Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet review

Formats: Xbox 360, PS 3,  Wii, Nintedo DS, Nintendo 3DS
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Griptonite Games
Made2Game Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet review score: 7 out of 10

 

THQ has become the latest publisher to unleashed some Marvel Super Heroes on us, thanks to the release of its second title in the Marvel Super Hero Squad series.

This title, aptly named, Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet is based on a classic tale of the same name (worth grabbing the trade paperback), pitting some of Marvel's biggest stars against Thanos, but in a far lighter tone than the comics.

Don’t go expecting another Marvel Ultimate Alliance or anything like that, in fact this is more in line with the great recent spate of Lego games more than anything else. The game starts with Hulk and Iron Man on a shopping spree to collect a present for Thor only to end up in a mix with Thanos' henchmen who have collected the wrong items. Getting the wrong end of the stick they take chase and follow to find that Thanos is in fact after the Infinity Gems to make his gauntlet look a little bit special.

So begins a quest for the Marvel Super Hero Squad to obtain the gems before Thanos is able to. There are loads of characters available to choose from, the first play through of a level uses pre-selected hero’s, allowing you to switch freely between the two and after completion you can go back and play the levels as free play to find the hidden areas.

Each character has been classed under a different factor, leaving only these characters able to interact with in certain areas of the game. Therefore characters like Iron Man can hack computers, She-Hulk is powerful, Thor has elemental powers and the Falcon has speed powers.

These characters can also locate hidden areas, and also assist with progressing through the game by operating switches and knocking down blockages. Plenty famous characters are available to take control of within the game such as Spiderman, Silver Surfer and Captain America amongst other heroes, while there are also plenty of villains to defeat including Dr Doom, Thanos and a rather confused Hercules.

Each character has a basic set of moves including jumps, attacks and ranged attacks that can be charged for more powerful moves. As you play through the game you collect orbs that charge your power meter up and with a press of the trigger button you can unleash a more powerful move. Each character also has a set of heroic feats to pull off during play, usually collecting orbs or taking out a set amount of baddies which then unlocks special items like alternative costumes or bonus mini games.

Graphically the game looks just like the TV show of the game name, with the characters taking on their slightly over proportioned heads and bodies, plus there is solid speech throughout the whole game that offers plenty of laughs.

The juvenile approach within this really works well as it allows plenty of jokes that would not usually appear on the more adult oriented Marvel games and comics, so expect to see Hulk's love for cake getting him in all sorts of problems and Thor's godly speak having “verily” thrown in every now and then. With such a stellar cast, a decent co-op mode and a surprisingly low RRP, this is well worth grabbing as a stocking filler for the kids to keep them quiet over Christmas.

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