Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects E3 2005 Hands-On Report

Thanks to Capcom's numerous licensed 2D fighting games, the Marvel universe is now often associated with fighting games. Though Capcom doesn't have the license to continue making Marvel-themed fighting games, the folks at Electronic Arts are picking up the torch and striking out with their own attempt at a superhero-themed fighting game, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

Nemesis isn't structured like your typical 2D or 3D fighting game. The action takes place in an arena and you control your character by moving him or her in any direction you please. That freedom of movement, combined with the game's pretty simple controls, makes it feel a little bit like a simple take on Capcom's Power Stone games. Your control over your hero consists of running around, picking up and tossing objects found in the environment, a basic set of melee attacks, blocking, and control over your super powers that boil down to a basic projectile for characters like Iron Man and newcomer Johnny Ohm, though for Wolverine, holding down the power button unleashes his claws, making your melee attacks more powerful. You can also use your super powers for mobility purposes. This means that flying characters can fly, while a character like Wolverine uses the mobility button to run faster.

The builds of the game shown at E3 only showcase a handful of characters. The PS2 and Xbox versions showed Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man on the existing Marvel side, and two of the new Imperfects, Johnny Ohm and Brigade, were also playable. The PSP version is remarkably similar to the console versions of the game, though that version only showed Iron Man and Johnny Ohm as playable characters. The differences between the characters didn't seem all that remarkable. Bigger characters are slower and seem to do more damage with basic attacks. Smaller guys move more quickly, making it easier to dodge attacks.

Graphically, all three versions of the game on display look pretty decent. The Xbox version looks the cleanest, though the character models have a sort of plastic-like shine to them that makes them look more like action figures than comic book heroes. The PlayStation 2 version looks a little grainier at this point, but they're all still fairly close.

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is scheduled to be released later this year. A GameCube version of the game is also in development.