POPUCOM (PC, NSW) Review

Happy midweek, everyone! Some games come out of nowhere to surprise me in a positive way. I liked what I saw from GRYPHLINE's POPUCOM (why are all these names in all caps?) when I first saw it last year in a Nintendo Direct. I then decided to take the POPUCOM plunge and try the game out on Steam, and goodness me, am I glad I did. You'll see just why with the SuperPhillip Central review. 

Once you POPUCOM, you can't STOPUCOM.

Co-op only adventures have seen quite a boom in gaming as of late. No doubt the biggest names of said boom are games like It Takes Two and last year's Split Fiction. There's also Orbitals, heading exclusively to the Nintendo Switch 2 this summer. Not to be missed either is that of POPUCOM, a color-based third-person shooter and platformer hybrid that not only brings a creative and charming adventure to players but also one--like any good co-op game--requires effective teamwork to overcome.

POPUCOM starts with you creating your character. From face to skin color, the options are relatively small, but as the game progresses, new costumes and outfits become available to truly let your character be your own. 

From there, you're thrust into the world of POPUCOM, where you and your co-op partner embark on a strange planet that is threatened by an evil planetoid creature. This moon-like monstrosity spews meteors and enemies to the planet, and it's your duo's duty to find the means to take it out. This boils down to needing to assemble a rocket by finding and rescuing enough little egg-like characters fittingly called Yolkies to help build the rocket and get ready for liftoff. 

Play locally in split-screen...

As stated, POPUCOM is a color-centric shooter and platformer. Its main mechanic indeed involves color, with each characters' gun containing and firing Pomu gel to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. In the case of defeating enemies, matching colors tend to defeat foes. Sometimes it's as simple as firing a yellow-colored barrage of shots at the yellow weak-point of an enemy. Other times, enemies will be an amalgamation of colors. For instance, many enemies in the game can be defeated by matching three of the same color together. So, if their leg is comprised of pink and green balls, you fire two pink shots at the pink ball to form three, which instantly destroys that part of the leg. Then, repeat with green shots at the green ball to completely destroy the leg entirely, thus dealing damage to the foe.

Partners aren't stuck to just one color, however. After all, that'd be rather limiting to the game's design. Instead, each have two unique colors they can shift and switch between on the fly. This isn't just for offensive reasons, but also defensive ones, too. Such an example includes destroying giant bullets fired by enemies with the same color of gel you currently have equipped.

...or opt to take the POPUCOM fun online!

Adding to the complexity of POPUCOM is that of gadgets. These are introduced one at a time, given to players to try out on a per-level basis at first, before eventually having levels where all four gadgets are required to use. From a barrier shield that can block lasers (pending your character's shield is the correct color) as well as can carry your partner across harm's way or to higher areas, to a glove that can pick up and/or pull objects from far away and grapple hooks, too, the gadgets have myriad uses throughout the adventure.

As pink lasers rain down, use your barrier as an umbrella of sorts to protect you and your partner.

Levels were constantly surprising with new ideas and fresh concepts. They're linear in design, sure, but there are plenty of secrets to be found off the beaten path or just out of view--hidden stickers and captive Yolkies being the main collectibles. These usually demand careful observation to discover, as they're cleverly hidden in some truly tricky locations at times. Thankfully, most levels feature checkpoints that can be fast traveled to, in case you miss something, as well as points to return to if you or your partner need to quit the game. It's convenient to not have to redo an entire level, allowing partners to play at their own pace.

Aside from finding secrets, the levels themselves offer a remarkable amount of mechanics and puzzles. Some of the fun ideas include buttons that both players must stand on at once to operate, rays of light that can be bounced off of you and your partner's barriers and reflected into different mechanisms, and colored platforms that can only be stepped on by the player of that color. The latter mechanic requires the player standing on their platform of their color to hold up their barrier, allowing their partner to stand on it and freely cross. If you touch an orange platform and you're not orange yourself, you instantly perish.

This particular gadget, Captain Kitty, is a drone that can grab various objects and move them.

Needless to say, smart and effective teamwork is paramount if you want to make any semblance of progress in POPUCOM. Every challenge within the game requires cooperation between both players. One example of this involves a large platform with four tiles on it, each tile being a direction (up, down, left, and right). To move the platform, you and your partner have to stand on the appropriate tiles to move in that direction. The catch here is that each tile is a specific color, meaning you both can't just stand on tiles at your own leisure. You have to change colors, stand on the correct arrows, and move the platform. Oh, and this is all the while shifting walls of spikes or spinning laser fields stand in your path, so you best time your directional movements well!

Match three of the same color to completely erase the blocks.

