Spider-Man mixes it up with Venom in 'Marvel Nemesis'.

Trash ‘em. Bust ‘em. Bash ‘em. All in the mighty Marvel way! The WHAM! brain trust get all medieval and give their opinions on ‘Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects’ the beat ‘em game from Electronic Arts and the folks at Marvel Comics in our new 'WHAMMED!' feature.

STORYLINE

John Powell, Xbox: Storyline? What storyline? Who needs a stinking storyline? This game is all about bashing people's heads in. If you must know, it is paper-thin. Crazy aliens attack. Marvel superheroes kick their butts. Some of the superheroes fall under the control of said aliens. Some rich dude creates some baddies to do his bidding. Whatever. Who cares? We just wanna crack some skulls.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

The focus in Rise of the Imperfects is not on the storyline. The only “story” you receive is one or two sentences of text before each match, and all it does is introduce the next character you are fighting. As the good guys, you are pretty much just fighting the bad guys because they want bad stuff to happen, and as the bad guys you fight the good guys to make sure that bad stuff does happen. The specifics are unimportant.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

Well, here is the "story" in a nutshell. Some aliens invade earth. Crazy stuff happens. Various heroes and villains from the Marvel universe, both new and old, battle it out to either save or enslave the earth. Considering that Mark Millar (a respected comic book writer) penned the story, it is somewhat surprising that it is so generic and lackluster. Come on people- just because it's a video game doesn't mean you can skimp out on the plot!

GAMEPLAY

John Powell, Xbox: It is not very sophisticated but doesn't need to be. I mean, the instruction manual is like four pages long and that includes how to save and load the game. Just pound the attack and super energy attack buttons like a madman. Throw some cars, mailboxes or furniture to be different. When your opponent is weak, give 'em a finishing move. Done. There are some timed missions in story mode that are slightly irritating. Story mode ain't a real big challenge though for the experienced gamer.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

The gameplay can be described in one word – simple. Whether that’s a plus or minus depends on what you like, but I found the fighting system in Marvel Nemesis to be far too basic for my tastes. Your only controls are Attack, Jump, Block and Throw, as well as a movement button (run or fly) and a special attack modifier, which gives you a special attack, special block, etc. The balance in the game is lacking as well, with ranged characters having a very, very significant advantage over melee. Without the drive to unlock new characters, I couldn’t play this game for more than 10 minutes at a time without getting bored or frustrated.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

There's not much to this game. While it is cool to thrash it out, super person against super person, after a while it becomes apparent that all of their moves are just variations on two or three sets and that the game as a whole is severely lacking in depth. Plus, in an absolutely infuriating move, it is necessary to trudge through the generic "beat-'em-up", button mashing single player mode of the game in order to unlock a large majority of the characters- the wide selection of which is arguably the best part of the game itself.

GRAPHICS, SOUND

Electra and Wolverine get set to square off.

John Powell, Xbox: I was never a fan of Bill Sienkiewicz's abstract artwork but that style of artistry works well in 'Marvel Nemesis'. It really gives the game an edgy look. The pale colouring also sets an uneasy tone. There is no confusion from the get-go that this ain't a sixties episode of 'Batman' or 'Spider-Man'. This is serious business.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

Rise of the Imperfects is not lacking in either the sound or graphics departments. The environments are bright and clear, with suitable comic book flair, while the characters are reproduced almost perfectly. Fans of Marvel will be pleased to see the attention to detail in every aspect of the graphical design. The sound effects and music fit nicely into the comic book theme, and were neither cheesy nor repetitive.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

One of the better aspects of the game, the graphics in Marvel Nemesis are generally very appealing. The lighting in particular is well done, casting each of the characters in shiny, vibrant colours reflected from the various environments and thus giving everyone that "just-stepped-out-of-the-shower-and-into-a-music-video" sort of look. Ok, well maybe that's not quite a "look", but that's what it seems like. The models, animations and effects are also handled proficiently, but unfortunately in the PS2 version of the game, a few collision detection issues and other glitches can be found that mar it's otherwise wet and shiny veneer.

The sound effects of the game, while a little average, are up to the task and provide satisfying "BOOM!", "CRACK!", "THWIP!” and "BAMF!" effects when needed. But unfortunately some of the choices for the voice actors and the lines they so enthusiastically deliver could have used a bit more thought. In particular, the voice of Spiderman is so annoying that even Aunt May would have given Peter Parker a weggie for saying "That's what we call a web slingin', ass kickin'". Geez.

