Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (PSP)

Marvel Nemesis, the game that has Marvel Comics’ greatest superheroes face off against Electronic Arts’ newly created Imperfects, comes to the PSP as a pure fighting game without the story mode of the console version, but instead with its own modes, array of characters and a unique card collecting element.

The main mode in the game is the Campaign. Two different campaigns are available: one for Marvel heroes, one for the Imperfects. Each consists of ten fights that have to be won in order. At the start of the game, only two characters can be selected: The Thing and Johnny Ohm. Completing a campaign unlocks another character, whose campaign completion unlocks another and so forth. Fighting through the campaign also unlocks further arenas. All in all, there are seven arenas, ten Marvel characters and eight Imperfects. Compared to the console version, the roster loses Daredevil and the Human Torch, but gains Dr. Doom and Captain America.

Fights are best-of-three bouts and are mainly controlled via analog stick for movement and the PSP’s four buttons, used for attacks, jumps, grabs/throws and locking on to the enemy/blocking. Characters with the appropriate superpower ability can use flight or teleportation via the left shoulder button while the right shoulder button is a context-sensitive superpower enhancer, enabling extra-powerful attacks and blocks, the details of which vary by character. Superpowers require the power meter to be charged. Both power and health recharge automatically. Landing a series of hits on the enemy increases the Rage Meter, that when full enables unlimited use of superpowers for a short while. The arenas include a lot of destructible terrain and objects for picking up and throwing.

After a campaign fight is won, the player is first awarded a medal (gold, silver or bronze, depending on the length of the fight) and can then pick a collectible card from an assortment of five, all face down. Like in a collectible card game, these come in common, uncommon and rare varieties. It is more likely to get rarer cards with the better medals. They come in four basic categories: health, defense, power and strength. The cards can give bonuses during a fight, like increasing health or attack strength, faster recharge times, increased rage length, etc. There are also character-specific cards that can be used only with the character in question. In the game’s card book, the cards can be grouped into decks, one of which can then be selected before a fight. In-game the cards are activated through the D-Pad. Only two card slots are available from the start, the other two have to be unlocked in the campaign. Combining certain sets of cards (like all character-specific cards) awards further bonuses. All in all, the game includes 173 cards (the count includes unlocked characters and arenas). Unwanted or duplicate cards can be traded in for other random cards with the recycling option, taking into account their rarity value.

The game includes a Quickplay and an ad-hoc multiplayer mode which allows the use of unlocked characters, arenas and collected cards.