In a sense, POPUCOM employs a Nintendo-like approach to its level design. It starts you off getting introduced to the level's main mechanic in a safe enough space before iterating on it with progressively more challenging takes on the mechanic. Heck, it even borrows a Super Mario Galaxy-style "platforms switch when a player jumps", except with POPUCOM's example, the platforms disappear and reappear depending on the player's color. Either way, it's incorporated in a well thought out and designed manner. 

POPUCOM features several boss battles that are incredibly cool and--both figuratively and literally--colorful spectacles. Like the standard levels, each time you take damage, you lose a heart--though it appears in a nearby bubble that can be shot at and burst so you can pick it back up to restore health. Each player gets three hearts to work with initially, and if you're feeling especially sneaky, you can steal your partner's dropped heart to give yourself an edge. That said, it's easier stated than to do to try to recover a dropped heart while evading a boss' multitude of attacks. If both players lose their hearts, it's back to a checkpoint or the beginning of the battle in a boss level's case for both of you!

Bosses are large, but they certainly won't be in charge--not if you and your teammate have anything to say about it!

Apart from POPUCOM's standard adventure, there's plenty to see and do around your hideout as well. You can purchase new cosmetics with in-game currency, change outfits, or play one of several bite-sized games within the arcade. One of my favorites is a 2D, top-down, auto-scrolling shoot-em-up that cleverly incorporates POPUCOM's color mechanics. 

If it hasn't been made obvious yet in this review--you will need at least one other human player to play POPUCOM, as it's a co-op only game. Unlike something like It Takes Two or Split Fiction, there is no friend pass to speak of--that is, if one player purchases a copy of the game, they can't share a second copy with their prospective co-op partner. The game does allow split-screen multiplayer locally, which is a nice touch, but if you're looking to play online, you must find players yourself. There is no matchmaking to speak of, and little in the way to conceivably and reasonably play with strangers unless you meet on message boards, the Steam forums, or Discord. Further, there's no dedicated voice chat in the game either--another limiting aspect of POPUCOM. For a game that practically requires it, this seems like a bit of an oversight, to say the least. 

POPUCOM is a positively gorgeous game. I loved its art style and colorful worlds plenty. On Steam Deck, the system struggled to run the game, displaying blurry visuals and long load times--the total opposite of my experience on PC. The game there ran smoothly, looked crisp and vivid, and loading times were much shorter. The frame-rate on PC stays pretty firm, though this can change depending on lag between players online, of course. On the sound side of POPUCOM's presentation, the music is suitably charming and catchy, and the plops of paint and pops of enemies delivers such great audio feedback.

For those with the means to play POPUCOM--i.e. another player available either locally or online--you're going to get a wonderful cooperative game to enjoy. The levels constantly amaze and delight with new ideas that are iterated on in smart ways, the boss encounters are generally great, and the cooperation required to get through both types of challenges makes for truly fun and rewarding times. That's not to say you and your partner won't get flustered or annoyed with each other or the game every now and then, but overall, the experience will be a strongly positive one. Color me impressed by how much I enjoyed POPUCOM, as it's a seriously special co-operative experience.

[SPC Says: B] 

Swingerz Golf (GCN) Retro Review

Some retro reviews we delve into on SuperPhillip Central have a contextual purpose. They might be because of another game in its series seeing a new entry or have something to make it topical. This is not the case with Swingerz Golf. Instead, it's merely because I wanted to try out an arcade golf game that I overlooked (for reasons detailed in this review) and wished to just share my thoughts. Regardless, here is the SPC review of the oddly titled Swingerz Golf.

 We have Hot Shots Golf at home.

Let's start off by mentioning the elephant in the room with us--or at least the elephant on the golf course with us. The name Swingerz Golf, to me, is incredibly stupid and seems to be meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator around. Sure, it was the 2000s, and seemingly everything in the West, particularly in the United States needed an edge to it because a fair number of my fellow countrymen, as proven by multiple modern elections in which they voted to shoot themselves and their country in the face for "reasons", are also incredibly stupid. Sorry, not sorry. This golf game was developed as Waiwai Golf in Japan and Ace Golf in Europe. It's only North America that contains the idiotic branding that doesn't fit this otherwise cutesy and colorful golf game at all. Well done, to the publisher Eidos, for dooming this seemingly serviceable golf game before it ever even took to the tee.

Swingerz Golf needed all the help it could get when it released back in 2002. It was a golf game exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube, suffered from being marketed to the wrong crowd, and I personally avoided it because I thought it was more like Outlaw Golf than something appealing to me like Hot Shots Golf was and still is, which this game really models itself after.

