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Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is a brawler/fighting game. An alien invasion is demolishing New York City and it’s up to the various super-heroes to stop it. Each hero has a set of levels, and as you complete their set you will unlock a new hero to play. There are four different heroes available at once, and you can switch back and forth between available characters in between levels. When all four characters levels are completed you have to choose one character to sacrifice. You will then play as one of the Imperfects and defeat the character, making room for a new character and their set of levels.

Each level gives you a specific goal to accomplish. One level may require you to defeat a certain number of enemies while another will have you destroy a certain number of objects, and various other tasks. These levels are set up in a very linear way. Usually you’re just in one open area fighting a large group of enemies. If the level requires you to go from point A to point B, then the path is obvious. You are basically funneled through. If you haven’t finished off all the enemies in the area, then your path is blocked with a force field. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it just makes for a very linear type of gameplay.

There are an impressive number of super-heroes to choose from. Many of the mainstream characters are available, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wolverine as well as some of the less widely known characters like Electra, Venom, and Magneto. There is also a whole new set of characters known as the Imperfects. These are alien experiments that are paving the way for the creation of a perfect warrior.

The combat is fairly simplistic, but gets the job done and makes for a decent fight. There is a button for jumping, blocking, attacking, and throwing. By holding down the right trigger you can tap into your power meter and boost the strength of the attack. Near the end of a fight between two characters the powered up throw can be used to perform a finishing move that will finish them off regardless of how much life they have left. This usually consists of a brief video of the enemy being defeated. Some of them involve a huge blast of fire or electricity, or pounding the enemy down, or spraying them with toxins. I really would have liked to see these scenes extended a little more. They were just a little too brief to be satisfying after a hard fought battle.

I only have one real complaint against Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, but it’s a pretty substantial one. For a game that is based on the rich and varied background of the Marvel Universe, there is an alarming lack of variety between the different characters. You have your heavy hitters, and your combat guys, and then you have your shooters. Every character pretty much falls into one of these three groups. The different characters just didn’t play differently enough for me. Daredevil and Spider-Man, for example, are almost the same character. They are both mid-strength and they both have a projectile attack. You could have swapped out either character in any of their levels and it really wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

There are also three types of transportation for characters. There are walkers, flyers, and the swingers (like Spider-Man). For the most part, this adds some more variety to the characters and gives them a new feel. But again, there are some characters that are almost identical. Iron Man and the Human Torch are both flyers with projectile attacks. The only real difference is that Iron Man can lift heavier objects.

The Imperfects, the new team of villains that appear in the game, are pretty good for the most part. This was the part of the game I was really worried about. I was worried that the Imperfects would just be a bunch of second string reject characters that were either knockoffs of “real” Marvel characters or were ideas that were too lame to be used anywhere else. For the most part though, they were really good. They felt new and well thought out, not thrown together at the last minute. The only one that really bugged me was Hazmat. He was a scientist who was transformed into a living disease carrier. His body is pumped full of toxins, and viruses, and all sorts of nasty stuff that makes him lethal to be around. This is a pretty cool character, with a unique look and cool powers. And then, for some bizarre reason, they just kind of tacked on a web swinging ability. He looks exactly the same as Spiderman when he’s doing it. It seems odd to take such a unique character and give him a move that is so closely associated with someone else.

As a brawler, there isn’t a lot of variety in your standard enemy. There are various types of enemies, but the individual members of each type are exactly the same. One Mauler looks exactly like another Mauler and you end up beating dozens of them through the course of the game.

Even with its problems, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is a pretty fun game. It definitely satisfies the itch that the comic book nerd buried deep inside of you has. If you’re looking for a game that lets you play as some of your favorite super-heroes, then this is the game you’ve been looking for. But if you’re looking for an in-depth fighter or brawler keep looking. This one’s imperfect.