LONGEVITY

John Powell, Xbox: This is the kind of title you can play again and again in versus mode whenever you wanna bust up your best friend, brother, sister or that bothersome uncle who pesters you whenever he comes over. Switching between the characters in story mode bolsters interest but I doubt that once you have slogged through the entire game you will bother to give it another try in future.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

This game has a very short lifespan. Once you have unlocked every character there is little reason to play through the game again. Even before you obtain all the characters you may find the gameplay getting very stale as many characters play very similar to each other, and each character usually has only one way of winning a given fight, leading quickly to a feeling of ‘been here, done that’ while playing. The tacked-on card system does little to help, as you should have all the important cards long before you obtain every character.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

Nemesis does offer a fair bit of gameplay, but unfortunately a large portion of that is forced upon the player via the terrible single player mode. As mentioned previously, if the majority of the playable characters are to be accessed, the single player missions must be completed. And that’s a bad thing. Otherwise, the multiplayer and online modes offer a fair amount of replay value, assuming you have someone to play against or a high-speed net connection.

MISCELLANEOUS POSITIVES

Iron Man clobbers The Thing.

John Powell, Xbox: Bash. Bash. Smash. Smash. What's not to like? Giving credit where credit is due, the inclusion of Johnny Ohm and 'The Imperfects' - characters who were designed just for the game - is a treat and shows someone had their thinking caps on during the design stage. The matrix style combat and cut scenes during the battles are wicked.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

Not much stands out in Rise of the Imperfects, with the character graphics and effects being pretty much the only noticeable quality aspects of the game.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

The character designs for the new villains introduced in the game (dubbed The Imperfects) are great. Created by renowned comic artist Jae Lee, his distinctive dark, graphic style really gives life to these new recruits and also enhances the interface of the game itself, as his unique artistry is prominently displayed throughout the numerous menu screens.

MISCELLANEOUS NEGATIVES

John Powell, Xbox: It would have been nice if the roster of Marvel superheroes was larger especially when you first start the game. It stinks to only have a handful of characters to battle with and that the rest have to be unlocked in story mode. Hint: You can unlock the characters in versus mode if you pick "one life" fights and fight on the bridge setting. For every 10 battles, a character will be unlocked. The wall run option looks cool but can be very vexing in story mode during the timed missions. Not being able to skip the cut scenes at the finale of every fight can get on your nerves too. In versus mode, players want to jump right back into the action and have another duel.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

My biggest pet peeve about the current state of console games was realized in Rise of the Imperfects. Two characters out of twenty are all you receive at the start. Out of the box you only get 10% of the content. 10%! If you had thoughts of playing any multiplayer, plan ahead as you will have to spend many hours unlocking even a handful of the playable characters. It’s negligent if you ask me, and turns the game from a decent multiplayer rental into a useless case in frustration.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

One particularly glaring issue with the game are the characters’ introductory animation sequences that occur before each battle commences. The first time through, they are somewhat interesting, but after seeing them repeatedly it would have been very nice to have an option to skip the intros and get straight to the clobberin’. This becomes increasingly frustrating while engaged in the multiplayer mode, where a triumphant victory or humiliating defeat should be responded to as quickly as possible.

WHO ELSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE GAME?

John Powell, Xbox: If there is a 'Marvel Nemesis 2' they gotta put in a design-your-own hero mode. What? No Captain America? No Punisher? No Hulk? No Thor? No X-Men besides Storm and Wolverine? What's up with that?

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

I’m not a fan of marvel outside of video games, so I didn’t find the character selection lacking in any way, other than the lack of choices at the start. If I had to pick one character I’d like to see included it would be the Professor, I’m sure that if given the chance he could kick some serious ass.

BOTTOM LINE

John Powell, Xbox: If you aren't into fighting games or comic books, this won't be your cup of tea. Sorry developers but the versus mode is the selling point not the 'Imperfects' story mode.

Tyler Chamberlain, PSP:

The bottom line is that Marvel Nemesis : Rise of the Imperfects is not a good value, unless you are a die-hard marvel fan and absolutely must own every product from them. With the simple combat and lack of replay value, I would only recommend it as a rental. Not for the neutered multiplayer though, unless you feel like playing The Thing vs. Johnny Ohm over and over and over again. Yikes.

Kevin Sormon, PS2:

If it wasn't for the fact that you get to play as a number of badass superheroes and villains, this game would really show its true colours as a sub-standard fighting game married to a run of the mill "beat-'em-up". Worth a rental to fans of Marvel superheroes, but a poor investment for anyone looking for something to hold their attention longer than it takes to read a comic book.