Ooh-wah. Right down the middle, baby!

From the gallery cheering your player on, heckling at times, making mention of the wind with various non sequiturs, to each of the game's six courses allow you to have a round in each of the four seasons, to interface similarities, Swingerz Golf totally feels reminiscent of a Hot Shots Golf game, particularly the third and FOOOOORE-th entries, available on the PlayStation 2. 

Now is the winter of our golfing's discontent.

That isn't to say Swingerz Golf is 1:1 with its then-PS2 competition. One of the interesting aspects of the game is how shots, drives, approaches, putts, etc. are initiated. Rather than a traditional, typical three-click shot gauge that sets power and accuracy, there is a shot meter used, but it's started by pulling back on the C-Stick of the GameCube controller. To set the power of the shot, you flick the C-Stick forward, and depending on how straight of a flick your shot was, the more accurate and true to its strength it will be. That said, trying to use a 1-Wood or higher club on say, the fairway, means the window for how straight you must flick the C-Stick forward becomes narrower. With these types of challenging shots, it can be quite easy to duff the shot with a "Bad" or "Poor" hit to the ball. Otherwise, there's usually a wide enough window to flick without worry.  

Unlike this type of shot, Swingerz Golf isn't the most "approach"-able golf game.

It's certainly not easy at the beginning. Like anything atypical, it does take some getting used to in order to swing accurately. It also doesn't help that setting the power of the shot still trips me up after over 10 hours of game time. You simply don't get the immediacy of a button press to set the power on the shot gauge than you would a button press. This often resulted in me hitting the ball too softly or too hard--both unintentionally. In a golf game that demands precision and one where the difference between making the green and your ball falling into a water hazard is a tick on the shot gauge, this quickly becomes frustrating and round-ruining.

As you can see with the white line on that circular C-Stick prompt that says "Great",
my flick of said stick wasn't the straightest, but it did the job nevertheless. 

Furthermore, if you get it into the rough or the bunker--forget about it. You're going to attempt to save par at best. When the ball is in adverse area lie-wise, then Swingerz Golf gets even more random--quite literally. A poor lie--that is, a bad area where your ball literally lies and sits after a shot--means your shot will be affected in power. An infographic in the bottom right corner reveals a percentage. When it says something like 70-100%, that means even if you hit your shot your absolutely hardest, with the most power, it can still only go 70% of that shot strength. It happens randomly, too, which for a game that already suffers from a steep difficulty, just feels incredibly cheap and stupid to play.

Ten-hut! (But hopefully don't get a hole out in ten strokes!!)

Putting is its own golf ball of worms as well. Reading greens is not beginner friendly, the opposite of the game's obvious inspiration, Hot Shots Golf. It also isn't helpful that you have to be darn accurate with your putts, as there's very little wiggle room and window given to the player. This isn't helped by the aforementioned C-Stick flicking to futilely attempt to accurately set the power, nor is it helped by how accurate you have to putt. You basically have a "correct" zone to putt--i.e. an angle and power that is 100% the correct way to go, and any putt outside of that strict window will not go in. There's very little in the way of forgiveness with putting, especially as putts that graze the hole will seldom go in, which is very unlike most golf games, arcade-y or no.

Putting put me in my place in Swingerz Golf, whether it was just or not.

Unfortunately, that's the story of Swingerz Golf. It's just an unforgiving game of golf, and an absolutely aggravating one at that. This continues with the game's single-player modes as well. Tour Mode is a fun concept in theory--you play through various stages of events, about six per stage that can be selected in any order, as you attempt to beat each event for a set amount of stars (up to three stars in 18-hole rounds, and up to two in match play rounds against a CPU opponents). Earn enough stars, and you unlock the next stage of events. 

It's easy enough going at the first couple event stages, but as you progress, especially with the versus matches, it gets tough relatively fast. The computer-controlled opponents often require you to get birdie or better to even tie. They're inconsistent, too. One hole they'll chip it a few feet away from the pin, leaving you with needing to get a birdie somehow to win (and again, with this game's putting--woo, boy). Other times, they'll smack their shots into hazards or out of bounds multiple times. There's neither a rhyme nor reason for this. It's at the leisure of the game.

Match play against the computer and a fair experience... 
Sort of goes together similarly to a hand and putting it inside a plugged-in toaster. 

