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EA’s latest fighter gets a makeover for PSP. By cutting a lot of the superfluous stuff that marred the console versions of the game, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for PSP is even more solid than its big brothers.
The story in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects revolves around Niles Van Roekel and his desire to take over another planet. In order to do so, Van Roekel has attempted to create the best fighter ever. He wasn’t quite able to do so, but he did create six characters near that level. These are the Imperfects, who prove to be quite a challenge even to Marvel’s lineup of superheroes.
On consoles, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects struggled with its single-player portion where you went through a number of levels taking on a number of low-level bad guys. Instead, the game throws you right in the action as either newcomer Johnny Ohm or The Thing. You’ll participate in 10 one-on-one matches before moving on to the next of 18 available characters. Playing the single-player mode unlocks a number of extras including collectable cards and battle arenas that can then be played in quick play and multiplayer. The PSP version of the game loses Daredevil and the Human Torch but adds Captain America and Dr. Doom.
Once you actually get to a one-on-one duel, however, you’ll notice that Rise of the Imperfects is actually quite fun. The game features an attack button, a jump button, a throw button, and a block button. The left shoulder button handles special movement powers like teleportation. The right shoulder button makes attacks stronger by using special power, which depletes but slowly fills back up. Using special powers fills up the rage meter, which unlocks unlimited special powers for a short amount of time. The combat is very entertaining when you’re facing another super hero, and don’t have to worry about lock-on and camera issues. It’s even more enjoyable since the developers reduced the number of interactive objects which caused pure chaos in the console version. Still, it’s amazing to see Spider-Man grab onto a wall, web an item and throw it at the opponent. Some characters have different attacks and animations in the PSP version of the game but they all work pretty well.
The PSP version of the game includes offline, local multiplayer but you’ll need to unlock the characters and venues you want to use in the game’s single player mode. It does not support online multiplayer like PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game. Instead, it adds a collectible card system. The cards are unlocked by winning matches and can help you with a better power or health better for instance. Some cards can only be used by a certain characters, others can only be used a certain amount of times, others last longer than others, and some are more difficult to obtain than others. It’s a neat system but one that hardly makes up for the removal of online play.
The game’s visuals are aptly satisfying. EA Canada clearly concentrated on the character models and appropriately succeeded in this regard. The different characters look amazing. Marvel’s super heroes are very accurate to their source material. EA’s new fighters, while lacking that distinctive Marvel charm, also hold their own. While the character models are good, the animation is what really sets them apart. All of the characters animate splendidly, authentically pulling off all of the on-screen moves. You’ll notice that Spider-Man moves around fluidly and quicker than the other characters. You’ll also notice that The Thing moves around slower, but each step carries great weight. The environments don’t look quite as good but are good enough to be fighting in. The PSP version of the game has a pretty stable framerate even when the screen is hectic.
The game’s audio isn’t stellar but definitely does its job. The game’s voice acting is undoubtedly the audio’s saving grace. The sound effects augment the on-screen action, though they aren’t anything spectacular. The background music blends into the background well but none of it is particularly memorable. The PSP version of the game does not have voice acting like the console versions.
I previously mentioned that Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects would have been well served with a better implemented single-player portion. The PSP version removes the cumbersome singleplayer portion of the console games but forces some repetitive gameplay to unlock the additional characters. Nonetheless, the actual combat is very quick, very exciting and thoroughly enjoyed. It’s unfortunate that the unlockable movies, comic books and online play were removed, but the core game is still stronger on PSP. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 24, 2005
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