If The Avengers took cinemas by storm six or seven years ago, chances are, we’d have seen a full-on video game tie-in courtesy of SEGA, Warner, Activision or perhaps another publisher looking to cash in. It would have come as no surprise either, given that Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man has each underwent similar adaptations shortly after the debut at movie theatres.
Times have changed, however, and so too has the way movie tie-ins are handled by video game companies. Instead of aiming to squeeze out a budget console title to coincide with a cinematic launch, many publishers now pass up the opportunity – no doubt due to rising development costs. In their stead, smaller studios have stepped up to the plate, using these licenses as a springboard to produce mobile games for the masses.
Although it’s nice to see these brilliant movie franchises brought to life in game form, the end products often leave much to be desired. At least for core gamers. When downloading Marvel Future Fight, I was met with an unwelcome sense of Deja Vu. Developed by Netmarble – a fairly unknown South Korean studio – I was convinced Future Fight would last no more than fifteen minutes on my device. A week after launch, however, and I find myself logging in every day.
Comparable to action RPGs such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Diablo, Future Fight takes that core dungeon-crawling blueprint, simplifying it to better suit mobiles and tablets. Instead of roaming endless plains or exploring vast cities, players will run a series of self-contained missions that take roughly a few minutes to beat.
Just as simplistic is Future Fight’s gameplay. Whether using traditional controls or the nifty one finger system, combat is fun albeit inherently limited. At any time, players can alternate between the three characters in their squad to spice things up, each with their own unique abilities that appear in the bottom right of the screen.
From Daredevil and Black Widow, to Venom and The Punisher, there’s a huge roster to select from, including both heroes and villains. For many, the focus of the game will soon move away from beating campaign missions to unlocking their favourite Marvel icons. This is done by replaying specific stages and farming collectibles known as “Biometrics”. Normally this sort of grind can be a deal-breaker for mobile games. In Future Fight, however, the presence of an “Auto-Play” button means that you can passively blitz through stages without having to look.
Of course, there’s an easier more expensive way of unlocking your favourite characters. That said, the micro-transactions found in Future Fight are fairly priced and unobtrusive compared to those sprayed across the majority of the free-to-play genre. Features such as log-in rewards and daily missions help to ease the grind even further, as do Assemble Points – a currency that is given by friends at no cost to them whatsoever.
Although Future Fight has its negatives, it’s tough to highlight them without remembering this is a game specifically for mobile and tablet. The mechanics are fairly simplistic along with the visuals, audio design, and story, though these have little impact on the well-oiled engine Netmarble has produced. Marvel Future Fight was meant to be played in short bursts, making players feel as though they are eventually building towards something and in that respect, it wholly succeeds.