As you bash your head against each event and hopefully win them in Tour Mode, you earn gear in the form of new clubs, balls, and accessories, such as the Rain Trinket that always makes it rain when equipped, or the Power Glove, that unlike the Mattel toy of the same name, it's not so bad. It's actually pretty good if you want some extra power for your character. Each character can be outfitted with a set amount of gear, but you can't just equip the top of the line stuff and call it a day. Each piece of gear has a point amount, and each character has a total point amount of available space allotted to them. If you try to equip gear that totals an amount higher than that character can carry, you can't play the round until you get the number under their maximum equip-able amount. Otherwise, you're good to go and to start your round, using each piece of gear, which levels up upon continued use on the course.

Apart from Tour Mode, there are also some mini-games to play, too. From the Mission Mode that tasks you with completing various golf challenges, ten missions per each of the game's six courses, to the ultimate test of endurance, Survival Mode, that puts you against a line of one-hole match play contests to see how many characters you can beat in a row, these are the hardest parts of Swingers Golf. For Mission Mode, there's little in the way of intelligence to how missions are set up. One can be as easy as getting par or better on a hole, while the next requires you to sink three putts in a row from an absurd distance. It's just stupidly designed. Both modes reward golfers for good play, netting them unlockable gear for every ten missions cleared and every ten opponents beaten respectively. 

That's the catch with Swingerz Golf, though. Despite its warm, approachable appearance and presentation (and the presentation is pleasant with an abundance of quippy characters and caddies, beautiful courses, and polished visuals and music), there is a truly unforgiving golf game present deeper within. This is sadly not like Hot Shots Golf in this regard. Those games and that series offers an accessible level of golf. They feel good to play, they have information on screen that is helpful, and you seldom feel cheated because of the game instead of knowing it was YOU that messed up a shot or putt. Ironically, Swingerz Golf apes nearly aspect of Hot Shots Golf except this one, one of the most important aspects of an inviting, welcoming golf game.

An excellent drive to start the 12th hole of Swingerz Golf's final course.

Which begs the question--who is Swingerz Golf for? Well, considering the game was marketed as some "too cool for school with attitude" golf game in the States, where nothing could be further from the truth in-game, that said title is totally frustrating to play even for someone like myself who identifies as a bit skilled at these golf games, and that sales were poor anyway... my guess would be Swingerz Golf is for no-one. At least after bashing my brains against trying to learn to play and try to enjoy myself despite the game doing everything in its power to ruin that for me, it's certainly and decidedly not for me. It's just a shame that the developer never got a mulligan, as there are some neat and nifty ideas here, but they don't form anything worthwhile enough to suffer for.

[SPC Says: D+] 

Lovish (Multi) Review

Lovish is a game that releases tomorrow on all major current platforms, including Steam, which this review is based off (specifically the Steam Deck version, which while Lovish was not Steam Deck-verified at the time of this release, the game ran and worked well on default settings). Here's the SPC review of Lovish!

A game you might just love to 8-bits.

Fresh off the heels of indie delights Astalon: Tears of the Earth and Castle in the Darkness, developer and designer Matt Kap and the team at Labs return for a new, prospective darling in the indie scene: Lovish. Immediately, the 8-bit art style invoked such warm nostalgia for me, but beyond that, it's a game that manages to blend old and modern sensibilities while also not being above making light of itself and poking fun at the industry, too. 

Lovish sees a warrior knight named Solomon and his companions embarking to the Devil Lord's castle. Their mission? Free Princess Tsuna from the clutches of the heinous fiend! However, Solomon leaves his friends behind after wanting Princess Tsuna to fall in love with him--and not any of his companions--for rescuing her. Needless to say, Solomon isn't exactly the purest, most selfless hero around. 

What follows are more than 50 unique bite-sized levels for Solomon to scramble through. Each of these levels takes place in a single screen-sized room. While the objective of each level stays the same--reach the goal door--the means and methods of doing so varies per level. Sometimes it's as simple as slashing the door open with Solomon's sword after braving the hazards inside, while other times Solomon is tasked with collecting a key or several keys, or activating buttons to open the door. 

Some levels just require Solomon to reach the exit door and slash it open to leave the level.

Solomon is not the most versatile character at the start of the game. He has a simple jump and can strike foes with his sword. However, this is more than enough to tackle the challenges that await him. That said, upon journeying through the Devil Lord's castle, Solomon can stumble, scavenge, and simply also purchase items in one of two shops in Lovish with his collected pennies that are beneficial to his quest for the princess's heart. These range from a cape that grants Solomon the ability to dash both on the ground and in midair. This can be chained to utilize multiple times, as when Solomon midair dashes into a wall, that recharges the ability to be used immediately again. 

Others can require the need to acquire a key (or several) before having access to a level's exit.

