Game Review: Fight for the Universe in ‘MARVEL Cosmic Invasion’
MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is the latest side-scrolling beat ’em up from developer Tribute Games and was published by Dotemu and Gamirror Games. You may have heard of Tribute Games’ hit game, 2022’s TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, and MARVEL Cosmic Invasion continues their streak of fun and exciting beat ’em ups.
Cosmic Invasion has a large roster with 15 characters that span across the history of Marvel Comics. Some of the more familiar characters include Wolverine, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Black Panther. While those are part of the cultural zeitgeist with these characters appearing within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some lesser known characters include the likes of Phyla-Vell, Beta Ray Bill, and the cosmic iteration of Ghost Rider.
You’ll embark on facing enemies and other familiar faces as bosses throughout your journey to defeat the almighty Annihilus as he attempts to conquer all of time and space.
I spent my time with MARVEL Cosmic Invasion by playing it on both PC through Steam and using a Steam Deck, but if you don’t have access to either of these platforms, you’ll be happy to know that this game has been released on all modern platforms including, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It is also available for players who wish to enjoy that game using the Linux operating system.
There will be some spoilers for the campaign in my review below, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, go play the game first and then come back to read this review; otherwise, let’s dive right in.
Marvel’s cosmic battle begins
Annihilus and his army, known as the Annihilation Wave, have set off an invasion of the cosmos, and it’s up to the heroes of the Marvel universe to stop him by any means possible. In MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, you’ll travel to different locations spanning the entire galaxy. Some of the locations you’ll visit are the Savage Land, Klyntar (aka The Planet of the Symbiotes), the Kree homeworld of Hala, and many others.
Annihilus also ends up recruiting A.I.M. to help with his galactic conquest, even going as far as to hire Taskmaster to help free M.O.D.O.K. from a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier prison. I don’t want to spoil too much about the story of this game, but even if you’re not an avid reader of Marvel Comics, you’re going to be in for a treat with exploring the different locales and the assortment of characters you’ll encounter.
I am a big fan of beat ’em ups, and I have played so many of them in this genre going back as far as I can remember in my short life. While I cannot say that MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is the best beat ’em up I’ve played (that title goes to Capcom’s 1989 classic Final Fight), I can say that this game stands among the giants that came before it. It’s incredibly engaging, and both the campaign and arcade modes offer enough replayability that it was pretty hard to put this game down.
The story campaign took me about four hours to get through and that is through multiple attempts at finishing it through using the Party Up option to play with others online. In the Campaign Mode, there are sixteen playable stages that’ll take you a few hours to get through with some junctions giving the player a choice between which of two stages they’d like to play first. Each campaign stage will also include three challenges to complete that will give you Cosmic Cubes that can be used on the Cosmic Matrix, a new way of unlocking color palettes, music tracks, and more.
Each set of challenges will require you to accomplish certain tasks with two specific heroes, so even if you do not pick the right heroes initially to complete these challenges, you can always replay them with the required heroes.
Characters and combat in Cosmic Invasion
Another important thing to note is that only eleven of the fifteen characters are playable at the beginning of your game, and you will need to proceed through the campaign to unlock the other four. The four unlockable characters are Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, Phyla-Vell, Silver Surfer, and Venom. You will need to defeat those four characters as bosses but once you do, they will be immediately added to the hero selection roster.
After you’ve played with a few different characters, you will get a good feel and understand that each character controls differently with their own unique moves and specials. While most of the characters will be stuck to the ground with being able to jump, there are also special cases where some of the characters, like Storm and Phoenix, have the power of flight.
My only complaint of the character move-set, and this is really a minor one, is that Beta Ray Bill does not have the option of flight, even though he wields the hammer known as Stormbreaker. I understand this is a nitpick, but having more variety in heroes that can fly I think would have benefited the roster a bit more.
During your time with MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, you’ll be able to level up each individual hero simply by playing the game. When you reach the end of a stage, a tally will total up on the results screen showing exactly how far you are in leveling up plus at each level of ten, there will be a reward for your character whether it be extra health, new color palettes, and more.
Another way of unlocking items in this game is by being rewarded with Cosmic Cubes that allow you to go to the Cosmic Matrix. The Cosmic Matrix is essentially a giant grid that gives the player to choose which cube to unlock, all unlabeled until you unlock one.
Something I learned is that each space you unlock has a matching mirrored spot that will unlock similar rewards. For example, if you are on the right side and unlock a new color palette, just go to the opposite side and unlock a mirroring slot to unlock another color palette.
Combat is incredibly slick with the way it ebbs and flows differently depending on the hero you have chosen for whichever stage you’re playing on. No matter if you’re fighting A.I.M. or other minions of Annihilus, it feels so incredibly satisfying punching, kicking, throwing projectiles, or using your ultimate ability.
As for the ultimate abilities, they are based on how full or empty the blue meter under your character’s portrait is. This bar will replenish itself over time, and the more you level up each hero through the progression of your time with the game, the more opportunities you can unleash this special move.
Campaign and arcade modes
My favorite part of the experience with a game like MARVEL Cosmic Invasion is the ability to play with others. This game has up to four play co-op and with such a huge roster of characters to choose from, each player actually gets to select any two heroes that have yet to be selected by another player, and essentially work as a tag team.
At any point during your gameplay, you can press the left bumper on your controller and switch out to the other. For example, my preference is to play as one flyer and one hero dedicated to aggressive ground combat, swapping them out whenever there is an enemy that matches the hero I want to use. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for either a Storm/Wolverine or Phoenix/Spider-Man combination because I love having the flexibility of agile combat for whatever comes next.
Once you’re done with the campaign the first time, you’re left with essentially two options: play the story campaign again, alone or with others, or head over to Arcade Mode. Arcade Mode is different in that it is a continuous string of the levels back to back, with no story interlude in between and limited continues for when a player ultimately runs out of health. The Arcade Mode gives you the option of changing the difficulty, so you’ll be able to choose how easy or difficult you want the experience to be. I choose to keep it on the easier side of things, but I can understand why others may want a challenge, especially if they want to better hone their beat ‘em up skills.
Final thoughts on Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Throughout my years of playing the side-scrolling beat ‘em up genre, I am always amazed by what developers can do. Sometimes game developers will try something new and it works, and sometimes they’ll continue to work on a formula that has worked for generations. MARVEL Cosmic Invasion was able to find the sweet spot between the two.
Simply by bringing captivating gameplay with a good narrative to string it all together, this game is an easy contender for my top ten of games in this genre. I am also impressed that the publishers, Dotemu and Gamirror Games, have been able to consistently publish quality games time and time again.
My rating for this game is: 4/5
I adore MARVEL Cosmic Invasion and I am going to continue playing this with friends and loved ones. It’s a blast to play, not just alone but with the people who are important in my life. Being able to experience a Marvel story in a game with people who are mostly unfamiliar with the Marvel properties is a good way to bond with them over something I dearly enjoy.
I also enjoy unlocking different rewards. I have still been unable to complete every challenge in the levels as part of the story campaign, and I want to make sure I do 100% of all these tasks.
Finally, I just love this game so much. Similar to what Tribute Games has done with their previous title, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, this game is so fun to go back to over and over again. I’m going to recommend this game to every person who even remotely enjoys beat ‘em ups because it’s just that good.
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