’t the only thing you can find in MARVEL Super War. At present, there are two arcade modes: Battle for Vibranium and Free-For-All. In Battle for Vibranium, players will need to collect Vibranium from nodes around the map, and deposit them. The first team to reach 1000 wins! 5 on 5 players can take out an enemy hero to collect the Vibranium they drop (if any), and deposit it for their own team. The node to deposit the Vibranium in shifts around the map, and you’re quite slow, so you can be quite vulnerable!
In Free-for-All, it’s another 5 on 5, but instead of your regular map, it’s only a single lane with 2 towers each and the nexus. Players can only heal through random drops from enemy mobs, and healing from allies is reduced. It’s a more tense mode as everyone clusters together and tries not to get knocked out too often. These games often emphasize teamwork, and should you slip behind, you’d need that more than ever. Regular 5 on 5 matches aren’t really a big problem, but if you fancy some Arcade games, the queue times tend to be longer.
You can spectate other players whenever you want via the Spectate button on your home screen. See higher skilled players fight it out and learn from them! You can tap on their respective hero icons to see their items and follow their perspective.
The items within the game are naturally all references to other MARVEL characters. In terms of playable characters, it’ll be a while till the game can actually release the entire repertoire of the MARVEL universe. For now, you have arguably the most recognizable of the bunch across the movies of the MCU. In their attempts to keep the character skills true to themselves, perhaps some characters may not be fully balanced, as there will certainly always be higher tier heroes than others. Nonetheless, one would hope to see this less of a problem as the game matures.
All in all, definitely play this as a MARVEL fan and just imagine the storylines! Considering there is an arcade mode, perhaps someday we could get character specific maps too. The game is young, so let’s look forward to future updates. We hope this review of MARVEL Super War gets you to try the game!