Other items include rings that allow Solomon to strike his sword upward and then downward respectively, utilizing a DuckTales Uncle Scrooge-like Pogo jump on enemies to reach higher places or to simply attack from above, as well. Solomon also only gets one hit before dying. There is, however, an item that allows a second hit before his demise arrives. 

Death in Lovish comes often--or at least it did for me--either from fireballs from wall-mounted turrets, colliding into enemies, touching spikes (which honestly felt as if the hitboxes of these were a tad bit unforgiving), or otherwise discovering death in myriad other ways. Fortunately, Solomon's deaths are more inconveniences than anything else. There is a "live" system, in the loosest sense of the term. Solomon has a set amount of HP starting in the low 200s. Every death he encounters knocks off 1 HP, as well as giving him a choice of starting the current level over again or returning to the world map. I never got to a point where I was dangerously low in HP, so I wasn't met with anything in the way of a game over screen. Rest assured, though, the game does not end upon losing all of Solomon's HP. At least that's what I trusted from a scroll I encountered in one of the game's hundred or so events that happen after each completed level.

Yes, a random (and might I say, an immensely charming in aesthetic and presentation) event of some kind occurs as an intermission of sort in between completed levels. These can have positive effects (healing some hearts/HP of Solomon, netting him some pennies for his troubles, unexpectedly earning items), negative effects (losing HP), or just act as comedic relief. Sometimes these events engage a little mini-game, such as needing the player to rapidly tap the jump button to avoid a pursuing boulder, or else lose HP. Other times Solomon gets a choice of two things. One of the funnier instances of this was stumbling upon a well. I could opt to have Solomon retreat from it, or he could yell "YOLO" and leap down it, either finding himself in a room full of pennies to collect or a spiky fate that would earn him some decreased HP. 

Events range from passive to interactive, but they're all full of charm and whimsy.

There are even random, incredibly simplified, old-school RPG battles to do in these events sometimes. It's as easy as hitting the attack or magic command a few times to defeat your opponents, ranging from literal jerks to "AI-created art" enemies (not ACTUALLY made by AI, though, so no worries there) in these turn-based skirmishes (each attack against Solomon does lose him one HP per offensive onslaught by foes). 

Really, Lovish spoofs and satirizes a lot of games and gaming industry elements in its events and levels, too. One event features a character called the Game Publisher, who randomly utters a line that would have plenty of gamers wincing, like needing to add NFTs to Lovish, before Solomon punts him away. And without spoiling later surprises, there are odes to a hefty number of franchises in gaming, from a completely playable take on Vampire Survivors to Game Boy-styled item that allows the playing of a spoof of a "legendary" Nintendo franchise. There's more to Lovish than the basic premise of running, jumping, and slashing through the game's previously mentioned levels.

Though you can't skip repeated events until you've beaten the game once, unfortunately.

There's even more to do within the levels themselves. Each level eventually has three crowns to optionally earn. One is hidden in each level, sometimes revealed through slashing a suspicious block, spawning after defeating enemies, or appearing once other conditions are met. The other two crowns can't be earned immediately at the start of the game--instead once one of two rings are found, Solomon and players alike can earn them from pacifist runs through levels as well as fast time trial-like runs through levels. There are also fabled collectibles that are secured within portals in one of seven levels. These portals take Solomon to super-difficult platforming challenge rooms, which completion upon them reward him said collectible. These are required for the post-game content of Lovish. 

Behold--a crown! But, getting to it AND escaping with Solomon's life is a challenge unto itself!

At a rate of every ten levels, Solomon must contend with a boss battle. These are relatively simple encounters, which is appreciated considering Solomon is one-hit KO'd by default at the start of the game, but like most aspects of Lovish, they're mechanically well done. Usually they involve Solomon hacking away at the boss while avoiding its attacks and other offensive maneuvers in an arena. Really, the only encounter that was incredibly difficult by comparison to the relatively short battles that preceded it was understandably the final boss--a two-phased fight. 

Bird is the word, or at least the boss, this time around.

Lovish does have plenty of content to return to, long after the initial run-through of levels and battled bosses. There are characters to fill up Solomon's social media feed, completing Solomon's inventory of items, the aforementioned crowns to collect (over 250), the collectibles in the portals, post-game levels that were an absolute treat due to their references, and lots more. All in all, it took me about nine hours to reach the true epilogue of the game with every crown earned. That said, I'm still lacking two achievements from my playthrough, but these will come with some extra time and effort.

Plenty of bite-sized levels means plenty of curse words to ultimately utter upon failed runs.
...Or was that just me?

That said, it wasn't always smooth sailing... or I guess in this instance, smooth platforming to be found in Lovish. Solomon has a big head, apparently, and jumps that require him to leap up in a one-grid-wide alcove, usually performed to avoid enemies or fireballs, proved to be a needlessly frustrating challenge. If Solomon wasn't precisely where he needed to be spaced pixel-wise, he would merely bash his head against the ceiling, thus meeting his demise when that previously mentioned enemy or fireball would pass by. Hitboxes don't always seem the best either, and this is most apparent with dealing with retracting spikes and a specific level featuring a giant fireball-spewing dragon. The trails of the fireballs weren't always obvious, resulting in occasionally "cheap deaths" from them. 

Overall, though, Lovish is a delight. Its humor and satire of genre and game conventions are most entertaining, its references and guest appearances are delightful, and the game itself plays well and is structurally sound, even if the Devil Lord's castle isn't always--looking at YOU, crumbling floors and breakable walls! Lovish succeeded at getting its hooks into me, and through the now and then frustrations of one-hit deaths, repeated attempts of levels and bosses, and tricky platforming perils, I merrily pushed forth with a smile on my face. Well, in between utterances of curse words on failed attempts, of course. Those looking for a challenge will get one with Lovish, as well as an enjoyable game that doesn't take itself at all seriously either.

[SPC Says: B]

A review copy was provided by DANGEN Entertainment.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion (Multi) Review

Let's hit the ground running--or in the case of some of our superheroes in this next game, let's hit the sky flying--with our first review of February. Marvel Cosmic Invasion launched on pretty much every current platform under the stars this past December. Now, we're going to take on villain Annihilus ourselves and the game proper with this, the SuperPhillip Central review!

The Marvel Universe calls for help. Will you pick up and answer?

What do you when a cosmic entity known as Annihilus launches an Annihilation Wave throughout the universe? You call up some of Marvel's finest superheroes (and some lesser known ones, too) to tackle the problem. And thus, Marvel Cosmic Invasion's action commences, set across a multitude of stages spanning myriad familiar locales in Marvel lore, featuring dozens upon dozens of Marvel legends and characters, and all this with a stunning pixelated art style that is smooth, colorful, crisp, and gorgeous to gawk at. Combined with voiced dialogue and a Tee Lopes-composed soundtrack fitting for the Marvel universe on the sound side of the presentation spectrum, and you have a seriously impressive package with this beat-em-up. 

Marvel Cosmic Invasion features 15 playable characters to choose from. There are your tried and true roster selections like Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and Black Panther, but there also some deeper cuts as well, such as Beta Ray Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider, and Phyla-Vell. No two heroes play alike--which for a game with that previously talked about roster of 15 characters, that's no small feat. Between their different methods and means they move to their abilities in combat, it makes it so there's seldom any semblance of sameness between characters on the roster. 

The first level, the infested streets and alleyways of New York City give you ample time to get into the swing of things with the game's unique systems.

Let's take Captain America and Beta Ray Ben, for instance. Both characters can throw a projectile outwards--Captain America's shield and Beta Ray Ben's hammer. While Captain America's shield gets thrown and then returns to him immediately, Ben's mighty hammer can spin stationary in the air for a limited amount of time while taking out enemies in the process, as Ben bashes baddies up close and personal in the meantime. Then, there are characters with different defensive capabilities. Whereas Spider-Man does nimble flips to avoid attacks, Phyla-Vell can block and even counter attacks instead. 

As characters are used, they level up in skills, power, and abilities--up to level 10 for each character. You might not be able to parry and counter attacks as the aforementioned Phyla-Vell right away, but as she gains levels, that ability eventually becomes available. Interestingly though, it seemed that levels mostly came less from time dedicated to a hero and how many enemies were defeated, and more from getting hit combos. The bigger your highest hit combo amount is at the end of a level, the more experience characters appear to get, which seems a tad counterintuitive.

Iron Man is here to bash down bugs and make one-liners, and he's all out of one-liners to make!

At any rate, aside from heroes having their own experience levels, each hero also possesses a special of sorts, which can be used when their focus gauge is fully charged. This is especially excellent for clearing screens of enemies or otherwise crowd control. Wolverine launches a series of furious slashes with his Adamantium claws, Storm unleashes lightning strikes all around her, Iron Man grabs a high-powered cannon and fires a huge energy beam at foes across from him, and Cosmic Ghost Rider speeds across the screen on his motorcycle, taking out any enemy in his path. That's just naming a handful of superhero specials. 

There's little in a beat-em-up more satisfying than clearing a screen full of enemies with one attack.

There are also tag-team moves a la Marvel vs. Capcom, that summon your hero's teammate to initiate a quick attack before hopping back out of the action. These combo attacks and especially the special strikes available add even more offensive and defensive variety into the equation. And while characters do possess distinct differences in movement and combat capabilities, it's not too difficult to hop between any character and readily begin beating up and bashing baddies. It certainly doesn't take the levels of mastery of, say, a fighting game. 

Teamwork powers.. activate!

No, this is pure beat-em-up goodness in Marvel Cosmic Invasion. You select two heroes to start a given mission, and you can switch between the two on the fly at pretty much any time--though if one loses all their health, then you're limited to just the one. Fortunately, beat-em-up staples like food found on the ground can not only heal the current character selected, but also bring back your knocked out other character. 

Levels mostly play out in a linear fashion. Occasionally you'll stumble upon a split on the stage selection screen where you can choose one of two levels to tackle first before going after the other. Levels themselves in Marvel Cosmic Invasion offer plenty of unique locales such as Spider-Man's swinging grounds of New York City, Thor's home of Asgard, and also the parallel dimension that is the Negative Zone. Some of these require modest amounts of platforming (or simply flying over, if your hero has that ability) to progress, but the main name of the game is emptying screens of enemies by beating them up to advance. Levels do a decent enough job of maintaining different hazards and threats to avoid, from stampeding dinosaurs to foreground assaults by Galactus who towers over the stage in the background. 

Levels present enough interesting hazards and challenges to take on and persevere against.

Much like Tribute Games's previous brawler (and a game I absolutely adored), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, each of the game's 16 levels contains three challenges to optionally take on for rewards. These range from defeating enemies with a specific character's ability, avoiding taking damage from certain stage hazards, and beating bosses as a given character. There are also hidden collectibles--one transparent cube of sorts in each stage--to keep your eyes on the lookout for. These add to the replay value of the game--much needed as most beat-em-ups lack a large level of longevity.

Speaking of bosses, Marvel Cosmic Invasion will have our heroes battling a wide range of familiar foes within Marvel's gallery of baddies. From Spider-Man villain Beetle in the opening Manhattan stage, to the green pterodactyl Sauron in the Savage Land, these fights aren't too taxing, but they do present unique mechanics here and there. Such as the Wakanda level, where dealing damage to the boss can only be done once he's in a vulnerable state. This is performed by hitting an electric field while the boss is in its vicinity.

The first boss of the game is a bug-possessed Beetle. Crime didn't pay, huh, Abner?

Whereas the boss variety and their attack abilities are varied, the enemy variety is somewhat the opposite. You face a fair number of different foes throughout the game, but Marvel Cosmic Invasion quickly repeats them enough across its various stages that a feeling of familiarity and repetition comes to fruition. This isn't a major problem by any means, as they're usually fodder for your heroes' fists and superpowers anyway. 

Like any worthwhile modern beat-em-up, Marvel Cosmic Invasion features co-operative play locally as well as online. Up to four players using two characters apiece can set their sights on saving the universe together. No doubt co-op is a fabulous way of extending one's enjoyment of the game, but it also makes for an easier more enjoyable go of things, as well. For online, you can make public or private lobbies, invite friends, jump in and out at your leisure, and join sessions in progress, too. It all works well enough, overall--though some issues with punches seemingly hitting enemies late was present in one online run. Nothing that spoiled the experience, however, between the lobby. And even with a full lobby of four players, sometimes containing up to eight heroes on screen at once, and a multitude of enemies, the action never slowed down or was too difficult to follow either.

Play co-operatively with two players or turn up the carnage (in a good way) with up to four!

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is standard fare in the length department for a beat-em-up, taking about an hour-thirty to two hours to run through initially. Throwing in leveling up all characters to max level, finding all Cosmic Cubes, and especially completing each stages' challenges will beef up the runtime, however, considerably. What is a two-hour game can easily multiply to a ten-hour one. Not bad for a beat-em-up! That's not even considering the multiplayer mayhem available, offering plenty of fun to be found.

As someone who has less fandom for Marvel than he does the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I didn't always know or appreciate what characters, locales, or references Cosmic Invasion was throwing at me. That said, I can assure that those hooked to Marvel Comics, the movies, and the lore throughout will have lots to love about this game. If you're a fan of beat-em-ups, then that's even a bigger plus! From the impressive amount of unique moves and abilities each playable character possesses, to how great the actual "beating 'em up" feels between attacks having a right amount of "punch" to them, to the superb art style and presentation, Marvel Cosmic Invasion delights. Whether you're a Marvel fan or no, this beat-em-up will have you coming back for more time and again. So, what are you waiting for--the universe won't stop Annihilus itself! 

[SPC Says: B] 

Review Round-Up - January 2026

Whether it was a big gorilla with Donkey Kong Bananza or big hops with... well, Big Hops,
there was a lot of fun 3D platforming to be found this past month! 

Did you know and can you believe it's been nearly five years since we've last done a Review Round-Up on SuperPhillip Central?! It's true! I'm not one to make up for lost time, but there's been just enough in the way of reviews on the blog this January that we can take a fond look back at the month that was.

The year started off strong on SuperPhillip Central with one heck of a block party in quite the literal sense with LEGO Party!, celebrating its way to a B+. From there, the first of two Sonic the Hedgehog reviews, perfect to do our own kind of celebrating of his 35th anniversary, was Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, racing around at the speed of sound with an A-. 

It went all downhill from there--but that was a good thing--with a perfect winter-themed snowboarding sensation, SSX 3, as a retro review. It slid down the slopes superbly with a B+ grade. 

From there, a pair of 3D platformers, one indie and one decidedly NOT-so-indie, took center stage on SPC with Big Hops and Donkey Kong Bananza respectively. The indie effort earned a super respectable B- with some bugs and glitches needing to be ironed out, while Nintendo's big banana of a first-party, single-player game this year scored an A, making it our Game of the Month.

Finally, not all of our games reviewed this month made the grade. Sonic Heroes disappointed me upon a modern look at the game, over 20 years since I last played it. It stumbled a bit in its red and white sneakers with a D+.

It's starting to all come back to me with these Review Round-Ups! Last but not least, I would be amiss if I didn't remind you about the SPC Review Archive where every review posted in this blog's nearly 18 year history resides... for better or worse (some of those early reviews are ROUGH). 

LEGO Party (Multi) - B+

I'm surprised by how much I absolutely enjoyed LEGO Party. The developers really did a fantastic job with this party game, offering mostly well-crafted boards with relatively fast paced rounds (not looking at you, Space Zone), a colorful and creative collection of mini-games (some stinkers notwithstanding), and plentiful amounts of charm thrown in as well, with that latter part being expected from a LEGO game. The developers are also listening to feedback within the community, such as adding bonus Golden Bricks at the end of games, something that LEGO Party lacked by the time I finished up the Platinum trophy on the game a month ago. All this, plus a budget price, deliver a party worth having for any kind of player, young/old, casual/hardcore, and so forth.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Multi) - A-

Overall, the addition of CrossWorlds definitely keeps races feeling fresh and somewhat unpredictable, and I'd love to see more added down the road. SEGA and Sonic Team both seem committed to keeping up with updates and bringing more goodies to the game, which is fantastic to see after Team Sonic Racing. They have an incredibly good thing going here with the base Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds package--plenty to love, some minor frustrations, but mostly all positives. It feels great to control, it gives Sonic fans copious amounts of way past cool callbacks, and it's got a ton of love and energy under its hood. 

SSX 3 (PS2, GCN, XBX) - B+

...this third entry is one hell of a snowboarding package, both overwhelming in positive and negative ways, but well worth playing for any extreme sports enthusiast or just gaming fan who wants a proper challenge and enjoyable snowboarding title to play. 

Big Hops (Multi) - B- 

When it comes down to it, Big Hops nails the most important aspect of a 3D platformer--its movement is fast, fluid, fun, and feels right. Everything else is gravy, really, and while some of it fares better than other parts, overall, Hop's first adventure shows a stellar amount of understanding of what makes a modern 3D platformer enjoyable: with its remarkably tight controls, genuinely delightful level design, and mostly impressive presentation.

Donkey Kong Bananza (NS2) - A

While minor frame-rate issues and most of the boss battles being rather breezy might make for some modest moaning from myself, those complaints are quickly diminished by the absolute amount of fun that Bananza delivered in banana bunches to me. This 20 hour epic is one that constantly escalates the action, and keeps it going through the finale and beyond. Donkey Kong Bananza delights and delivers a 3D action-platformer that offers enough open-ended design to kick some serious potassium. 

Sonic Heroes (PS2, GCN, XBX) - D+ 

...the positives about Sonic Heroes--the level design, the colorful visuals, and superb soundtrack--greatly are betrayed by the game's poor controls, obnoxious mission design with Team Chaotix, abhorrent boss battles, awful camera, and glitches aplenty. Even despite all of these negatives, I did enjoy rolling around at the speed of sound, flying high, and throwing my weight around with this cast of 12 playable characters. Does that make Sonic Heroes an enjoyable game overall? Absolutely not. 

SPC reminded itself to take the good with the bad, particularly with the Blue Blur this month 
as we looked at both Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Sonic Heroes.